feat(new source): add kubernetes_events source by elohmeier · Pull Request #24448 · vectordotdev/vector

elohmeier · 2026-01-06T10:45:45Z

Summary

This PR adds a new kubernetes_events source that watches the Kubernetes Events API and emits each event as a Vector log event. This addresses a long-standing feature request and brings Vector closer to feature parity with other observability tools in the Kubernetes ecosystem.

The design is influenced by similar implementations in:

Key features:

Watches the modern events.k8s.io/v1 API (not the deprecated core/v1 Event API)
Supports namespace filtering, field selectors, and label selectors
Filters by event type (Warning, Normal), reason, and involved object kind
Built-in deduplication to handle Kubernetes event replay on API reconnection
Configurable max event age to skip stale events on startup
Optional inclusion of previous event state for change tracking
Designed for singleton deployment (one instance per cluster)

We've been using this in Production in various clusters for some weeks now and it has been working fine.

Vector configuration

sources:
  k8s_events:
    type: kubernetes_events
    namespaces:
      - kube-system
      - default
    include_types:
      - Warning
    max_event_age_seconds: 3600

sinks:
  console:
    type: console
    inputs:
      - k8s_events
    encoding:
      codec: json

How did you test this PR?

Unit tests for deduplication logic, event timestamping, and filtering
Manual testing against a local Kubernetes cluster (kind/minikube)
Verified event streaming, reconnection handling, and deduplication behavior

Change Type

Bug fix
New feature
Non-functional (chore, refactoring, docs)
Performance

Is this a breaking change?

Yes
No

Does this PR include user facing changes?

Yes. Please add a changelog fragment based on our guidelines.
No. A maintainer will apply the no-changelog label to this PR.

References

Closes: New kubernetes_system_events source #1293

maycmlee

Just some small suggestions!

…events.cue Co-authored-by: May Lee <may.lee@datadoghq.com>

Co-authored-by: May Lee <may.lee@datadoghq.com>

lukasmrtvy · 2026-02-04T07:20:16Z

@maycmlee friendly ping. Possible to merge? Thanks

maycmlee

Looks good for docs! Let me see if someone from eng can review.

maycmlee · 2026-02-05T14:35:27Z

@lukasmrtvy someone from eng will review and be in touch. Thanks for opening this PR!

Smana · 2026-03-06T15:15:42Z

@maycmlee are there any news for the PR please? thank you

maycmlee · 2026-03-17T16:54:43Z

@Smana sorry for the delayed response! I'm checking in with the eng team again.

pront · 2026-03-17T18:25:43Z

@codex review

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dm3ch · 2026-04-21T23:14:23Z

@maycmlee / maintainers — what's the status of this PR from an engineering perspective?
Is there anything blocking a review, or specific concerns about accepting a new kubernetes source?
Happy to help move this forward if there's something concrete I can do.

@elohmeier great work on this. Do you have plans to extend it with leader election
(Lease-based, so it's safe to run with replicas > 1) and some form of checkpoint
to avoid duplicate events on restart or leader change — either here or in a follow-up PR?

I'd like to add both, but unsure whether to wait your PR merge, build on top of this PR or do it separately.
Wanted to check your intentions first before starting planning anything on my own.

maycmlee · 2026-04-22T13:53:00Z

@maycmlee / maintainers — what's the status of this PR from an engineering perspective?
Is there anything blocking a review, or specific concerns about accepting a new kubernetes source?
Happy to help move this forward if there's something concrete I can do.

Looping in @pront to address your questions. Thanks!

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elohmeier · 2026-04-24T07:08:06Z

I'm grateful for the interest in this PR.
@dm3ch thanks for your suggestions. I've implemented leader election and tested it in a K8S cluster. I would leave the checkpoint out of this PR as it is more controversial on how to store the state, but I think it should be implemented.

currently fixing the open codex issues

# Conflicts: # Cargo.lock

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elohmeier · 2026-05-06T15:20:59Z

@pront I there anything left to do? I've addressed all the Codex issues, I think this might be ready to be merged.

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shahar-h · 2026-06-25T07:48:38Z

Hi, any update?

pront · 2026-06-26T23:35:51Z

Hi, any update?

@shahar-h There are a few unresolved threads in this PR. I will try to make time next week to review this.

Treat Kubernetes resourceVersion values as opaque strings and seed leader bootstrap state without emitting preexisting events after failover. Document the Lease RBAC required when leader election is enabled.

elohmeier · 2026-06-28T10:57:21Z

Thanks @pront, let me know if anything needs to be fixed. I've addressed the remaining issues in the last commit.

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Suppress takeover bootstrap replays only before the previous holder's last renewal so events created while no leader was active are still emitted. Prune stale dedupe entries before bootstrap membership checks and use the configured Helm chart repo in the k8s e2e test.

