@nogoo9/no-crd is a lightweight, cross-runtime Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that empowers AI agents and APIs to dynamically spawn, route to, and manage ephemeral containerized sandboxes on standard Kubernetes (k8s/k3s) clusters — without requiring Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs), cluster-level operators, or elevated RBAC permissions.
It provides JupyterHub-like dynamic pod lifecycle management but is completely agnostic to actual workloads and supports multi-runtime execution under Bun, Deno, and Node.js.
📚 For detailed guides, API reference, and configuration options, visit the public Documentation Website or access the built-in documentation served directly at /docs/ (e.g. http://localhost:3000/docs/) when running the server.
🗺️ Choose Your Path
To get started with @nogoo9/no-crd, select the track that matches your goals:
Best for: Programmatically controlling pods via the TypeScript SDK or contributing to the core runtime codebase.
🚀 Key Features
No CRDs Required: Runs directly against core Kubernetes resources (Pods, ConfigMaps, ServiceAccounts). Highly portable, secure, and compatible with restricted/managed environments (EKS, GKE, K3s).
Agent Sandbox Spawner: Specialized spawner tools that automate workspace provisioning with context validation, init containers, IAM roles, pre-stop hooks, and lifecycle sync.
ConfigMap-Based Templates: Store, version, and load reusable pod templates stored as standard Kubernetes ConfigMaps.
Local Filesystem Templates: Bake YAML/JSON pod templates into Docker images or mount them from host paths — with built-in defaults shipped in the package.
Isomorphic Multi-Runtime SDK: Imports seamlessly as a composable programmatic SDK or MCP server running under Node.js, Bun, or Deno.
Workspace Routing Proxy (Experimental): Built-in reverse proxy routing that dynamically pipes traffic to running container IPs with secure user token ownership verification, path-scoped session cookies (nocr_token and nocr_sess), and automatic HMAC-signed session management for short-lived token resilience.
Embedded Web UI App: Exposes an interactive web-based Pod Manager interface featuring a light/dark theme toggle, client-side PKCE OIDC login with proactive silent token refresh, and workspace file preview rendering (supporting HTML sandboxed iframes and custom Markdown rendering).
⚡ Quick Start
Run Standalone via NPX (No Installation)
# Option 1: Start HTTP/SSE server on port 3000
npx @nogoo9/no-crd --transport http --port 3000
# Option 2: Run over standard input/output (stdio) for local IDE agents
npx @nogoo9/no-crd --transport stdio --mode cluster
Expected token audience. Falls back to OAUTH_CLIENT_ID if set.
-
AUTH_ISSUER, JWT_ISSUER
""
URL string
Identifier URL for the Authorization Server advertised in metadata discovery.
-
AUTH_SUB_JSONPATH
$.sub
JSONPath
Payload path to extract unique user identity from JWT payload.
--auth-scope-jsonpath
AUTH_SCOPE_JSONPATH
$.scope
JSONPath
Payload path to extract scopes claim from JWT payload.
--auth-roles-jsonpath
AUTH_ROLES_JSONPATH, AUTH_ADMIN_JSONPATH
$.realm_access.roles
JSONPath
Payload path to extract user roles from JWT payload.
-
AUTH_ADMIN_ROLE
admin
String
Role name signifying administrator access.
--auth-required-read-scope
AUTH_REQUIRED_READ_SCOPE
nogoo9:read
String
OAuth scope required for read operations. If not set, read scope check is bypassed.
--auth-required-write-scope
AUTH_REQUIRED_WRITE_SCOPE
nogoo9:write
String
OAuth scope required for write/mutation operations. If not set, write scope check is bypassed.
--auth-required-admin-scope
AUTH_REQUIRED_ADMIN_SCOPE
nogoo9:admin
String
OAuth scope required for administrator operations. If not set, admin scope check is bypassed.
-
AUTH_ADMIN_USERS
``
Comma-separated list of user subject IDs (sub)
Comma-separated list of user subject IDs (sub) granted admin privileges without requiring OIDC scope/role claims (workaround fallback).
--auth-required-read-role
AUTH_REQUIRED_READ_ROLE
viewer
String
User role required for read operations. If not set, read role check is bypassed.
--auth-required-write-role
AUTH_REQUIRED_WRITE_ROLE
user
String
User role required for write/mutation operations. If not set, write role check is bypassed.
-
PROXY_SESSION_TTL
1800
Number
Session cookie expiration lifetime in seconds (sliding window duration).
