README
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What is vCluster?
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 options—from simple namespaces to fully dedicated clusters.
40M+ virtual clusters deployed by companies like Adobe, CoreWeave, Atlan, and NVIDIA.
🚀 Quick Start
# 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.
🎮 Try Without Installing
No Kubernetes cluster? Try vCluster instantly in your browser:
🆕 What's New
| 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 cluster—directly 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 |
🎯 Use Cases
| Use Case | Description | Learn More |
|---|---|---|
| GPU Cloud Providers | Launch managed K8s for GPUs. Give customers isolated, production-grade Kubernetes fast. | View → |
| Internal GPU Platform | Maximize GPU utilization without sacrificing isolation. Self-service access for AI/ML teams. | View → |
| AI Factory | Run AI on-prem where your data lives. Multi-tenant K8s for training, fine-tuning, inference. | View → |
| Bare Metal K8s | Run Kubernetes on bare metal with zero VMs. Isolation without expensive overhead. | View → |
| Software Vendors | Ship Kubernetes-native software. Each customer gets their own isolated virtual cluster. | View → |
| Cost Savings | Cut Kubernetes costs by consolidating clusters. Sleep mode pauses inactive clusters. | View → |
🏗️ Architectures
vCluster offers multiple deployment architectures. Each builds on the previous, offering progressively more isolation.
Architecture Comparison
| Shared Nodes | Dedicated Nodes | Private Nodes | Standalone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host Cluster | Required | Required | Required | Not Required |
| Node Isolation | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| CNI/CSI Isolation | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Best For | Dev/test, cost | Production | Compliance, GPU | Bare metal, edge |
Minimal Configuration
🔹 Shared Nodes — Maximum density, minimum cost
Virtual clusters share the host cluster's nodes. Workloads run as regular pods in a namespace.
sync:
fromHost:
nodes:
enabled: false # Uses pseudo nodes
🔹 Dedicated Nodes — Isolated compute on labeled node pools
Virtual clusters get their own set of labeled host nodes. Workloads are isolated but still managed by the host.
sync:
fromHost:
nodes:
enabled: true
selector:
labels:
tenant: my-tenant
🔹 Private Nodes v0.27+ — Full CNI/CSI isolation
External nodes join the virtual cluster directly with their own CNI, CSI, and networking stack. Complete workload isolation from the host cluster.
privateNodes:
enabled: true
controlPlane:
service:
spec:
type: NodePort
🔹 vCluster Standalone v0.29+ — No host cluster required
Run vCluster without any host cluster. Deploy the control plane directly on bare metal or VMs. The highest level of isolation—vCluster becomes the cluster.
controlPlane:
standalone:
enabled: true
joinNode:
enabled: true
privateNodes:
enabled: true
⚡ Auto Nodes v0.28+ — Karpenter-powered dynamic autoscaling
Automatically provision and deprovision private nodes based on workload demand. Works across public cloud, private cloud, hybrid, and bare metal environments.
autoNodes:
enabled: true
nodeProvider: <provider>
privateNodes:
enabled: true
✨ Key Features
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| 🎛️ Isolated Control Plane | Each vCluster gets its own API server, controller manager, and data store—complete Kubernetes API isolation |
| 🔗 Shared Platform Stack | Leverage the host cluster's CNI, CSI, ingress, and other infrastructure—no duplicate platform components |
| 🔒 Security & Multi-Tenancy | Tenants get admin access inside their vCluster while having minimal permissions on the host cluster |
| 🔄 Resource Syncing | Bidirectional sync of any Kubernetes resource. Pods, services, secrets, configmaps, CRDs, and more |
| 💤 Sleep Mode | Pause inactive virtual clusters to save resources. Instant wake when needed |
| 🔌 Integrations | Native support for cert-manager, external-secrets, KubeVirt, Istio, and metrics-server |
| 📊 High Availability | Multiple replicas with leader election. Embedded etcd or external databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, RDS) |
🏢 Trusted By
| Atlan 100 → 1 clusters |
Aussie Broadband 99% faster provisioning |
CoreWeave GPU cloud at scale |
| Lintasarta 170+ virtual clusters in prod |
Fortune 500 Insurance Company 70% reduction in Kubernetes cost |
Scanmetrix 99% faster deployments |
| Deloitte Enterprise K8s platform |
Ada 10x Developer Productivity |
Trade Connectors 50% reduction in K8s ops cost |
Also used by: NVIDIA, ABBYY, Lintasarta, Precisely, Shipwire, Trade Connectors, and many more.
📚 Learn More
🎤 Conference Talks
| Event | Speaker | Title | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| KubeCon NA 2025 (Keynote) | Lukas Gentele | Autoscaling GPU Clusters Anywhere — 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 |
🎬 Community Voice
| 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 |
👉 YouTube Channel • Blog
🤝 Contributing
We welcome contributions! Check out our Contributing Guide to get started.
🔗 Links
| Resource | Link |
|---|---|
| 📖 Documentation | vcluster.com/docs |
| 💬 Slack Community | slack.loft.sh |
| 🌐 Website | vcluster.com |
| 🐦 X (Twitter) | @vcluster |
| vCluster | |
| 💬 Chat with Expert | Start Chat |
📜 License
vCluster is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License.
© 2026 Loft Labs. All rights reserved.
Made with ❤️ by the vCluster community.
⭐ Star us on GitHub — it helps!
Directories
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cmd
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vcluster
command
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vclusterctl
command
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hack
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assets/cmd
command
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compat-matrix
command
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load-testing
command
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schema
command
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pkg
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util/websocketproxy
Package websocketproxy is a reverse proxy for WebSocket connections.
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Package websocketproxy is a reverse proxy for WebSocket connections. |
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test
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