<!-- **Note:** When your KEP is complete, all of these comment blocks should be removed. To get started with this template: - [X] **Pick a hosting SIG.** Make sure that the problem space is something the SIG is interested in taking up. KEPs should not be checked in without a sponsoring SIG. - [X] **Create an issue in kubernetes/enhancements** When filing an enhancement tracking issue, please make sure to complete all fields in that template. One of the fields asks for a link to the KEP. You can leave that blank until this KEP is filed, and then go back to the enhancement and add the link. - [X] **Make a copy of this template directory.** Copy this template into the owning SIG's directory and name it `NNNN-short-descriptive-title`, where `NNNN` is the issue number (with no leading-zero padding) assigned to your enhancement above. - [X] **Fill out as much of the kep.yaml file as you can.** At minimum, you should fill in the "Title", "Authors", "Owning-sig", "Status", and date-related fields. - [X] **Fill out this file as best you can.** At minimum, you should fill in the "Summary" and "Motivation" sections. These should be easy if you've preflighted the idea of the KEP with the appropriate SIG(s). - [ ] **Create a PR for this KEP.** Assign it to people in the SIG who are sponsoring this process. - [ ] **Merge early and iterate.** Avoid getting hung up on specific details and instead aim to get the goals of the KEP clarified and merged quickly. The best way to do this is to just start with the high-level sections and fill out details incrementally in subsequent PRs. Just because a KEP is merged does not mean it is complete or approved. Any KEP marked as `provisional` is a working document and subject to change. You can denote sections that are under active debate as follows: ``` <<[UNRESOLVED optional short context or usernames ]>> Stuff that is being argued. <<[/UNRESOLVED]>> ``` When editing KEPS, aim for tightly-scoped, single-topic PRs to keep discussions focused. If you disagree with what is already in a document, open a new PR with suggested changes. One KEP corresponds to one "feature" or "enhancement" for its whole lifecycle. You do not need a new KEP to move from beta to GA, for example. If new details emerge that belong in the KEP, edit the KEP. Once a feature has become "implemented", major changes should get new KEPs. The canonical place for the latest set of instructions (and the likely source of this file) is [here](/keps/NNNN-kep-template/README.md). **Note:** Any PRs to move a KEP to `implementable`, or significant changes once it is marked `implementable`, must be approved by each of the KEP approvers. If none of those approvers are still appropriate, then changes to that list should be approved by the remaining approvers and/or the owning SIG (or SIG Architecture for cross-cutting KEPs). -->

KEP-5008: Move Headlamp to the SIG UI

<!-- This is the title of your KEP. Keep it short, simple, and descriptive. A good title can help communicate what the KEP is and should be considered as part of any review. --> <!-- A table of contents is helpful for quickly jumping to sections of a KEP and for highlighting any additional information provided beyond the standard KEP template. Ensure the TOC is wrapped with <code>&lt;!-- toc --&rt;&lt;!-- /toc --&rt;</code> tags, and then generate with `hack/update-toc.sh`. --> <!-- toc -->

• Summary
• Motivation
  • Background
  • Feature highlights
  • Goals
  • Non-Goals
• Proposal
  • User Stories
    • Story 1
    • Story 2
    • Story 3
    • Story 4
    • Story 5
    • Story 6
  • Notes/Constraints/Caveats (Optional)
  • Risks and Mitigations
• Design Details
  • Test Plan
    • Prerequisite testing updates
    • Unit tests
    • Integration tests
    • e2e tests
  • Graduation Criteria
  • Upgrade / Downgrade Strategy
  • Version Skew Strategy
• Production Readiness Review Questionnaire
  • Feature Enablement and Rollback
  • Rollout, Upgrade and Rollback Planning
  • Monitoring Requirements
  • Dependencies
  • Scalability
  • Troubleshooting
• Implementation History
• Drawbacks
• Alternatives
• Infrastructure Needed (Optional)

