Freelens is a free and open-source integrated development environment (IDE) designed to simplify Kubernetes cluster management. It offers an intuitive interface for developers, DevOps engineers, and IT teams to deploy, monitor, and scale containerized applications with ease.
Key Features:
Cross-platform support for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
Built-in tools like kubectl and helm for streamlined Kubernetes operations.
Extension ecosystem supporting additional plugins and integrations.
Intuitive user interface that reduces the complexity of Kubernetes management.
Security-focused design with optional sandboxing on Linux distributions.
Audience & Benefit:
Ideal for developers, DevOps professionals, and IT teams who need a cost-effective and flexible solution to manage Kubernetes clusters. Freelens provides a seamless experience for deploying containerized applications while maintaining security and performance. It can be installed via winget on Windows systems.
Freelens is a free and open-source user interface
designed for managing Kubernetes clusters. It provides a standalone
application compatible with macOS, Windows, and Linux operating systems,
making it accessible to a wide range of users. The application aims to
simplify the complexities of Kubernetes management by offering an intuitive
and user-friendly interface.
Downloads
See the releases page and
download the right package for your system.
macOS
macOS 11 or later is required.
Download either the PKG (installer) or DMG (image) package from the
releases page. Both arm64
(M1 chip or newer) and amd64 (Intel) variants are available.
All binary packages are built on macOS 14 and should be compatible with newer
systems.
Homebrew
Run the following command:
brew install --cask freelens
Linux
Linux with GNU C Library 2.34 or later is required. It is provided ie. by
Debian 12, Fedora 35, Mint 21, openSUSE Leap 15.4, Ubuntu 22.04 and by
rolling release distributions like Arch, Manjaro or Tumbleweed.
Download DEB or RPM (package) or AppImage (executable) from the
releases page. Both arm64
(aarch64) and amd64 (x86_64) variants are available.
All binary packages are built on Ubuntu 22.04 and should be compatible with
new systems.
AppImage
The Linux AppImage file requires libz.so and libfuse.so.2. You can add them
by running:
The package is available on the
Flathub App Store for
Linux.
Use GNOME Software application or run the following commands:
flatpak install flathub app.freelens.Freelens
flatpak run app.freelens.Freelens
The application is sandboxed. It includes bundled kubectl and helm
commands and uses the ~/.kube/config file by default.
Flatpak adds wrappers for the aws, doctl, gke-gcloud-auth-plugin, and
kubelogin tools, running them as commands from the host system.
The terminal uses /bin/sh by default, but it can be switched to, for
example, /bin/bash for a sandboxed environment or /app/bin/host-spawn for
a host environment.
Snap
The package is available on the Snap Store
for Linux.
Use App Center application or run the following command:
Download the EXE (NSIS) or MSI installers from the
releases page.
Both the x64 (amd64) and arm64 versions of the Windows binaries are provided.
However, an EXE installer (NSIS) itself is x86 binary only even if it installs
arm64 application and then installs to C:\Program Files (x86)\Freelens path
by default.
The version of the MSI package has the last 4th digit always 0 and this is a
limitation of this package format.
The --silent option is supported to suppress all UI.
The --scope user or --scope machine option can be used to install it
either to local user directory or to C:\Program Files.
WinGet installs the application from EXE installer (NSIS).
Scoop
The package is available in the
Scoop command-line installer for
Windows.
Run the following command:
scoop bucket add extras
scoop install freelens
Scoop uses MSI package to install the application.
Development
Visit Development
wiki page to see how to build the application from source.
Check out the Freelens Docs to contribute to development or create your own extension.
Extensions
Anyone can develop extensions for Freelens and many extensions previously used
with Open Lens have already been converted.
Visit Extensions wiki
page to see them and write in the appropriate
discussion if you
also want to propose yours.
Community
Get updates about Freelens & keep in touch with our community
