Kubernetes annotations and labels

This page provides a complete list of all the annotations you can specify when you run Kuma in Kubernetes mode.

Labels

kuma.io/sidecar-injection

Enable or disable sidecar injection.

Example

Used on the namespace it will inject the sidecar in all pods created in the namespace:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Namespace
metadata:
 name: default
 labels:
   kuma.io/sidecar-injection: enabled
[...]

Used on a deployment using pod template it will inject the sidecar in all pods managed by this deployment:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: my-deployment
spec:
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        kuma.io/sidecar-injection: enabled
[...]

Labeling pods or deployments will take precedence on the namespace annotation.

kuma.io/mesh

Associate Pods with a particular Mesh. Label value must be the name of a Mesh resource.

Example

It can be used on an entire namespace:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Namespace
metadata:
 name: default
 labels:
   kuma.io/mesh: default
[...]

It can be used on a pod:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
 name: backend
 labels:
   kuma.io/mesh: default
[...]

Labeling pods or deployments will take precedence on the namespace annotation.

kuma.io/system-namespace

This label is used to indicate the Namespace that Kuma stores its secrets in. It’s automatically set on the Namespace the Helm chart is installed into by a Job started by Helm.

Annotations

kuma.io/mesh

Associate Pods with a particular Mesh. Annotation value must be the name of a Mesh resource.

Example

It can be used on an entire namespace:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Namespace
metadata:
 name: default
 annotations:
   kuma.io/mesh: default
[...]

It can be used on a pod:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
 name: backend
 annotations:
   kuma.io/mesh: default
[...]

Annotating pods or deployments will take precedence on the namespace annotation.

kuma.io/gateway

Lets you specify the Pod should run in gateway mode. Inbound listeners are not generated.

Example

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: gateway
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: gateway
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: gateway
      annotations:
        kuma.io/gateway: enabled
[...]

kuma.io/ingress

Marks the Pod as the Zone Ingress. Needed for multizone communication – provides the entry point for traffic from other zones.

Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
 name: zone-ingress
 annotations:
   kuma.io/ingress: enabled
[...]

kuma.io/ingress-public-address

Specifies the public address for Ingress. If not provided, Kuma picks the address from the Ingress Service.

Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
 name: zone-ingress
 annotations:
   kuma.io/ingress: enabled
   kuma.io/ingress-public-address: custom-address.com
[...]

kuma.io/ingress-public-port

Specifies the public port for Ingress. If not provided, Kuma picks the port from the Ingress Service.

Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
 name: zone-ingress
 annotations:
   kuma.io/ingress: enabled
   kuma.io/ingress-public-port: "1234"
[...]

kuma.io/direct-access-services

Defines a comma-separated list of Services that can be accessed directly.

Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: example
  annotations:
    kuma.io/direct-access-services: test-app_playground_svc_80,test-app_playground_svc_443
    kuma.io/transparent-proxying: enabled
    kuma.io/transparent-proxying-inbound-port: [...]
    kuma.io/transparent-proxying-outbound-port: [...]

When you provide this annotation, Kuma generates a listener for each IP address and redirects traffic through a direct-access cluster that’s configured to encrypt connections.

These listeners are needed because transparent proxy and mTLS assume a single IP per cluster (for example, the ClusterIP of a Kubernetes Service). If you pass requests to direct IP addresses, Envoy considers them unknown destinations and manages them in passthrough mode – which means they’re not encrypted with mTLS. The direct-access cluster enables encryption anyway.

kuma.io/virtual-probes

Enables automatic converting of HttpGet probes to virtual probes. The virtual probe is served on a sub-path of the insecure port specified with kuma.io/virtual-probes-port – for example, :8080/health/readiness -> :9000/8080/health/readiness, where 9000 is the value of the kuma.io/virtual-probes-port annotation.

Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: example
  annotations:
    kuma.io/virtual-probes: enabled
    kuma.io/virtual-probes-port: "9000"
[...]

kuma.io/virtual-probes-port

Specifies the insecure port for listening on virtual probes.

kuma.io/sidecar-env-vars

Semicolon (;) separated list of environment variables for the Kuma sidecar.

Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: example
  annotations:
    kuma.io/sidecar-env-vars: TEST1=1;TEST2=2

kuma.io/container-patches

Specifies the list of names of ContainerPatch resources to be applied on kuma-init and kuma-sidecar containers.

More information about how to use ContainerPatch you can find at Custom Container Configuration .

Example

It can be used on a resource describing workload (i.e. Deployment, DaemonSet or Pod):

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  namespace: kuma-system
  name: example
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: example
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: example
      annotations:
        kuma.io/container-patches: container-patch-1,container-patch-2
    spec: [...]

prometheus.metrics.kuma.io/port

Lets you override the Mesh-wide default port that Prometheus should scrape metrics from.

Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: example
  annotations:
    prometheus.metrics.kuma.io/port: "1234"

prometheus.metrics.kuma.io/path

Lets you override the Mesh-wide default path that Prometheus should scrape metrics from.

Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: example
  annotations:
    prometheus.metrics.kuma.io/path: "/custom-metrics"

kuma.io/builtindns

Tells the sidecar to use its builtin DNS server.

Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: example
  annotations:
    kuma.io/builtindns: enabled

kuma.io/builtindnsport

Port the builtin DNS server should listen on for DNS queries.

Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: example
  annotations:
    kuma.io/builtindns: enabled
    kuma.io/builtindnsport: "15053"

kuma.io/ignore

A boolean to mark a resource as ignored by Kuma. It currently only works for services. This is useful when transitioning to Kuma or to temporarily ignore some entities.

Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: example
  annotations:
    kuma.io/ignore: "true"

traffic.kuma.io/exclude-inbound-ports

List of inbound ports to exclude from traffic interception by the Kuma sidecar.

Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: example
  annotations:
    traffic.kuma.io/exclude-inbound-ports: "1234,1235"

traffic.kuma.io/exclude-outbound-ports

List of outbound ports to exclude from traffic interception by the Kuma sidecar.

Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: example
  annotations:
    traffic.kuma.io/exclude-outbound-ports: "1234,1235"

kuma.io/transparent-proxying-experimental-engine

Enable or disable experimental transparent proxy engine on Pod. Default is disabled.

Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: example
  annotations:
    kuma.io/transparent-proxying-experimental-engine: enabled

kuma.io/envoy-admin-port

Specifies the port for Envoy Admin API. If not set, default admin port 9901 will be used.

Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: example
  annotations:
    kuma.io/envoy-admin-port: "8801"

kuma.io/envoy-log-level

Specifies the log level for Envoy system logs to enable. The available log levels are trace, debug, info, warning/warn, error, critical, off. The default is info.

Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: example
  annotations:
    kuma.io/envoy-log-level: "warning"

kuma.io/service-account-token-volume

Volume (specified in the pod spec) containing a service account token for Kuma to inject into the sidecar.

Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: example
  annotations:
    kuma.io/service-account-token-volume: "token-vol"
spec:
  automountServiceAccountToken: false
  serviceAccount: example
  containers:
    - image: busybox
      name: busybox
  volumes:
    - name: token-vol
      projected:
        sources:
          - serviceAccountToken:
              expirationSeconds: 7200
              path: token
              audience: "https://kubernetes.default.svc"
          - configMap:
              items:
                - key: ca.crt
                  path: ca.crt
              name: kube-root-ca.crt
          - downwardAPI:
              items:
                - fieldRef:
                    apiVersion: v1
                    fieldPath: metadata.namespace
                  path: namespace

kuma.io/transparent-proxying-reachable-services

A comma separated list of kuma.io/service to indicate which services this communicates with. For more details see the reachable services docs .

Example

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: example-app
  namespace: kuma-example
spec:
  ...
  template:
    metadata:
      ...
      annotations:
        # a comma separated list of kuma.io/service values
        kuma.io/transparent-proxying-reachable-services: "redis_kuma-demo_svc_6379,elastic_kuma-demo_svc_9200"
    spec:
      containers:
        ...

kuma.io/transparent-proxying-ebpf

When transparent proxy is installed with ebpf mode, you can disable it for particular workloads if necessary.