-
PROXY_REFRESH_COOKIE_TTL
604800
Number
Default Max-Age for the encrypted refresh token cookie (nocr_refresh). Overridden by the IdP's refresh_expires_in when available.
-
PROXY_TOKEN_COOKIE_TTL
86400
Number
Default Max-Age for the access token cookie (nocr_token). Overridden by the JWT exp claim when available.
-
PROXY_SESSION_SECRET
""
String
HMAC secret key used to sign stateless session cookies. Falls back to JWT_SECRET if not configured.
-
OAUTH_SCOPES
openid profile email offline_access
Space-separated scope string
OAuth scopes to request during authorization. Include 'offline_access' for refresh tokens.
-
OAUTH_AUTHORIZATION_URL
-
URL string
Direct OAuth authorization URL.
-
OAUTH_SERVER_DISCOVERY_URL, OAUTH_DISCOVERY_URL
-
URL string
Discovery URL for the OAuth server used by the backend gateway. Falls back to OAUTH_DISCOVERY_URL.
-
OAUTH_TOKEN_URL, OAUTH_SERVER_TOKEN_URL
-
URL string
Direct OAuth token exchange endpoint for the backend server.
-
OAUTH_END_SESSION_URL
-
URL string
Direct OAuth logout endpoint.
--auth-inject-workspace-jwt
AUTH_INJECT_WORKSPACE_JWT
true
true, false
Determines if the custom 'x-workspace-jwt' header containing the raw token is injected into proxy requests.
-
AUTH_DEFAULT_ROLE
viewer
String
Fallback role if the token does not provide scopes/roles.
--max-workspaces-per-user
MAX_WORKSPACES_PER_USER
0
Number
Maximum number of concurrent active workspaces a non-admin user can own (0 for unlimited).
🖥️ UI & Themes Configuration
CLI Option
Environment Variable
Default
Allowed Values
Description
-
UI_ENABLED
true
true, false
Enables the embedded HTML Pod Manager UI resource.
-
THEMES_DIR
themes
Path string
Local directory path containing custom CSS UI themes.
-
THEMES_CONFIGMAP
-
String
Name of Kubernetes ConfigMap containing custom UI theme configurations.
-
DOCS_DIR
/app/docs (Docker) or docs/.vitepress/dist (Local)
Path string
Base directory from which static documentation files are served.
-
OAUTH_DISCOVERY_URL
""
URL string
Discovery URL for the OAuth authorization server used by the UI client.
-
OAUTH_CLIENT_ID
""
String
OAuth client ID for UI authorization.
-
OAUTH_LOGIN_METHOD
redirect
redirect, popup
Login interaction mode for UI OAuth client.
-
UI_TITLE
nogoo9 Pod Manager
String
Custom title shown in the dashboard header.
-
UI_SUBTITLE
On-demand Kubernetes pod orchestration and agent-sandbox management without CRDs.
String
Custom subtitle shown below the dashboard title.
☸️ Kubernetes Setup & RBAC Permissions
For the @nogoo9/no-crd MCP server to interact with Kubernetes, it must run with appropriate RBAC permissions. Depending on your configuration, you can deploy it with Cluster-Wide (ClusterRole) access or Namespace-Scoped (Role) access.
Tool-to-Permission Mapping
Below is the mapping showing which Kubernetes API resources and verbs each MCP tool requires. The server dynamically checks these permissions at startup (via SelfSubjectAccessReview) and only registers tools that the active identity is authorized to use.
Resource: configmaps
Required Verb
Associated MCP Tools
Description / Purpose
create
create_template
Save a new pod template definition as a ConfigMap.
delete
delete_template
Delete a stored pod template ConfigMap.
get
create_pod_from_template
Read template pod specifications stored in ConfigMaps.
update
update_template
Modify metadata, annotations, or specifications of an existing template.
Resource: events
Required Verb
Associated MCP Tools
Description / Purpose
list
get_workspace_events
Resource: namespaces
Required Verb
Associated MCP Tools
Description / Purpose
list
list_namespaces
Discover namespaces in the cluster (only required in cluster access mode).
Use this mode if the MCP server should be restricted to a single namespace (e.g. nogoo9). In this mode, no cluster-level or administrative permissions are needed.
Create a Role and RoleBinding in the target namespace:
(Note: In namespace-scoped mode, the list_namespaces tool will only return the target namespace, and namespace parameter inputs to all tools will default to the target namespace.)
