# Kubectl Karen — Product Context

Load this file when triaging feature requests, evaluating new plugin proposals, or writing specs.

## Current Plugin Portfolio

| Plugin | Repo | What It Does | Status |
|--------|------|-------------|--------|
| **Polaris** | `headlamp-polaris-plugin` | Kubernetes best practice validation and scoring | Active |
| **Kube-VIP** | `headlamp-kube-vip-plugin` | Kube-VIP load balancer management | Active |
| **Rook/Ceph** | `headlamp-rook-plugin` | Rook-Ceph storage cluster monitoring | Active |
| **Sealed Secrets** | `headlamp-sealed-secrets-plugin` | Bitnami Sealed Secrets management | Active |
| **Intel GPU** | `headlamp-intel-gpu-plugin` | Intel GPU device plugin monitoring | Active |
| **TrueNAS CSI** | `headlamp-tns-csi-plugin` | TrueNAS SCALE CSI driver monitoring | Active |

All plugins distributed via **ArtifactHub**, installed through Headlamp's native plugin installer only.

## Target Users

### Primary: The Platform Engineer

- Manages 1-50 Kubernetes clusters, mid-size company (100-2000 employees)
- Pain point: "I have 15 tools open to monitor my clusters. I want one dashboard that shows me everything"
- Very high tech comfort. Knows Kubernetes deeply. Will read your source code.
- Will adopt a plugin in 5 minutes if it solves a real problem. Will drop it in 5 seconds if it's buggy or doesn't add value over `kubectl`.

### Secondary: The DevOps Lead / SRE Manager

- Manages a platform team, responsible for cluster health and reliability
- Wants plugins that visualize what matters and surface problems proactively — NOT another monitoring tool

### Anti-persona: The Application Developer

App developers care about their deployments, not the cluster. Features like "show me my pod logs" are already in Headlamp core. Don't build for them.

## Scope

### In Scope

- Headlamp plugins that visualize and manage specific Kubernetes ecosystem tools
- Plugins that surface operational insights not available in Headlamp core
- Plugins for CNCF projects and widely-adopted K8s ecosystem tools
- ArtifactHub packaging and distribution

### Explicitly Out of Scope

- Plugins that duplicate Headlamp core functionality
- Non-Kubernetes tools
- Hosted/SaaS versions of plugins
- Helm-based or sidecar-based plugin installation
- Custom Headlamp forks
- Monitoring/alerting backends (we visualize, we don't collect metrics)
- Multi-cluster management
- CLI tools

## Competitive Landscape

| Competitor | Where PRI Differs |
|-----------|------------------|
| **Headlamp core** | We extend it, not compete. If a feature belongs in core, contribute upstream. |
| **Lens** | Heavy, desktop-only, commercial. We make web-based, open source Headlamp better. |
| **k9s** | Different modality (TUI vs web). Not competitive. |
| **Komodor / Kubecost / Robusta** | Standalone products. Our plugins bring their insights INTO Headlamp. Complementary. |

PRI's moat: leading third-party Headlamp plugin developer. Plugins are free, open source, on ArtifactHub.

## Plugin Evaluation Framework

1. **Is there a widely-adopted K8s ecosystem tool that lacks Headlamp visibility?**
   - Fewer than 1,000 GitHub stars or in alpha → too early. Close with "revisit when more mature."
   - Already has a Headlamp plugin → duplicate. Close.

2. **Does the plugin add value over `kubectl` + the tool's own CLI/UI?**
   - "It shows the same thing but in Headlamp" → weak value prop. Good plugins correlate data, surface problems proactively, simplify complex operations.

3. **Can Gandalf build and maintain it?**
   - One engineer can maintain ~6-8 plugins at current complexity. We're at 6 now. New plugins mean either dropping an existing one or hiring.

4. **Is it installable via ArtifactHub without extras?**
   - Plugin requires CRDs/RBAC/cluster resources installed separately → degraded experience.
   - Unacceptable: plugin requires its own operator or sidecar.

### Priority Tiers

- **P0**: Bugs in existing plugins that break functionality or produce incorrect data
- **P1**: Enhancements to existing plugins users are requesting
- **P2**: New plugins for high-value K8s tools with clear user demand
- **P3**: Speculative plugins, cross-plugin features, UX experiments

## Feature Spec Template

```markdown
## Problem
What operational visibility or capability is missing? Who needs it? What do they do today instead?

## Proposed Solution
What should the plugin show or enable that isn't available today?

## Acceptance Criteria
- [ ] Plugin displays...
- [ ] User can...
- [ ] Data is accurate when compared to `kubectl` / native CLI output
- [ ] Works with [tool name] version X.Y+
- [ ] Installable via ArtifactHub without additional cluster-level setup
- [ ] Has unit tests covering core display logic

## Out of Scope for This Issue
## Dependencies
What must exist in the cluster for this plugin to work? (CRDs, operators, RBAC)

## Priority
P0/P1/P2/P3 with one-sentence justification.
```