An not-comprehensive and biased list of Kubernetes resources that I have found useful

Kubernetes distributions #

• k3s
• RKE2
• k0s
• Talos Linux

Development clusters #

• Minikube: official tool for easily deploying test clusters
• kind: Kubernetes in Docker
• k3d: k3s in Docker
• microk8s: Canonical’s Kubernetes distribution packaged via Snap

Tools/applications #

Command line #

Note: most Kubernetes client tools on a machine reference the same config file at $HOME/.kube/config

• kubectl: official Kubernetes command line client
• k9s: terminal-based Kubernetes UI – makes it much easier to quickly visualize what’s in your cluster
• helm: ecosystem for easily distributing/consuming applications via Kubernetes
• OpenTofu: open source fork of Terraform for deploying clusters (lots of tooling around deploying Kubernetes in various cloud providers with Terraform/OpenTofu)

Management #

• Rancher: suite of tools for easily managing Kubernetes deployments:
  • Longhorn: Kubernetes storage made easy

Continuous Deployment tools for codifying K8s deployments: #

• ArgoCD
• FluxCD

Development helpers #

• Microsoft’s Kubernetes tools for VSCode
• VSCode YAML extension
• ALE for Vim:
  • Specifically, YAML support: https://github.com/dense-analysis/ale/blob/master/supported-tools.md

Misc #

• 1Password Operator: manage secrets with 1Password
• Tailscale Operator: manage Kubernetes networking with Tailscale

Learning resources/references #

• Kubernetes docs
• Learn Kubernetes Basics tutorial
• Rancher Academy

Misc #

My homelab Kubernetes deployments are templated with Nix here: https://github.com/heywoodlh/flakes/tree/main/kube

My GitHub Star Containers list: https://github.com/stars/heywoodlh/lists/containers