About kwokctl
A tool to streamline the creation and management of clusters, with nodes simulated by kwok
kwokctl 0.8.0
A tool to streamline the creation and management of clusters, with nodes simulated by kwok
- By Kubernetes SIGs
- Open Source
- Portable
- Updated Jun 23, 2026
What's new in 0.8.0
Changes by Kind
API Change or Feature
- Add steps to stage instead of next (#1403, @wzshiming)
- [kwokctl] Add subcommand config convert for upgrade old config (#1471, @wzshiming)
- Support IPv6 CIDR/IP (#1656, @wzshiming)
- Update default CIDR values from x.x.x.1/24 to x.x.x.0/24 (#1578, @wzshiming)
- Support resource creation for stage api
Support volume provisioner (#1617, @wzshiming)
- Support impersonate for pod/node in stage (#1629, @wzshiming)
- Change pod fast stage (#1640, @wzshiming)
- Respect delete finalizers
- Use conditions instead of podIP to check if the pod is ready
- [kwokctl] Add optional components to container runtime (docker/podman/nerdctl):
- kueue (#1513, @wzshiming)
- kueueviz (#1516, @wzshiming)
- jobset (#1537, @JerryHu1994)
- lws (#1610, @Copilot)
- descheduler (#1615, @Copilot)
- scheduler-plugins (#1661, @wzshiming)
- When enabled, the default kube-scheduler will be replaced by the kube-scheduler from scheduler-plugins, so the configuration can be passed using --kube-scheduler-config.
- [kwokctl] Add a warning log when enable/disable unsupport component (#1612, @wzshiming)
- [kwokctl] Support completion (#1618, @wzshiming)
Bug or Regression
- Add selector for pod readiness based on phase 'Pending' (#1509, @anson627)
- Fix the issue when kube-scheduler crash: "clientConnection" already set in map (#1447, @anson627)
- Fix port forward target address cannot be ipv6 (#1449, @wzshiming)
- [kwokctl] Fix metrics server on container runtime (#1557, @wzshiming)
- [kwokctl] Fix mount previousLogsFile (#1405, @wzshiming)
- [kwokctl] Fix port forward in container runtime (#1627, @wzshiming)
Other (Cleanup or Flake)
- Remove subcommand hack and use kectl instead (#1502, @wzshiming)
- Remove KWOK_MODE in controller, feature is deprecated in k8s 1.29. (#1599, @wzshiming)
- Remove cni in controller (#1600, @wzshiming)
- Remove the built-in default stage (#1496, @wzshiming)
Images
kwok
- registry.k8s.io/kwok/kwok:v0.8.0
cluster
- registry.k8s.io/kwok/cluster:
- v0.8.0-k8s.v1.36.1
- v0.8.0-k8s.v1.35.5
- v0.8.0-k8s.v1.34.8
- v0.8.0-k8s.v1.33.12
- v0.8.0-k8s.v1.32.13
- v0.8.0-k8s.v1.31.14
- ghcr.io/kwok-ci/cluster:
- Daily build with the latest kwok and the latest k8s.
Helm Chart
https://artifacthub.io/packages/helm/kwok/kwok
- kwok 0.3.0
- stage-fast 0.3.0
- metrics-usage 0.3.0
Contributors
Thank you to everyone who contributed to this release! ❤️ …
Technical details
| Publisher | Kubernetes SIGs |
|---|---|
| Version | 0.8.0 |
| Release date | 2026-06-23 |
| License | Apache-2.0 |
| Installer type | portable |
| Architecture | x64, arm64 |
| Package ID | Kubernetes.kwokctl |
Install kwokctl from the command line
- Install with Windows Package Manager
winget install --id=Kubernetes.kwokctl -e- Update to the latest version
winget upgrade --id=Kubernetes.kwokctl -e- Uninstall
winget uninstall --id=Kubernetes.kwokctl -e
kwokctl adds this command to the command line: kwokctl.
