Hello, fellow Kubernetes enthusiast 👋

Have you ever wanted to access a cluster started in a playground using your local tooling? Lens comes to mind first, but just being able to use your local kubectl with a remote cluster or point a Kubernetes MCP server to it can also significantly improve productivity.

Connect to a Playground Kubernetes Cluster

Playground Kubernetes clusters run inside remote VMs, so kubectl on your local machine can't reach the API server directly. It has always been possible to forward the Kubernetes API port, download the kubeconfig file from the playground, and patch it so that your local kubectl would talk to the remote cluster over the forwarded port... but setting it all up is only fun once or twice (and after that, it starts feeling like toil).

My rule of thumb is that a feature is worth implementing when I'm asked about it at least a few times a week, and that finally happened with remote cluster access. Behold:

labctl kube-proxy $PLAY_ID

This new command, introduced in the 0.1.73 labctl release, helps you access a playground Kubernetes cluster from your local machine by automating the above steps and then printing the exact kubectl line to connect to the remote cluster.

Check this short playground recipe for a working example.

Use Local and Remote Kubernetes MCP Servers

If you want to experiment with cluster management via Claude Code (or any other agent that supports MCP), I've got a new playground recipe that shows how to do it using Red Hat's Kubernetes MCP server.

I recommend running Claude Code and the Kubernetes MCP server inside the playground VM. This will mean neither the agent nor the MCP server can access your local filesystem or credentials, which is always a good thing.

1. Start a Kubernetes playground and SSH into it:

labctl playground start --ssh k3s

2. Install Claude Code and log in:

curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc && source ~/.bashrc
​
claude login

3. Add the Kubernetes MPC server:

claude mcp add k8s -- npx kubernetes-mcp-server@latest \
--kubeconfig $HOME/.kube/config

4. Test it:

claude --dangerously-skip-permissions \
-p 'list all pods in all namespaces'

As simple as that! And if you really want to try using your local Claude Code to manage remote clusters, the recipe has the second part, which builds on the just added labctl kube-proxy command and shows how to wire things up (spoiler: it's also pretty easy).

Wrapping up

Happy hacking!

Ivan

P.S. The 40% off pricing pilot is still on. Support iximiuz Labs and get twice bigger playgrounds with up to 24h uptime and full access to the official content collection.