<!-- /toc -->

§ Summary

<!-- This section is incredibly important for producing high-quality, user-focused documentation such as release notes or a development roadmap. It should be possible to collect this information before implementation begins, in order to avoid requiring implementors to split their attention between writing release notes and implementing the feature itself. KEP editors and SIG Docs should help to ensure that the tone and content of the `Summary` section is useful for a wide audience. A good summary is probably at least a paragraph in length. Both in this section and below, follow the guidelines of the [documentation style guide]. In particular, wrap lines to a reasonable length, to make it easier for reviewers to cite specific portions, and to minimize diff churn on updates. [documentation style guide]: https://github.com/kubernetes/community/blob/master/contributors/guide/style-guide.md -->

This proposal aims to improve the graphical user interface experience in Kubernetes, particularly in what comes to flexibility of UI solutions, and including the desktop experience it provides, by having the Headlamp project and its maintainers join the SIG UI.

§ Motivation

<!-- This section is for explicitly listing the motivation, goals, and non-goals of this KEP. Describe why the change is important and the benefits to users. The motivation section can optionally provide links to [experience reports] to demonstrate the interest in a KEP within the wider Kubernetes community. [experience reports]: https://github.com/golang/go/wiki/ExperienceReports -->

The driving motivation behind this proposal is to provide both a great out of the box experience for end users and a foundation for vendors and other projects to integrate with and build upon. Essentially, we think Headlamps' ability to be adapted and used across many scenarios allows it to serve as a central hub for the CNCF community and projects.

Given the adotion of Headlamp as a tool or as a base building block for other solutions by different companies and organizations, having Headlamp as part of the Kubernetes project under the SIG UI will also allow us to deepen the community ties as we continue to develop the project. This Github issue tracks the progress of items related to this move.

Background

Headlamp is a Kubernetes UI that can run as a Desktop application and an in-cluster web interface. It is designed to be extended using its robust plugin system. This allows vendors or projects to adapt it to their use case and for the project to deliver builds for various use cases.

Headlamp is currently available in two versions:

• Headlamp refers to the project and the default distribution of Headlamp which ships with core Kubernetes UI functionality (see the next bullet point) plus a set of plugins that the project thinks are generally useful for all users in order to provide a rich and relevant Kubernetes user experience.
• Headlamp Base does not include any plugins. It only includes features that the project deems universally desired in a Kubernetes UI. This is designed for builders looking to have a solid base on which to extend the user experience. They would generally create custom plugins to customize the user experience, include any existing plugins they desire and then theme the UI to fit their branding.

Each version is available as a desktop experience and an in-cluster experience. For the default build, the set of plugins differs between the in-cluster and desktop installations as there are different user profiles for each environment. For example, the plugin that allows managing plugins is not included in the in-cluster environment as the cluster admin generally determines which plugins to provide to the cluster users.

Feature highlights

Headlamp has a number of features that we think are interesting for users and developers/vendors. Some of those are:

• A robust plugin system for customization and integrations;
• Supports both desktop and in-cluster modes;
• Under very active development, with dedicated resources assigned to it in addition to the active external contributors;
• Built on a very common technology stack (Typescript, React, Material UI, Vite, Go)
• Multi-cluster support
• Graph view, displaying a relational map of a clusters
• Access and easy set up of community plugins

Goals

<!-- List the specific goals of the KEP. What is it trying to achieve? How will we know that this has succeeded? -->

With this proposal we aim to provide the Kubernetes project with the following.

• A tool to more easily onboard new and beginner-level users
• A UI that serves as a base for vendors to build upon
• A modern UI developer environment
• A feature-rich UI
• A desktop user experience
• An integration point for other CNCF and external projects, especially those without a UI focus

Non-Goals

<!-- What is out of scope for this KEP? Listing non-goals helps to focus discussion and make progress. -->

This proposal does not propose to force people who are using the current Dashboard to move to Headlamp.