For more details see the transparent proxying with ebpf docs .

Example

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: example-app
  namespace: kuma-example
spec:
  [...]
  template:
    metadata:
      [...]
      annotations:
        kuma.io/transparent-proxying-ebpf: disabled
    spec:
      containers:
        [...]

kuma.io/transparent-proxying-ebpf-bpf-fs-path

Path to BPF FS if different than default (/sys/fs/bpf)

For more details see the transparent proxying with ebpf docs .

Example

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: example-app
  namespace: kuma-example
spec:
  [...]
  template:
    metadata:
      [...]
      annotations:
        kuma.io/transparent-proxying-ebpf-bpf-fs-path: /custom/bpffs/path
    spec:
      containers:
        [...]

kuma.io/transparent-proxying-ebpf-cgroup-path

cgroup2 path if different than default (/sys/fs/cgroup)

For more details see the transparent proxying with ebpf docs .

Example

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: example-app
  namespace: kuma-example
spec:
  [...]
  template:
    metadata:
      [...]
      annotations:
        kuma.io/transparent-proxying-ebpf-cgroup-path: /custom/cgroup2/path
    spec:
      containers:
        [...]

kuma.io/transparent-proxying-ebpf-programs-source-path

Custom path for ebpf programs to be loaded when installing transparent proxy

For more details see the transparent proxying with ebpf docs .

Example

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: example-app
  namespace: kuma-example
spec:
  [...]
  template:
    metadata:
      [...]
      annotations:
        kuma.io/transparent-proxying-ebpf-programs-source-path: /custom/ebpf/programs/source/path
    spec:
      containers:
        [...]

kuma.io/transparent-proxying-ebpf-tc-attach-iface

Name of the network interface which should be used to attach to it TC-related eBPF programs. By default Kuma will use first, non-loopback interface it’ll find.

For more details see the transparent proxying with ebpf docs .

Example

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: example-app
  namespace: kuma-example
spec:
  [...]
  template:
    metadata:
      [...]
      annotations:
        kuma.io/transparent-proxying-ebpf-tc-attach-iface: eth3
    spec:
      containers:
        [...]

prometheus.metrics.kuma.io/aggregate-<name>-enabled

Define if kuma-dp should scrape metrics from the application that has been defined in the Mesh configuration. Default value: true. For more details see the applications metrics docs

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: example
  annotations:
    prometheus.metrics.kuma.io/aggregate-app-enabled: "false"
spec: ...

prometheus.metrics.kuma.io/aggregate-<name>-path

Define path, which kuma-dp sidecar has to scrape for prometheus metrics. Default value: /metrics. For more details see the applications metrics docs

Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: example
  annotations:
    prometheus.metrics.kuma.io/aggregate-app-path: "/stats"
spec: ...

prometheus.metrics.kuma.io/aggregate-<name>-port

Define port, which kuma-dp sidecar has to scrape for prometheus metrics. For more details see the applications metrics docs

Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: example
  annotations:
    prometheus.metrics.kuma.io/aggregate-app-port: "1234"
spec: ...

kuma.io/transparent-proxying-inbound-v6-port

Define the port to use for IPv6 traffic. To turn off IPv6 set this to 0.

Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: example
  annotations:
    kuma.io/transparent-proxying-inbound-v6-port: "0"
spec: ...

kuma.io/sidecar-drain-time

Allows specifying drain time of Kuma DP sidecar. The default value is 30s. The default could be changed using the control-plane configuration or KUMA_RUNTIME_KUBERNETES_INJECTOR_SIDECAR_CONTAINER_DRAIN_TIME env.

Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: example
  annotations:
    kuma.io/sidecar-drain-time: "10s"
spec: ...

kuma.io/init-first

Allows specifying that the Kuma init container should run first (ahead of any other init containers). The default is false if omitted. Setting this to true may be desirable for security, as it would prevent network access for other init containers. The order is not guaranteed, as other mutating admission webhooks may further manipulate this ordering.

Example

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: example
  annotations:
    kuma.io/init-first: "true"
spec: ...