Simplifying Kubernetes Management with Headlamp (and the Flux Plugin)

Kubernetes has become the go-to orchestration system for containerized applications, but managing it isn’t always user-friendly. Command-line tools like kubectl are powerful, but not ideal for everyone especially for those who prefer visual insights or need to onboard new team members. This is where Headlamp comes into play.

In this post, we’ll break down what Headlamp is, how it’s used, highlight its top features, and dive into its Flux plugin for GitOps integration.

What is Headlamp?

Headlamp is an open-source web-based Kubernetes user interface (UI). Unlike the official Kubernetes Dashboard, Headlamp provides a more modern, extensible, and developer-focused experience. It allows users to monitor, inspect, and manage Kubernetes clusters with a clean UI, reducing reliance on CLI commands.

Built using React and Node.js, Headlamp connects directly to your Kubernetes API server and works out-of-the-box with minimal configuration.

How Headlamp is Provided as a Big Bang Package

Headlamp is deployed inside your Kubernetes cluster. It interacts with the Kubernetes API server to fetch and display real-time cluster information.

Common use cases include: • Monitoring cluster health and resources • Inspecting workloads, services, and namespaces • Managing RBAC, secrets, and config maps • Debugging pods and viewing logs • Simplifying developer access to production and staging environments

For developers or DevOps engineers managing multiple clusters, Headlamp provides a centralized way to visualize and interact with those environments in one place.

Key Features

Here’s a closer look at some of Headlamp’s standout features: 🔍 Real-Time Cluster Insights It provides live updates of cluster objects (pods, nodes, services, etc.), helping you keep an eye on what’s happening in real time. A map view on how each namepsace is structured and connected (pods, services, endpoints, config maps, etc.) 💡 Plugin System Headlamp is extensible through plugins. Developers can write custom plugins to add new views, tools, or external integrations directly into the interface. 📦 Multi-Cluster Support Manage multiple clusters from a single Headlamp instance—great for teams that deal with staging, QA, and production environments separately. 🧑‍💻 Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) Headlamp respects Kubernetes RBAC configurations, showing users only what they are authorized to access. It also helps manage RBAC policies through the UI. 📜 Log Viewer & Terminal You can stream logs and open an interactive shell into a container directly from the UI—ideal for quick debugging.

GitOps Made Easy with the Flux Plugin

Big Bang’s Headlamp also supports GitOps workflows via its Flux plugin. This will allow Headlamp to keep the Kubernetes clusters in sync with configuration stored within Git. The plugin is automatically installed into the image so no need to configure it.

What the Flux Plugin Does: • Displays Flux-managed resources like Kustomizations, HelmReleases, GitRepositories, and more. • Shows sync status, errors, and drift detection. • Offers visual feedback on GitOps workflows, making troubleshooting easier.

This plugin bridges the gap between declarative infrastructure and observability, giving platform teams and developers more visibility and control over their deployments.

Benefits to using Headlamp

• Lightweight and simple • Open-source and easily extendable/customizable with JavaScript/React plugins • Easy to deploy within a cluster • Supports RBAC, enabling fine-grain access • Secured by design, leveraging native Kubernetes authentication