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Radar by Skyhook

What is Radar by Skyhook?

Radar is an open-source Kubernetes interface designed for the humans and AI agents that operate clusters. It addresses a common gap in Kubernetes workflows: clusters are easy to query with kubectl, but hard to understand. Radar presents a live cluster over two surfaces, a graphical UI for engineers and a built-in MCP server for AI assistants, so both can make sense of what is actually running.

Deployment
Radar runs as a single Go binary that talks to the Kubernetes API directly. It can run locally on an engineer's laptop with zero cluster-side installation, or be deployed in-cluster via Helm for shared team access. It requires no CRDs, works against any conformant cluster (GKE, EKS, AKS, minikube, kind, and k3s), and is airgapped-ready because it makes no external calls. Updates stream to the browser in real time using Kubernetes informers.

Key capabilities for engineers

  • Topology: a live, auto-laid-out graph of resource relationships, with a separate network-traffic view.
  • Resource explorer: full custom-resource auto-discovery, status and problem filtering (for example CrashLoopBackOff and ImagePullBackOff), and one-click access to YAML, logs, events, and related resources.
  • Event timeline: every Kubernetes event and change captured in one feed and retained beyond the default one-hour event TTL.
  • Log streaming and pod exec directly from the interface.
  • Image filesystem viewer: browse the contents of any container image without pulling it locally or shelling in.
  • Helm management: inspect values, compare revisions, and upgrade, roll back, or uninstall releases.
  • GitOps: first-class FluxCD and ArgoCD support, including sync status, health, and reconciliation controls.
  • Cluster audit: 31 best-practice checks across security, reliability, and efficiency, labeled to frameworks including NSA/CISA and CIS, each with remediation guidance.
  • TLS certificate expiry monitoring and OpenCost-based cost insights.

Capabilities for AI agents
Radar includes a native Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that lets assistants such as Claude, Cursor, and Copilot query a cluster through Radar. Responses are pre-processed and token-optimized rather than raw YAML, and the read tools are read-only by default, so AI assistants receive useful cluster context without unsafe write access.

Open source and editions
The Radar engine is licensed under Apache 2.0, self-hostable with no node or cluster limits, and free to use, with no feature gates or license keys. Radar Cloud is a hosted tier that runs the same engine as a lightweight in-cluster agent and adds capabilities that a single binary cannot provide on its own: fleet aggregation across all clusters, single sign-on (Google, GitHub, SAML, OIDC), scoped role-based access, persistent audit-log retention with SIEM export, and routed alerts through Slack, PagerDuty, Microsoft Teams, and webhooks. Radar Cloud is priced per cluster rather than per user, offers a free tier for up to three clusters, and carries SOC 2 Type 2 across all plans.

Differentiators
  • Serves both engineers and AI agents from one engine, rather than a UI alone.
  • Zero cluster-side installation in local mode, with a live view available in roughly 30 seconds.
  • Fully open-source core with no paywalled features.
  • Per-cluster pricing on the hosted tier, so adding team members does not increase cost.

Categories & Use Cases

Screenshots

Screenshot of Radar opens a real-time web UI in about 30 seconds - no agents, no CRDs, no account required. See cluster health, resources, and activity from a single binary running on your laptop or in-cluster.
Screenshot of An interactive, auto-laid-out graph of how your Kubernetes resources connect, with grouping by namespace or app label and instant detail on any node. Updates stream live as the cluster changes.
Screenshot of Kubernetes events and resource-change diffs in one real-time feed. See exactly what changed - replicas, images, config - and when, retained well past the default one-hour event TTL.
Screenshot of Manage Helm releases without leaving the UI: inspect values, compare revisions, and upgrade, roll back, or uninstall.
Screenshot of First-class FluxCD and ArgoCD support with sync status, health, and reconciliation controls, so you can see and fix drift from the same place you see the cluster.
Screenshot of A 31-check audit across security, reliability, and efficiency, with findings labeled to frameworks including NSA/CISA and CIS and paired with remediation guidance.
Screenshot of Status and problem filtering surfaces what is actually broken - CrashLoopBackOff, ImagePullBackOff, and more - with one-click access to YAML, logs, events, and related resources.
Screenshot of A live view of service-to-service network traffic, showing what is actually talking to what rather than what the manifests say should be.

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Screenshot of Radar opens a real-time web UI in about 30 seconds - no agents, no CRDs, no account required. See cluster health, resources, and activity from a single binary running on your laptop or in-cluster.

Technical Details

Technical Details
Deployment TypesOn-Premise, SaaS
Operating SystemsWindows
Mobile ApplicationNo

FAQs

How much does Radar by Skyhook cost?
Radar by Skyhook starts at $0.
What are Radar by Skyhook's top competitors?
Kubernetes Dashboard are common alternatives for Radar by Skyhook.