provider-kubeconfig

provider-kubeconfig is a Crossplane Provider that manages remote Kubernetes cluster kubeconfigs. It reads kubeconfig files from Git repositories (SOPS-encrypted) or HashiCorp Vault (KVv2), and bootstraps Secrets and downstream ProviderConfigs for the remote clusters.

Features

• Dual source support — read kubeconfigs from Git+SOPS or Vault KVv2
• Git-based kubeconfig management — clones/pulls a Git repo and reads encrypted kubeconfig files
• SOPS/age decryption — decrypts kubeconfigs encrypted with SOPS using age keys
• Vault KVv2 integration — reads kubeconfigs from Vault with Kubernetes auth or AppRole auth
• Drift detection — content hash comparison for Git, KVv2 version tracking for Vault
• Downstream ProviderConfigs — automatically creates provider-kubernetes and provider-helm ProviderConfig/ClusterProviderConfig resources referencing the kubeconfig Secret
• ArgoCD cluster secrets — optionally creates ArgoCD-compatible cluster secrets
• Cluster type detection — auto-detects Kubernetes distribution (kind, k3s, rke2, k8s) from server version and node metadata
• Remote cluster status — gathers metadata from the remote cluster (version, type, API endpoint, node count, CIDRs, internal network key) and exposes it in status.atProvider
• Stale git cache recovery — automatically re-clones when pull fails with stale objects
• Structured logging — logs key events (git clone, decryption, vault read, secret creation, downstream provisioning) for easier debugging
• RBAC self-bootstrap — automatically creates/updates the ClusterRole and ClusterRoleBinding for downstream ProviderConfig management on startup

Custom Resource Types

Kind	Scope	Description
ProviderConfig	Namespaced	Git/Vault + decryption settings (namespaced)
ClusterProviderConfig	Cluster	Git/Vault + decryption settings (cluster-scoped)
RemoteCluster	Cluster	Managed resource — reads kubeconfig, creates Secret + downstream ProviderConfigs

Quick Start

1. Install the Provider

apiVersion: pkg.crossplane.io/v1
kind: Provider
metadata:
  name: provider-kubeconfig
spec:
  package: ghcr.io/stuttgart-things/provider-kubeconfig-xpkg:v0.11.0

---

Source: Git + SOPS

Secrets

Create the age decryption key Secret (the key field must be named key):

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: age-key
  namespace: crossplane-system
stringData:
  key: AGE-SECRET-KEY-1XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

For private Git repos, create a token Secret (the field must be named token):

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: git-credentials
  namespace: crossplane-system
stringData:
  token: ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

ClusterProviderConfig (public repo)

apiVersion: kubeconfig.stuttgart-things.com/v1alpha1
kind: ClusterProviderConfig
metadata:
  name: default
spec:
  git:
    url: https://github.com/my-org/my-public-repo.git
    branch: main
    # revision: v1.2.3   # optional: pin to a commit SHA or tag for
    #                    # deterministic, rollback-friendly reconciles.
    #                    # When set, the branch tip is ignored.
  decryption:
    provider: sops
    secretRef:
      name: age-key
      namespace: crossplane-system

ClusterProviderConfig (private repo)

apiVersion: kubeconfig.stuttgart-things.com/v1alpha1
kind: ClusterProviderConfig
metadata:
  name: my-private-repo
spec:
  git:
    url: https://github.com/my-org/my-private-repo.git
    branch: main
    secretRef:
      name: git-credentials
      namespace: crossplane-system
  decryption:
    provider: sops
    secretRef:
      name: age-key-private
      namespace: crossplane-system

RemoteCluster (Git source)

apiVersion: kubeconfig.stuttgart-things.com/v1alpha1
kind: RemoteCluster
metadata:
  name: my-cluster
spec:
  forProvider:
    source:
      path: clusters/my-cluster/kubeconfig.enc.yaml
    secretNamespace: crossplane-system
    providerConfigs:
      - name: my-cluster-kubernetes
        type: provider-kubernetes
        apiVersions: [v2-cluster]
      - name: my-cluster-helm
        type: provider-helm
        apiVersions: [v2-cluster]
  providerConfigRef:
    name: default
    kind: ClusterProviderConfig

Note: Each repo/key combination needs its own ClusterProviderConfig. Multiple RemoteClusters can reference the same ClusterProviderConfig.

