Kubelings for VS Code and Cursor brings the interactive Kubernetes learning experience directly into your code editor. Learn Kubernetes hands-on through guided micro-exercises with real-time feedback, curriculum exploration, progressive hints, and side-by-side solution diffing.
✨ Features
1. 📚 Activity Bar Curriculum Tree View
Dedicated Kubelings view container in the Activity Bar.
Browse all 26 chapters and 114 exercises with live status indicators:
🟢 Completed: Solved exercises with a checkmark.
🟡 In Progress: Currently active exercise under evaluation.
⚪ Not Started: Remaining exercises in the syllabus.
One-click exercise opening, running, and progressive hint reveal.
2. 📊 Status Bar Progress Indicator
Compact status bar item displaying total progress (e.g., $(check) Kubelings: 48/114 (42%) | Next: rbac01).
Click to jump directly to the current or next incomplete exercise.
3. ⚡ On-Save Diagnostics & Code Actions
Automatic background validation when saving any exercise file (exercises/**/*.{yaml,yml,py}).
💡 Reveal Hint: Fetch and display progressive hints in the editor without spoiling the full answer.
🔍 Compare with Reference Solution: Instantly open a side-by-side diff view comparing your manifest against the official solution.
4. 💻 Integrated Terminal Watch Mode
Launch interactive kubelings watch in a dedicated integrated terminal with a single click (kubelings.startWatch).
Supports all hotkeys: n/Enter (next), p (previous), h (hint), r (rerun), l (list), q (quit).
5. ☸ Cluster Connectivity & Solution Verifier
Check connection status to live Kubernetes clusters (kind, minikube, k3d, or remote) with kubelings.checkCluster.
Run validation across all reference solutions in an integrated terminal with kubelings.testAll.
🚀 Installation
Option 1: Install from VSIX via Command Line
# For VS Code
code --install-extension dist/kubelings-vscode.vsix
# For Cursor
cursor --install-extension dist/kubelings-vscode.vsix
Option 2: Install from VSIX via Editor UI
Open the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X on Linux/Windows, Cmd+Shift+X on macOS).
Click the ... (Views and More Actions) menu in the top-right corner of the Extensions pane.
Select Install from VSIX....
Choose the kubelings-vscode.vsix file from the dist/ directory or downloaded from GitHub Releases.
⚙️ Configuration
The extension automatically discovers Python virtual environments (.venv) and the kubelings CLI binary in your workspace. You can customize settings under Settings > Extensions > Kubelings:
Setting
Type
Default
Description
kubelings.pythonPath
string
""
Custom path to Python interpreter or virtual environment executable (e.g. .venv/bin/python).
kubelings.runOnSave
boolean
true
Automatically run and validate exercise when saving an exercise file.
kubelings.showStatusBar
boolean
true
Display the Kubelings progress indicator in the status bar.
⌨️ Commands
Command
Title
Description
kubelings.refresh
Kubelings: Refresh Curriculum
Reload curriculum progress and update tree view & status bar.
kubelings.runExercise
Kubelings: Run Current Exercise
Execute validation for the active or selected exercise.
kubelings.nextExercise
Kubelings: Open Next Exercise
Find and open the next incomplete exercise file in editor.
kubelings.showHint
Kubelings: Show Hint
Fetch and display progressive hints for the active exercise.
kubelings.showSolutionDiff
Kubelings: Compare with Reference Solution
Open a side-by-side diff comparing current exercise with solution.
kubelings.startWatch
Kubelings: Start Watch Mode in Terminal
Launch interactive kubelings watch loop in terminal.
kubelings.checkCluster
Kubelings: Check Cluster Connection
Check offline vs live Kubernetes cluster connectivity.
kubelings.testAll
Kubelings: Test All Reference Solutions
Run test suite against all 114 curriculum solutions.
🛠️ Development & Building
To build the extension from source:
# Install dependencies
npm install
# Compile and build extension bundle
npm run build
# Run test suite
npm test
# Package .vsix file
npm run package
