README.md
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Website โข Quickstart โข Documentation โข Blog โข Slack
</div>vCluster creates fully functional virtual Kubernetes clusters that run inside namespaces of a host cluster. Each virtual cluster has its own API server, runs on shared or dedicated infrastructure, and gives you flexible tenancy optionsโfrom simple namespaces to fully dedicated clusters.
40M+ virtual clusters deployed by companies like Adobe, CoreWeave, Atlan, and NVIDIA.
<div align="center"> </div># Install vCluster CLI
brew install loft-sh/tap/vcluster
# Create a virtual cluster
vcluster create my-vcluster --namespace team-x
# Use kubectl as usual - you're now in your virtual cluster!
kubectl get namespaces
Prerequisites: A running Kubernetes cluster and kubectl configured.
No Kubernetes cluster? Try vCluster instantly in your browser:
| Version | Feature | Description |
|---|---|---|
| v0.30 | vCluster VPN & Netris Integration | Tailscale-powered overlay network and automated network isolation for hybrid infrastructures |
| v0.29 | Standalone Mode | Run vCluster without a host clusterโdirectly on bare metal or VMs |
| v0.28 | Auto Nodes | Karpenter-powered dynamic autoscaling for private nodes |
| v0.27 | Private Nodes | External nodes with full CNI/CSI isolation |
| v0.26 | Hybrid Scheduling & Namespace Syncing | Multiple scheduler support for AI/ML workloads and fine-grained namespace synchronization |
๐ Full Changelog
| Use Case | Description | Learn More |
|---|---|---|
| GPU Cloud Providers | Launch managed K8s for GPUs. Give customers isolated, production-grade Kubernetes fast. | View โ |
| Internal GPU Platform | Maximize GPU utilization without sacrificing isolation. Self-service access for AI/ML teams. | View โ |
| AI Factory | Run AI on-prem where your data lives. Multi-tenant K8s for training, fine-tuning, inference. | View โ |
| Bare Metal K8s | Run Kubernetes on bare metal with zero VMs. Isolation without expensive overhead. | View โ |
| Software Vendors | Ship Kubernetes-native software. Each customer gets their own isolated virtual cluster. | View โ |
| Cost Savings | Cut Kubernetes costs by consolidating clusters. Sleep mode pauses inactive clusters. | View โ |
vCluster offers multiple deployment architectures. Each builds on the previous, offering progressively more isolation.
| Shared Nodes | Dedicated Nodes | Private Nodes | Standalone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host Cluster | Required | Required | Required | Not Required |
| Node Isolation | โ | โ | โ | โ |
| CNI/CSI Isolation | โ | โ | โ | โ |
| Best For | Dev/test, cost | Production | Compliance, GPU | Bare metal, edge |
sync:
fromHost:
nodes:
enabled: false # Uses pseudo nodes
sync:
fromHost:
nodes:
enabled: true
selector:
labels:
tenant: my-tenant
privateNodes:
enabled: true
controlPlane:
service:
spec:
type: NodePort
controlPlane:
standalone:
enabled: true
joinNode:
enabled: true
privateNodes:
enabled: true
autoNodes:
enabled: true
nodeProvider: <provider>
privateNodes:
enabled: true
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| ๐๏ธ Isolated Control Plane | Each vCluster gets its own API server, controller manager, and data storeโcomplete Kubernetes API isolation |
| ๐ Shared Platform Stack | Leverage the host cluster's CNI, CSI, ingress, and other infrastructureโno duplicate platform components |
| ๐ Security & Multi-Tenancy | Tenants get admin access inside their vCluster while having minimal permissions on the host cluster |
| ๐ Resource Syncing | Bidirectional sync of any Kubernetes resource. Pods, services, secrets, configmaps, CRDs, and more |
| ๐ค Sleep Mode | Pause inactive virtual clusters to save resources. Instant wake when needed |
| ๐ Integrations | Native support for cert-manager, external-secrets, KubeVirt, Istio, and metrics-server |
| ๐ High Availability | Multiple replicas with leader election. Embedded etcd or external databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, RDS) |
Also used by: NVIDIA, ABBYY, Lintasarta, Precisely, Shipwire, Trade Connectors, and many more.