---

Source: Vault KVv2

ClusterProviderConfig (Kubernetes auth)

Zero-config authentication — uses the provider pod's service account token:

apiVersion: kubeconfig.stuttgart-things.com/v1alpha1
kind: ClusterProviderConfig
metadata:
  name: vault-k8s
spec:
  vault:
    address: https://vault.example.com
    auth:
      method: kubernetes
      kubernetes:
        role: provider-kubeconfig

ClusterProviderConfig (AppRole auth)

apiVersion: kubeconfig.stuttgart-things.com/v1alpha1
kind: ClusterProviderConfig
metadata:
  name: vault-approle
spec:
  vault:
    address: https://vault.example.com
    auth:
      method: approle
      appRole:
        roleId: xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
        secretRef:
          name: vault-approle-secret
          namespace: crossplane-system
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: vault-approle-secret
  namespace: crossplane-system
stringData:
  secret-id: xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx

ClusterProviderConfig (Vault Enterprise namespace)

apiVersion: kubeconfig.stuttgart-things.com/v1alpha1
kind: ClusterProviderConfig
metadata:
  name: vault-enterprise
spec:
  vault:
    address: https://vault.example.com
    namespace: my-team
    mountPath: kv            # non-default KVv2 mount path
    auth:
      method: kubernetes
      kubernetes:
        role: provider-kubeconfig
        mountPath: kubernetes  # auth mount path

RemoteCluster (Vault source)

apiVersion: kubeconfig.stuttgart-things.com/v1alpha1
kind: RemoteCluster
metadata:
  name: my-cluster
spec:
  forProvider:
    source:
      type: vault
      path: clusters/my-cluster       # KVv2 secret path
      key: kubeconfig                  # key within the secret (default: kubeconfig)
    secretNamespace: crossplane-system
    providerConfigs:
      - name: my-cluster-kubernetes
        type: provider-kubernetes
        apiVersions: [v2-cluster]
      - name: my-cluster-helm
        type: provider-helm
        apiVersions: [v2-cluster]
  providerConfigRef:
    name: vault-k8s
    kind: ClusterProviderConfig

Storing a kubeconfig in Vault

# Write kubeconfig to Vault KVv2
vault kv put secret/clusters/my-cluster kubeconfig=@kubeconfig.yaml

# Verify
vault kv get -field=kubeconfig secret/clusters/my-cluster

Vault Drift Detection

For Vault sources, the provider tracks the KVv2 metadata version instead of content hashes. When you update the secret in Vault (creating a new version), the provider detects the version change and updates the Kubernetes Secret automatically.

---

Verify

$ kubectl get remotecluster
NAME         READY   SYNCED   CLUSTER      VERSION        TYPE   AGE
my-cluster   True    True     my-cluster   v1.35.1+k3s1   k3s    5m

# Wide output shows NETWORK column
$ kubectl get remotecluster -o wide
NAME         READY   SYNCED   CLUSTER      VERSION        TYPE   NETWORK      AGE
my-cluster   True    True     my-cluster   v1.35.1+k3s1   k3s    10.31.102    5m

Use the Kubeconfig

Extract the decrypted kubeconfig to your local machine:

kubectl get secret kubeconfig-my-cluster \
  -n crossplane-system -o jsonpath='{.data.kubeconfig}' | base64 -d > ~/.kube/my-cluster

kubectl --kubeconfig ~/.kube/my-cluster get nodes

API Version Labels

The apiVersions field on providerConfigs controls which downstream ProviderConfig types are created:

Label	API Group	Kind	Scope
v1	*.crossplane.io	ProviderConfig	Cluster
v2	*.m.crossplane.io	ProviderConfig	Namespaced
v2-cluster	*.m.crossplane.io	ClusterProviderConfig	Cluster

Use v2-cluster for Crossplane v2+ setups.

