AKS desktop delivers an application focused experience for deploying and managing workloads on Azure Kubernetes Service.
Built on top of open-source Headlamp, AKS desktop provides a guided, self-service UX built on supported AKS features and best practices. Designed to work within your existing environment and tools, it enables team collaboration through RBAC while abstracting complexity without removing control.
To learn how to get started with AKS desktop, create projects, deploy applications, and explore the full set of features, check out the official AKS desktop documentation.
Please download the latest release for your platform from the Releases page.
Install Node.js 22.22.2 or newer. npm 10 and newer are supported; the repository uses npm 12.0.1 in CI and for lockfile maintenance.
npm install --global npm@12.0.1
npm --versionUsing the pinned version avoids unrelated lockfile changes when updating dependencies.
npm install
npm startTo build the application after installing dependencies:
npm run buildThe default build targets the host architecture. Release targets can also be
built explicitly with npm run build:linux:arm64, npm run build:mac:arm64,
or npm run build:win:arm64 on the corresponding host platform.
The AKS tool setup stages build/aks-tool-environment.cjs beside the bundled CLI.
The product manifest selects it as the command-environment callback, so AKS verifies
its tool paths and digests and places them ahead of login-shell installations.
This policy is AKS-owned; Headlamp only invokes the configured app-owned callback.
After a successful build, the command prints the absolute output directory.
Installers, archives, and unpacked applications are written under the installed
Headlamp package, not a dist/ directory at the repository root:
node_modules/@headlamp-k8s/headlamp-source/source/app/dist/
| Platform | Packages in that directory | Unpacked application |
|---|---|---|
| macOS | .dmg |
mac-arm64/AKS desktop.app or mac/AKS desktop.app for x64 |
| Windows | .exe installer |
win-unpacked/AKS desktop.exe for x64 or win-arm64-unpacked/AKS desktop.exe |
| Linux | .AppImage, .tar.gz, and .deb for x64 |
linux-unpacked/aks-desktop for x64 or linux-arm64-unpacked/aks-desktop |
The files at the top level are the distributable packages; the platform
subdirectories contain unpacked builds used by npm run test:distribution.
The directory can contain output from earlier builds. Copy packages elsewhere
before cleaning or reinstalling dependencies, which can replace this generated
source package. See distribution validation
for the verification commands.
- Cluster Requirements — What your AKS cluster needs for the best AKS desktop experience
- Headlamp source configuration —
headlampSourceandheadlampfields - Headlamp source maintenance — Source updates and patch rebases
- AKS Desktop Documentation
- AKS Managed Namespaces
Check out the CONTRIBUTING.md file. More details on how to contribute will come soon.
See SUPPORT.md for information on how to get help with this project.
This project may contain trademarks or logos for projects, products, or services. Authorized use of Microsoft trademarks or logos is subject to and must follow Microsoft’s Trademark & Brand Guidelines. Use of Microsoft trademarks or logos in modified versions of this project must not cause confusion or imply Microsoft sponsorship. Any use of third-party trademarks or logos are subject to those third-party’s policies.