After trying out several CI/CD dev tools for Kubernetes (e.g. draft, skaffold), we saw the problem that there is a lot of waiting time because the images always have to be re-build and re-deployed on every code change. Many developers, including the ones on our dev team, are used to hot reloading tools (e.g. nodemon) and to seeing changes taking effect immediately after saving a file.

While there are some tools (e.g. ksync) that allow to sync files to a pod running inside a Kubernetes cluster, we found them hard to configure and time-consuming to use on a daily basis.

Therefore, we developed the DevSpace CLI, a client-only dev tool that lets you create Kubernetes-based workspaces called DevSpaces. With a single command (devspace up), you can start a DevSpace for any existing dev project inside your Kubernetes cluster (even in minikube). The DevSpace CLI will then synchronize your source code directly to your containers and establish a terminal session as well as port forwarding. It is entirely written in Go and ships with in-built kubectl, helm and docker clients.

I would love to hear your feedback on this tool. PS: It is open source, so contributions are also highly welcome.