"Deploy, update, and configure Kubernetes packages 20x faster"
TLDR:
Glasskube is an open source package manager for Kubernetes that makes deploying, updating, and configuring packages on Kubernetes 20x faster than tools like Helm or Kustomize. Inspired by the simplicity of Homebrew and npm, their goal is to build enterprise-ready infrastructure software that can run mission-critical workloads across the more than 3 million Kubernetes clusters globally.
Glasskube is fully open source. Check out their repository on GitHub. (Be sure to star! 🌟)
Founded by Philip Miglinci & Louis Weston
The Backstory & Problem
Kubernetes packages have been growing rapidly, from around 100 packages in 2016 to over 800 packages on the CNCF landscape today. With more than 7 million developers working with Kubernetes, Helm, an open-source tool created during a hackathon nine years ago, has become the go-to solution. However, Helm struggles to keep up with the increasing demand, leading to complex workflows and non-standardized solutions.
Over the past five years, while writing and deploying packages on Kubernetes, they found themselves defaulting to Helm despite its shortcomings due to a lack of alternatives. While working on other cloud-native projects, users consistently highlighted common pain points with Helm. This realization prompted them to tackle the larger issue of package management in Kubernetes, leading to the development of Glasskube.
What is Glasskube?
Glasskube brings the experience of Homebrew or npm to your Kubernetes cluster. It simplifies installation, updates, and configuration, making it easier and faster to manage your packages.
Focusing on simplicity and reliability with their CLI and UI
Easily install packages in your cluster via the Glasskube UI, where all packages are conveniently located, eliminating the need to search for a Helm repository.
Safe Package Updates
Preview and perform pending updates to your desired version with a single click (or CLI command). All updates are pre-tested by the Glasskube test suite.
Package configurations
Configure packages with typesafe input values via the UI or interactive CLI questionnaire. Inject values from other packages, ConfigMaps, and Secrets easily. No more untyped and undocumented values.yaml files.
GitOps Integration
All Glasskube packages are custom resources, manageable via GitOps. They're also integrating with renovate.
Also, read more about dependency management, multiple repositories and private packages on their website.
Interested? Check out their Demo ⤵️
Their Vision
Currently, they are focused on enhancing the user experience, aiming to save engineers as much time as possible by building on top of existing technologies. In the future, they plan to develop an entirely new packaging and bundling format for all cloud-native packages. This will provide package developers with a straightforward way to define how to install and configure packages, offer simple upgrade paths, and enable Glasskube to provide feedback, crash reports, and analytics to every developer working on Kubernetes packages, similar to how Android supports Play Store developers.
Presignup - Glasskube Cloud
They are currently working on Glasskube Cloud, for which you can now pre-signup.
Key features include:
- Cloud Hosted Private Packages
- Security Alerts and Update Notifications
- Advanced GitOps Integrations (intelligent insights on upgrade success probability, smart config migration suggestions, enhanced open PRs showing detailed changes at manifest/resource level)