§ Proposal

<!-- This is where we get down to the specifics of what the proposal actually is. This should have enough detail that reviewers can understand exactly what you're proposing, but should not include things like API designs or implementation. What is the desired outcome and how do we measure success?. The "Design Details" section below is for the real nitty-gritty. -->

The proposal is to continue the development of Headlamp as part of the Kubernetes project, under the auspices of Kubernetes SIG UI.

This means the Headlamp project repo is moved under the kubernetes-sigs GitHub organization.

There are two other repositories under the current Headlamp K8s org: plugins, and website; these representing the plugins that maintained by Headlamp's core developers, and the website of the project. This proposal entails only the move of the headlamp-k8s/headlamp repository under the kubernetes-sig organization. Other repositories may be proposed to be moved as well at a later stage.

User Stories

<!-- Detail the things that people will be able to do if this KEP is implemented. Include as much detail as possible so that people can understand the "how" of the system. The goal here is to make this feel real for users without getting bogged down. -->

One of Headlamp's strengths is that it was designed to both deliver a great end-user experience and be a platform for others to build upon and integrate with. This is demonstrated by the wide range of user stories it enables and one of the reasons we believe it can become a hub for the community.

Note: Using “Headlamp” in the following examples to avoid confusion.

Story 1

As an end user I want to get an overview of my cluster. I start the Headlamp Desktop app which picks up my clusters from my kubeconfig and I’m now able to explore my clusters.

Story 2

As a new Kubernetes user I want to learn more about Kubernetes. I use the Headlamp Desktop app to guide me in installing a local kubernetes cluster using minikube. Once my local cluster is installed I’m presented with a tutorial plugin which guides me through the various aspects of the UI and Kubernetes concepts.

Story 3

As a cluster admin I was to provide a user interface for my users. I choose which plugins I want to include for my users and deploy Headlamp to my cluster. I have peace of mind knowing that Headlamp respects the RBAC rules that each user has.

Story 4

As a vendor I want to create a new Kubernetes user interface for my system. I take Headlamp Base and build a set of plugins and take some of the existing plugins to create my custom UI. I customize the UI with my company/product branding and provide that to my users with or without them knowing it’s Headlamp. If I desire, I can even allow my users to extend my customer UI using the same way I did.

Story 5

As a CNCF or external project, I want to provide my users with a graphical experience but I don’t want to provide a full blown UI. I create a plugin that can be as simple as adding a column to a table (ex. OpenCost plugin) or as complex as creating a dedicated view with a sidebar entry and integrations across the various resource types (ex. Flux plugin). Example: See the OpenCost and Flux plugins.

Story 6

As a CNCF or external project I have a dedicated UI but that UI is not providing a full Kubernetes context. To provide my users with a Kubernetes context I create a link from my project to the Headlamp instance running in the cluster and create a plugin for Headlamp that provides the user in context views or links to my projects resources. This allows the user to easily navigate between the projects. (E.g. Backstage plugin)

Notes/Constraints/Caveats (Optional)

<!-- What are the caveats to the proposal? What are some important details that didn't come across above? Go in to as much detail as necessary here. This might be a good place to talk about core concepts and how they relate. -->

Risks and Mitigations

<!-- What are the risks of this proposal, and how do we mitigate? Think broadly. For example, consider both security and how this will impact the larger Kubernetes ecosystem. How will security be reviewed, and by whom? How will UX be reviewed, and by whom? Consider including folks who also work outside the SIG or subproject. -->

§ Design Details

<!-- This section should contain enough information that the specifics of your change are understandable. This may include API specs (though not always required) or even code snippets. If there's any ambiguity about HOW your proposal will be implemented, this is the place to discuss them. -->

Test Plan

<!-- **Note:** *Not required until targeted at a release.* The goal is to ensure that we don't accept enhancements with inadequate testing. All code is expected to have adequate tests (eventually with coverage expectations). Please adhere to the [Kubernetes testing guidelines][testing-guidelines] when drafting this test plan. [testing-guidelines]: https://git.k8s.io/community/contributors/devel/sig-testing/testing.md -->

[ ] I/we understand the owners of the involved components may require updates to existing tests to make this code solid enough prior to committing the changes necessary to implement this enhancement.

