Glasskube - Open Source Kubernetes Package Manager

Challenge

Making package management in Kubernetes clusters simpler and more sustainable is the goal of Glasskube, an open-source project that also facilitates marketplace integrations (e.g., Exoscale).

As part of a redesign, the aim was to develop a new, future-proof architecture that addresses known weaknesses of existing Kubernetes package managers. Parallel to this, a viable community strategy had to be defined to ensure long-term development, acceptance, and participation. The challenge lay in consistently bringing together architecture, technical implementation, and community considerations right from the start.

Solution

In this project, WhizUs took on the role of Kubernetes expert and sparring partner for sustainable community building. In a structured workshop, a modern, state-of-the-art architecture for Glasskube was developed based on a greenfield approach.

Building on this, a clear vision for the project was formulated, concrete measures for community development were defined, and an initial roadmap was created that takes both technical and organizational aspects into account.

In the subsequent implementation phase, WhizUs actively supported the implementation or took it over completely: This included the development of a backup and restore functionality, the establishment of a release mechanism, and the implementation of central Go components for the CLI and operator.

Impact

Just three weeks after the workshop, the first version of Glasskube was released. Within a very short time, the project achieved over 300 GitHub stars, appeared in the trending repositories, and was regularly picked up on social media. Since then, the community has been growing continuously, both in the number of active users and contributors.

Glasskube has thus positioned itself early on as a relevant open-source project in the Kubernetes environment—a development that we continue to actively accompany and help shape.