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Use the previous Lease renewal as the bootstrap cutoff for same-holder restarts and always seed pre-cutoff InitApply objects, even when the UID is cached. Remove invalid source metadata fields from the docs CUE.

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Lease renew_time is not delivery progress because renewal can happen while downstream send is still pending. Bootstrap InitApply items rely on delivered-event dedupe instead. Prefer event_time over deprecated timestamps for singleton Events.

feat(kubernetes_events source): add k8s events src

de45e11

elohmeier requested review from a team as code owners January 6, 2026 10:45

github-actions Bot added domain: sources Anything related to the Vector's sources domain: external docs Anything related to Vector's external, public documentation labels Jan 6, 2026

maycmlee self-assigned this Jan 6, 2026

maycmlee reviewed Jan 6, 2026

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elohmeier and others added 10 commits January 6, 2026 21:40

Update website/cue/reference/components/sources/generated/kubernetes_…

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…events.cue Co-authored-by: May Lee <may.lee@datadoghq.com>

Update website/cue/reference/components/sources/generated/kubernetes_…

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…events.cue Co-authored-by: May Lee <may.lee@datadoghq.com>

Update website/cue/reference/components/sources/generated/kubernetes_…

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…events.cue Co-authored-by: May Lee <may.lee@datadoghq.com>

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Co-authored-by: May Lee <may.lee@datadoghq.com>

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Update website/cue/reference/components/sources/kubernetes_events.cue

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Update website/cue/reference/components/sources/kubernetes_events.cue

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Update website/cue/reference/components/sources/kubernetes_events.cue

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maycmlee approved these changes Feb 4, 2026

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thomasqueirozb added source: new Request or implementation of a new source platform: kubernetes Anything `kubernetes` platform related labels Feb 17, 2026

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Comment thread src/sources/kubernetes_events/mod.rs Outdated

Merge branch 'master' into k8s-events-source

91a0039

fix(kubernetes_events): prefer series timestamps

ccd0053

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Comment thread src/sources/kubernetes_events/mod.rs Outdated

Comment thread src/sources/kubernetes_events/mod.rs Outdated

Add leader election to kubernetes events source

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Comment thread src/sources/kubernetes_events/mod.rs Outdated

elohmeier added 2 commits April 24, 2026 09:28

fix(kubernetes_events): align source metadata

7f096f7

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/master' into k8s-events-source

6616b0c

# Conflicts: # Cargo.lock

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Comment thread src/sources/kubernetes_events/mod.rs Outdated

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fix(kubernetes_events): protect leader renewal

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Comment thread src/sources/kubernetes_events/mod.rs Outdated

fix(kubernetes_events): defer dedupe commits

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elohmeier requested a review from maycmlee May 6, 2026 15:19

thomasqueirozb added 3 commits June 1, 2026 15:18

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/master' into k8s-events-source

8cbdc2b

Fix counters with new enums

5a20698

Split mod.rs into mod.rs/config.rs

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github-actions Bot added the docs review on hold The documentation team reviews PRs only after a PR is approved by the COSE team. label Jun 1, 2026

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Comment thread src/sources/kubernetes_events/mod.rs Outdated

Comment thread src/sources/kubernetes_events/mod.rs Outdated

Comment thread website/cue/reference/components/sources/kubernetes_events.cue

thomasqueirozb changed the title ~~feat(kubernetes_events source): add k8s events src~~ feat(new source): add kubernetes_events source Jun 1, 2026

thomasqueirozb removed the work in progress label Jun 1, 2026

pront self-assigned this Jun 26, 2026

fix(kubernetes_events): harden event dedupe

d941527

Treat Kubernetes resourceVersion values as opaque strings and seed leader bootstrap state without emitting preexisting events after failover. Document the Lease RBAC required when leader election is enabled.

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Comment thread lib/k8s-e2e-tests/tests/vector-aggregator.rs Outdated

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Comment thread src/sources/kubernetes_events/mod.rs Outdated

Comment thread src/sources/kubernetes_events/mod.rs Outdated

Comment thread website/cue/reference/components/sources/kubernetes_events.cue Outdated

fix(kubernetes_events): suppress restart replays

bb63684

Use the previous Lease renewal as the bootstrap cutoff for same-holder restarts and always seed pre-cutoff InitApply objects, even when the UID is cached. Remove invalid source metadata fields from the docs CUE.

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Comment thread src/sources/kubernetes_events/mod.rs Outdated

Comment thread src/sources/kubernetes_events/mod.rs

fix(kubernetes_events): avoid event loss

f509a15

Lease renew_time is not delivery progress because renewal can happen while downstream send is still pending. Bootstrap InitApply items rely on delivered-event dedupe instead. Prefer event_time over deprecated timestamps for singleton Events.

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Summary

Vector configuration

How did you test this PR?

Change Type

Is this a breaking change?

Does this PR include user facing changes?

References

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elohmeier commented Jan 6, 2026 •

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