Freelens

Freelens is a fork of the popular Kubernetes cluster management tool, Lens. Unlike the original Lens, Freelens is fully open-source, does not require registration or connection to cloud services, and contains no proprietary components.

Installation

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MacOS

To install Freelens on macOS using Homebrew:

brew install --cask freelens

Linux

On Linux, installation is available via Snap:

snap install freelens --classic

Windows

On Windows, use Winget:

winget install Freelensapp.Freelens

Connecting to a Cluster

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Freelens uses the standard kubeconfig for connecting to clusters. You can store configuration files in the default system directory ~/.kube, or in any other convenient location.

Download the configuration file from the cluster’s Dashboard.

Using the Default Folder

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If you place the downloaded kubeconfig in the ~/.kube directory, Freelens will automatically detect the cluster. 

Go to Catalog → Clusters, and the cluster will appear in the list.

You can also access it using the Browse Clusters in Catalog button on the start screen.

Custom Configuration Folder

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If you want to use a separate directory:

1. Create a folder, for example ~/k8s_config, and move the downloaded kubeconfig file into it.
2. In Freelens, open the Clusters section and click the + button in the lower right corner.
3. Specify the path to the file or to a folder containing one or more kubeconfig files.
4. After adding it, click the cluster name in the list to connect.