Kubernetes Previews

Deploy Kubernetes previews with enterprise-grade security and performance. Namespace’s Kubernetes Previews enable development teams to test applications in isolated, ephemeral clusters that mirror production environments, accelerating feature development while maintaining operational standards.

Getting Started

Create a preview cluster

Using the CLI, log into your workspace. If you’re accessing Namespace from a cloud provider or your CI platform, we recommend to set up workflow federation instead.
nsc login

Create a Kubernetes cluster to host your preview.

nsc create

Output

# Outputs the ID of the created cluster, e.g.: 072higp5dg0bg

Apply your Kubernetes configuration

Point your local kubectl to the preview cluster.

nsc kubeconfig write 072higp5dg0bg --output_to /path/kubeconfig.yaml
export KUBECONFIG=/path/kubeconfig.yaml

Deploy your application to the preview.
kubectl run nginx --image=nginx

Expose your application

Expose a service of type LoadBalancer to wire access to your application.
kubectl expose pod nginx --type=LoadBalancer --port=80

Expose your service with Namespace.

nsc expose kubernetes 072higp5dg0bg --service=nginx --name=nginx-foobar \
   --namespace=default

Output

Exported port 80 from default/nginx:
https://nginx-foobar-072higp5dg0bg.ord2.namespaced.app

How it works

Namespace preview clusters build on Namespace Compute to deliver interactive access to a flexible, isolated test environment. When creating an instance, Namespace provisions a ready-to-use Kubernetes cluster in it and provides seamless access to the Kubernetes API. You can deploy and expose your applications using your existing tooling. Namespace will generate public, authenticated ingress URLs using managed TLS certificates, whether you use a Namespace-provided app domain, or employ custom domain configurations. Namespace ingresses preserve original headers for application-level routing and support path-based and header-based routing within your application.

Kubernetes API access

Namespace previews provide full access to the Kubernetes API under test. To configure your local kubectl client to access the remote test environment, use our CLI to produce and apply a kubeconfig.

nsc kubeconfig write <instance-id>

Output

Start using it by setting:
  export KUBECONFIG=/path/kubeconfig.yaml

To access the Kubernetes API without reconfiguring your local client, use the inline kubectl integration:

nsc kubectl <instance-id> get pods,services

Monitoring and Debugging

By building on Namespace Compute, you directly benefit from its comprehensive observability features providing deep insights into preview environment performance and behavior.

Real-time Logging Access centralized logs from all pods, from the CLI or the Dashboard.
Performance Monitoring Track resource utilization and network performance.

In case Kubernetes API access is not sufficient, Namespace also grants root SSH access to each instance, allowing you to inspect the underlying infrastructure powering the preview.

Wildcard Ingresses

For complex applications requiring multiple endpoints or dynamic routing, Namespace supports wildcard ingress configurations. Wildcard ingresses excel in scenarios requiring microservice architectures with dynamic service discovery and when testing API gateways managing multiple backend services.

Enable wildcard support

Create a cluster with wildcard ingress capability.

nsc create --ingress wildcard

This outputs the ID of the created cluster, e.g.: 072higp5dg0bg

Deploy and expose your applications

nsc kubectl 072higp5dg0bg create deployment app --image=myapp:latest
nsc kubectl 072higp5dg0bg expose deployment app --type=LoadBalancer --port=80

Configure a wildcard ingress

nsc expose kubernetes 072higp5dg0bg --service app --wildcard --port=80 \
  --namespace=default

After creating a wildcard ingress, all subdomain traffic is routed to your specified service: *.<instance-id>.<region>.namespaced.app

Automatic Previews

Namespace’s Kubernetes Ingress Manager automates preview creation through service annotations, eliminating manual exposure commands and integrating preview generation directly into your deployment pipeline.

Enable the ingress manager

Create a preview cluster, enable the ingress manager and point your local kubectl to it.

nsc create --features EXP_KUBERNETES_INGRESS_MANAGER

Outputs the ID of the created cluster, e.g.: dr9flh12238uk

Output

Created new ephemeral environment! ID: dr9flh12238uk
More at: https://cloud.namespace.so/workspace/instance/dr9flh12238uk

Save the generated kubeconfig path, then configure kubectl to use it.

nsc kubeconfig write dr9flh12238uk --output_to /tmp/kubeconfig-path
export KUBECONFIG="$(cat /tmp/kubeconfig-path)"

Annotation-based service exposure

Control preview generation through Kubernetes service annotations:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: frontend
  annotations:
    kubernetes.namespace.so/expose: "true"
    kubernetes.namespace.so/exposed-port-80: "ingress-name=my-app"
spec:
  selector:
    app: frontend
  ports:
    - port: 80
      targetPort: 8080
  type: LoadBalancer

Verify the exposed ingress

nsc ingress list dr9flh12238uk

Output

https://my-app-80-dr9flh12238uk.ord2.namespaced.app (port: 80; default/frontend)

Annotation Reference

Annotation key	Valid values
kubernetes.namespace.so/expose Enable automatic preview generation.	Either `true` or `false`.
kubernetes.namespace.so/exposed-port-<port> Configure ingress options for specific port.	Comma-separated list using the following option: - `ingress-name=<selected-name>` - `wildcard` - `noauth`

Autoscaling Clusters

Namespace Kubernetes Previews can scale cluster resources based on workload demands, ensuring optimal performance while controlling costs. Horizontal cluster scaling is performed automatically through a workspace-private network (VPC) as an increase in required resources is detected. Note: Automatic cluster scaling is not enabled by default. Contact our support to get enrolled.

Products

Platform

Administration

Getting Started

Create a preview cluster

Apply your Kubernetes configuration

Expose your application

How it works

Kubernetes API access

Monitoring and Debugging

Wildcard Ingresses

Enable wildcard support

Deploy and expose your applications

Configure a wildcard ingress

Automatic Previews

Enable the ingress manager

Annotation-based service exposure

Verify the exposed ingress

Annotation Reference

Autoscaling Clusters

​Getting Started

Create a preview cluster

Apply your Kubernetes configuration

Expose your application

​How it works

​Kubernetes API access

​Monitoring and Debugging

​Wildcard Ingresses

Enable wildcard support

Deploy and expose your applications

Configure a wildcard ingress

​Automatic Previews

Enable the ingress manager

Annotation-based service exposure

Verify the exposed ingress

​Annotation Reference

​Autoscaling Clusters

Getting Started

How it works

Kubernetes API access

Monitoring and Debugging

Wildcard Ingresses

Automatic Previews

Annotation Reference

Autoscaling Clusters