| Event | Speaker | Title | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| KubeCon NA 2025 (Keynote) | Lukas Gentele | Autoscaling GPU Clusters Anywhere โ Hyperscalers, Neoclouds & Baremetal | Watch |
| Platform Engineering Day NA 2025 (Keynote) | Saiyam Pathak | AI-Ready Platforms: Scaling Teams Without Scaling Costs | Watch |
| Rejekts NA 2025 | Hrittik Roy, Saiyam Pathak | Beyond the Default Scheduler: Navigating GPU MultiTenancy in AI Era | Watch |
| KubeCon EU 2025 | Paco Xu, Saiyam Pathak | A Huge Cluster or Multi-Clusters? Identifying the Bottleneck | Watch |
| HashiConf 2025 | Scott McAllister | GPU sharing done right: Secrets, security, and scaling with Vault and vCluster | Watch |
| FOSDEM 2025 | Hrittik Roy, Saiyam Pathak | Accelerating CI Pipelines: Rapid Kubernetes Testing with vCluster | Watch |
| KubeCon India 2024 (Keynote) | Saiyam Pathak | From Outage To Observability: Lessons From a Kubernetes Meltdown | Watch |
| CNCF Book Club 2024 | Marc Boorshtein | Kubernetes - An Enterprise Guide (vCluster) | Watch |
| KCD NYC 2024 | Lukas Gentele | Tenant Autonomy & Isolation In Multi-Tenant Kubernetes Clusters | Watch |
| KubeCon EU 2023 | Ilia Medvedev, Kostis Kapelonis | How We Securely Scaled Multi-Tenancy with VCluster, Crossplane, and Argo CD | Watch |
| KubeCon NA 2022 | Joseph Sandoval, Dan Garfield | How Adobe Planned For Scale With Argo CD, Cluster API, And VCluster | Watch |
| KubeCon NA 2022 | Whitney Lee, Mauricio Salatino | What a RUSH! Let's Deploy Straight to Production! | Watch |
| TGI Kubernetes 2022 | TGI | TGI Kubernetes 188: vCluster | Watch |
| Mirantis Tech Talks 2022 | Mirantis | Multi-tenancy & Isolation using Virtual Clusters (vCluster) in K8s | Watch |
| Solo Webinar 2022 | Rich Burroughs, Fabian Keller | Speed your Istio development environment with vCluster | Watch |
| KubeCon NA 2021 | Lukas Gentele | Beyond Namespaces: Virtual Clusters are the Future of Multi-Tenancy | Watch |
| Channel | Speaker | Title | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| TeKanAid 2024 | TeKanAid | Getting Started with vCluster: Build Your IDP with Backstage, Crossplane, and ArgoCD | Watch |
| Rawkode 2021 | David McKay, Lukas Gentele | Hands on Introduction to vCluster | Watch |
| Kubesimplify 2021 | Saiyam Pathak, Lukas Gentele | Let's Learn vCluster | Watch |
| TechWorld with Nana 2021 | Nana | Build your Self-Service Kubernetes Platform with Virtual Clusters | Watch |
| DevOps Toolkit 2021 | Viktor Farcic | How To Create Virtual Kubernetes Clusters | Watch |
๐ YouTube Channel โข Blog
The project uses custom golangci-lint plugins from e2e-framework that enforce correctness patterns in Ginkgo test code:
| Linter | What it checks |
|---|---|
defercleanupcluster | Every cluster.Create() call must have a matching DeferCleanup(cluster.Destroy(...)) in the same scope |
defercleanupctx | DeferCleanup must not be called with a setup.Func - use e2e.DeferCleanupCtx(ctx, fn) instead |
ginkgoreturnctx | Ginkgo node functions (BeforeEach, It, etc.) that reassign their context.Context parameter must also return context.Context |
describefunc | Package-level var _ = Describe(...) with cluster.Use() must use an exported function pattern instead of auto-registration |
These linters run automatically as part of just lint and just lint-e2e.
The custom binary is auto-rebuilt when .custom-gcl.yml changes.
# Run custom linters against e2e-next (with autofix)
just lint-e2e
# Rebuild custom golangci-lint binary explicitly
just build-linters
Use //nolint:<linter-name> with a reason:
ctx, err = cluster.Create(...)(...) //nolint:defercleanupcluster // destroyed in SynchronizedAfterSuite
GoLand (2025.1+) has built-in golangci-lint support, but it must be pointed at
the custom-built binary - the system golangci-lint doesn't know about our
plugins.
just build-linters<project-root>/tools/golangci-lint.golangci.ymlFindings from the custom linters will appear inline in the editor and in the Problems tool window.
Troubleshooting: If you see "unknown linter" errors, you're probably running the system binary instead of the custom one. Verify the executable path in Settings > Go > Linters.
After updating linter versions in
.custom-gcl.yml, re-runjust build-lintersand restart the GoLand inspection (or reopen the file).
We welcome contributions! Check out our Contributing Guide to get started.
| Resource | Link |
|---|---|
| ๐ Documentation | vcluster.com/docs |
| ๐ฌ Slack Community | slack.loft.sh |
| ๐ Website | vcluster.com |
| ๐ฆ X (Twitter) | @vcluster |
| ๐ผ LinkedIn | vCluster |
| ๐ฌ Chat with Expert | Start Chat |
vCluster is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License.
ยฉ 2026 Loft Labs. All rights reserved.
Made with โค๏ธ by the vCluster community.
โญ Star us on GitHub โ it helps!
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