Prerequisite testing updates

<!-- Based on reviewers feedback describe what additional tests need to be added prior implementing this enhancement to ensure the enhancements have also solid foundations. -->

Unit tests

<!-- In principle every added code should have complete unit test coverage, so providing the exact set of tests will not bring additional value. However, if complete unit test coverage is not possible, explain the reason of it together with explanation why this is acceptable. --> <!-- Additionally, for Alpha try to enumerate the core package you will be touching to implement this enhancement and provide the current unit coverage for those in the form of: - <package>: <date> - <current test coverage> The data can be easily read from: https://testgrid.k8s.io/sig-testing-canaries#ci-kubernetes-coverage-unit This can inform certain test coverage improvements that we want to do before extending the production code to implement this enhancement. -->

• <package>: <date> - <test coverage>

Integration tests

<!-- Integration tests are contained in k8s.io/kubernetes/test/integration. Integration tests allow control of the configuration parameters used to start the binaries under test. This is different from e2e tests which do not allow configuration of parameters. Doing this allows testing non-default options and multiple different and potentially conflicting command line options. --> <!-- This question should be filled when targeting a release. For Alpha, describe what tests will be added to ensure proper quality of the enhancement. For Beta and GA, add links to added tests together with links to k8s-triage for those tests: https://storage.googleapis.com/k8s-triage/index.html -->

• <test>: <link to test coverage>

e2e tests

<!-- This question should be filled when targeting a release. For Alpha, describe what tests will be added to ensure proper quality of the enhancement. For Beta and GA, add links to added tests together with links to k8s-triage for those tests: https://storage.googleapis.com/k8s-triage/index.html We expect no non-infra related flakes in the last month as a GA graduation criteria. -->

• <test>: <link to test coverage>

Graduation Criteria

<!-- **Note:** *Not required until targeted at a release.* Define graduation milestones. These may be defined in terms of API maturity, [feature gate] graduations, or as something else. The KEP should keep this high-level with a focus on what signals will be looked at to determine graduation. Consider the following in developing the graduation criteria for this enhancement: - [Maturity levels (`alpha`, `beta`, `stable`)][maturity-levels] - [Feature gate][feature gate] lifecycle - [Deprecation policy][deprecation-policy] Clearly define what graduation means by either linking to the [API doc definition](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/kubernetes-api/#api-versioning) or by redefining what graduation means. In general we try to use the same stages (alpha, beta, GA), regardless of how the functionality is accessed. [feature gate]: https://git.k8s.io/community/contributors/devel/sig-architecture/feature-gates.md [maturity-levels]: https://git.k8s.io/community/contributors/devel/sig-architecture/api_changes.md#alpha-beta-and-stable-versions [deprecation-policy]: https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/using-api/deprecation-policy/ Below are some examples to consider, in addition to the aforementioned [maturity levels][maturity-levels]. #### Alpha - Feature implemented behind a feature flag - Initial e2e tests completed and enabled #### Beta - Gather feedback from developers and surveys - Complete features A, B, C - Additional tests are in Testgrid and linked in KEP #### GA - N examples of real-world usage - N installs - More rigorous forms of testing—e.g., downgrade tests and scalability tests - Allowing time for feedback **Note:** Generally we also wait at least two releases between beta and GA/stable, because there's no opportunity for user feedback, or even bug reports, in back-to-back releases. **For non-optional features moving to GA, the graduation criteria must include [conformance tests].** [conformance tests]: https://git.k8s.io/community/contributors/devel/sig-architecture/conformance-tests.md #### Deprecation - Announce deprecation and support policy of the existing flag - Two versions passed since introdu