kwokctl version history
0.7.0 May 16, 2025
Changes by Kind
API Change / Feature
- Add EnablePodsOnNodeSyncStreamWatch option to switch between watch list and stream watch to sync pods on node. (#1355, @lianghao208)
- Add NodeSyncWorkerParallelism to customize number of workers to sync nodes in parallel. (#1345, @lianghao208)
- Add EnablePodsOnNodeSyncListPager option to switch between watch list and pager list to sync pods on node. (#1351, @lianghao208)
- Support CEL for Stage (#1363, @wzshiming)
- Support for configuring previous container logs (#1336, @MitchelHsu)
- Support override filed for extraArg. (#1180, @liangyuanpeng)
- Add tracing (#1237, @wzshiming)
- Add the http response header 'Server' (#1373, @wzshiming)
- Flow control exemption (#1341, @wzshiming)
- Move the parameters from flag to config (#1342, @wzshiming)
- Supports load config from kustomize (#1018, @wzshiming)
- The all-in-one images will keep the components alive. (#1006, @wzshiming)
- kwokctl
- Add port-forward subcommand for exposing component port (#1203, @wzshiming)
- Enable tracing for etcd (#1234, @wzshiming)
- Set up metrics-usage.yaml as default (#1235, @wzshiming)
- Add subcommand kectl (#1371, @wzshiming)
- Add flag --etcd-quota-backend-size (#1221, @logica0419)
- Generically enable/disable a component (#1229, @wzshiming)
Bug or Regression
- Ensure PodScheduled conditions (#1244, @wzshiming)
- Fix Quantity calculation (#1260, @MondayCha)
- Fixed node being taken repeatedly causing queue block (#1253, @wzshiming)
- kwokctl …
0.6.1 Oct 9, 2024
Changes by Kind
What's Changed
- [release-0.6] [kwokctl] Fix disable kube-controller-manager on kind runtime by @k8s-infra-cherrypick-robot in #1233
- [release-0.6] [kwokctl] Fix the default stages repeatedly by @k8s-infra-cherrypick-robot in #1245
- [release-0.6] Ensure PodScheduled conditions by @k8s-infra-cherrypick-robot in #1247
- [release-0.6] Fix broken links dependency for prometheus component by @wzshiming in #1246
- [release-0.6] Fixed node being taken repeatedly causing queue block by @k8s-infra-cherrypick-robot in #1254
- Release v0.6.1 by @wzshiming in #1250
Images
kwok
- registry.k8s.io/kwok/kwok:v0.6.1
cluster
- registry.k8s.io/kwok/cluster:{tag}
- v0.6.1-k8s.v1.30.4
- v0.6.1-k8s.v1.29.8
- v0.6.1-k8s.v1.28.13
- v0.6.1-k8s.v1.27.16
- v0.6.1-k8s.v1.26.15
- v0.6.1-k8s.v1.25.16
Helm Chart
https://artifacthub.io/packages/helm/kwok/kwok
- kwok 0.1.1
- stage-fast 0.1.1
- metrics-usage 0.1.1
Full Changelog: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kwok/compare/v0.6.0...v0.6.1
0.4.0
Frequently asked questions
Is kwokctl free?
Yes. kwokctl is free and open-source software released under the Apache-2.0 license.
What is the latest version of kwokctl?
The latest version is 0.8.0, released on Jun 23, 2026.
Is it safe to download kwokctl?
The download button links to the official installer published on github.com, the same file Windows Package Manager installs. You can verify the downloaded file by comparing its SHA-256 checksum with 13a5b782aaa2c8413dca8903b1e3deaeacfa5da1da66cd565a1842ecf010bf09.
Which Windows versions does kwokctl support?
kwokctl runs on Windows and is available for 64-bit (x64), ARM64 systems.
How do I uninstall kwokctl?
Open Settings › Apps › Installed apps, find kwokctl and select Uninstall. From the command line, run winget uninstall --id=Kubernetes.kwokctl -e.
Is there a portable version of kwokctl?
Yes. kwokctl is available as a portable program (kwokctl-windows-amd64.exe, 64-bit (x64)) that runs without installation. Copy it to any folder or USB drive and run it from there.
Alternatives to kwokctl
Other Development kits programs for Windows from different developers.
Ollama Operator 0.10.10
Yet another operator for running large language models on Kubernetes with ease. Powered by Ollama! 🐫
kompose 1.38.0
A conversion tool for Docker Compose to container orchestrators such as Kubernetes (or OpenShift).
Lens 2026.10.261408-latest
The Kubernetes IDE
Kubetail CLI 0.18.1
A real-time logging dashboard for Kubernetes
DevPod 0.6.15
Codespaces but open-source, client-only and unopinionated: Works with any IDE and lets you use any cloud, kubernetes or just localhost docker.
Skuber+ Client 0.6.5
A Kubernetes desktop client / IDE for managing Kubernetes clusters.
More from Kubernetes SIGs
All 9 programs »
kind 0.33.0
A tool for running local Kubernetes clusters using Docker container "nodes"
Krew 0.5.0
Find and install kubectl plugins
AWS IAM Authenticator 0.7.24
A tool to use AWS IAM credentials to authenticate to a Kubernetes cluster
clusterctl 1.14.3
The clusterctl CLI tool handles the lifecycle of a Cluster API management cluster.