Cluster Type Detection

The provider auto-detects the Kubernetes distribution and writes it to status.atProvider.clusterType:

Distribution	Detection Method
k3s	Server version contains +k3s
rke2	Server version contains +rke2
kind	Node name ends with -control-plane or -worker, and providerID is empty or starts with kind://
k8s	Default fallback

Encrypting a Kubeconfig with SOPS/age

# Generate an age key pair
age-keygen -o age.key
# Public key: age1xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

# Encrypt the kubeconfig
sops encrypt --age age1xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx \
  kubeconfig.yaml > kubeconfig.enc.yaml

# Store the secret key in Kubernetes (key field must be named "key")
kubectl create secret generic age-key \
  --namespace crossplane-system \
  --from-literal=key="$(cat age.key | grep AGE-SECRET-KEY)"

RBAC

The provider bootstraps its own RBAC on startup to manage downstream ProviderConfigs. It creates:

• ClusterRole provider-kubeconfig-downstream — permissions for providerconfigs and clusterproviderconfigs in kubernetes.m.crossplane.io, helm.m.crossplane.io, and the legacy *.crossplane.io APIs
• ClusterRoleBinding provider-kubeconfig-downstream — binds to the provider's service account (auto-detected from the pod)

This is automatic — no manual RBAC setup required. On provider upgrades (new pod/SA name), the bootstrap appends the new SA to the binding.

Git Cache

Git sources are cloned into a per-repo cache directory. The cache root is created with 0700 permissions so cached repo contents (kubeconfigs, .git) are not readable by other users sharing the pod. Least-recently-used directories are evicted once the entry count exceeds a cap, bounding disk usage on long-running pods.

Env var	Default	Description
PROVIDER_KUBECONFIG_CACHE_DIR	$XDG_CACHE_HOME/provider-kubeconfig (else $TMPDIR/provider-kubeconfig)	Cache root. Point at a dedicated writable volume (e.g. an emptyDir) to keep clones off shared /tmp.
PROVIDER_KUBECONFIG_CACHE_MAX_ENTRIES	32	Max cached repo directories retained before LRU eviction.

Building

Prerequisites

• Go 1.23+
• Docker
• Make

Build the Provider

# Initialize the build submodule (first time only)
make submodules

# Generate CRDs, deepcopy, and run linters
make reviewable

# Build the provider binary and Docker image
make build

Local Development

# Create a kind cluster, install CRDs, and start the provider
make dev

# Clean up
make dev-clean

Running Tests

go test ./internal/... -v -count=1

Project Structure

apis/
  v1alpha1/                  # ProviderConfig, ClusterProviderConfig and usage types
  kubeconfig/
    v1alpha1/                # RemoteCluster managed resource type
internal/
  cluster/                   # Remote cluster info gathering (version, type, nodes, CIDRs)
  controller/
    config/                  # ProviderConfig controller
    remotecluster/           # RemoteCluster reconciler
    kubeconfig.go            # Controller registration (SetupGated)
  decrypt/                   # SOPS/age decryption
  git/                       # Git clone/pull with caching and stale recovery
  rbac/                      # RBAC self-bootstrap for downstream access
  vault/                     # Vault KVv2 client with Kubernetes/AppRole auth
package/
  crds/                      # Generated CRDs
  crossplane.yaml            # Crossplane package metadata

Provider Flags

Flag	Default	Description
--debug / -d	false	Enable debug logging (shows V(1) verbose logs)
--leader-election / -l	false	Enable leader election for HA
--poll	1m	How often to check each resource for drift
--sync / -s	1h	Controller manager sync period
--max-reconcile-rate	10	Max reconciliations per second

Links

• Crossplane Provider Development Guide
• SOPS
• age encryption
• HashiCorp Vault