📑 Workspace Templates & Spawner Annotations
Templates in @nogoo9/no-crd can be loaded from three sources (highest to lowest priority):
Kubernetes ConfigMaps — labeled with nogoo9/pod-template: "true" (original mechanism)
Custom local directory — set via TEMPLATES_DIR env var (YAML or JSON files)
Built-in templates — shipped with the npm package (disable with BUILTIN_TEMPLATES=false)
To register a template with the spawner, create a ConfigMap meeting the following requirements:
Discovery Label: Must be labeled with nogoo9/pod-template: "true".
Spec Key: The data block must contain a key named spec whose value is a JSON string conforming to the PodSpecSchema (e.g. containers, volumes, restartPolicy).
Behavior Customization: Set annotations on the ConfigMap metadata to configure advanced spawner integrations (like IAM role binding, init containers, and pre-stop lifecycle hooks).
The spawner inspects ConfigMap metadata annotations (and custom inline annotations passed during spawn_workspace) to customize the workspace lifecycle:
Annotation / Label Key
Type
Description
nogoo9/workspace-auth-mode
Annotation (Comma-separated)
Configures authorization modes for the workspace proxy. Comma-separated list of: token-api (exposes token retrieval endpoints at _auth/token & _auth/authorize for SPAs), inject-headers (rewrites headers to forward user identity like x-user-sub and JWTs to container; enabled by default if AUTH_ENABLED=true), no-auth (bypasses all auth/owner checks for public workspaces). (Available from v0.6.0, no-auth from v0.8.0)
nogoo9/auth-require-token
Annotation ("true"
"false")
nogoo9/template-version
Annotation (String)
Specifies the version of the pod template. Used to track if workspaces are outdated. (Available from v0.8.0)
nogoo9/workspace-name
Annotation (String)
Stores the user-defined display name of the workspace. (Available from v0.4.0)
nogoo9/template-ref
Annotation (String)
The reference to the pod template used to spawn the workspace (e.g. default/workspace-terminal). (Available from v0.4.0)
nogoo9/managed-by
Label (String)
Used to label workspace pods created by this MCP server to restrict operational scope. (Available from v0.5.0)
nogoo9/pod-template
Label ("true")
Identifies a Kubernetes ConfigMap as a reusable pod template.
nogoo9/type
Label ("workspace")
Applied automatically by the spawner to identify running agent workspace pods.
nogoo9/workspace-id
Label
Identifies the unique agent session / workspace ID associated with the running pod.
nogoo9/user-sub
Label / Annotation
Represents the authenticated user subject (owner) of the workspace pod, used for access control validation and ServiceAccount labeling.
nogoo9/description
Annotation (String)
A friendly, human-readable summary of the template's purpose and contents.
nogoo9/tag
Annotation (String)
A version or tag associated with the template environment (e.g. node-20).
nogoo9/required-context
Annotation (Comma-separated)
Validates that target environment variables are provided in the tool call's context parameter (e.g. GITHUB_TOKEN,DATABASE_URL).
nogoo9/iam-role-arn
Annotation (AWS Role ARN)
Instructs the spawner to provision a dedicated Kubernetes ServiceAccount annotated for EKS IAM Role mapping (IRSA).
nogoo9/init-image
Annotation (Image string)
The container image to run in the dynamic spawner-init init-container.
nogoo9/init-command
Annotation (Shell command)
The shell command to run in the init-container. It automatically shares the main container's volume mounts.
nogoo9/init-share-volumes
Annotation ("true"
"false")
nogoo9/pre-stop-command
Annotation (Shell command)
A shell command executed in a Kubernetes preStop lifecycle exec hook when the workspace is terminated (e.g. to save/push state).
nogoo9/pre-stop-sidecar-image
Annotation (Image string)
If specified alongside pre-stop-command, runs the pre-stop command inside a dedicated sidecar container instead of the main container.
nogoo9/default-grace-period
Annotation (Number in seconds)
Overrides the Pod's terminationGracePeriodSeconds (defaults to 60 if a pre-stop command is defined) to give cleanup commands time to finish.
nogoo9/workspace-port
Annotation (Number)
The port inside the container to proxy traffic to. Defaults to DEFAULT_WORKSPACE_PORT or 3000.
nogoo9/workspace-path
Annotation (String)
The default URL subpath mapping for the workspace web interface (defaults to /).
nogoo9/workspace-type
Annotation (String)
The format specification of the main entry point (e.g. iframe, novnc).
nogoo9/preview-path
Annotation (String)
The default folder or file subpath to render in the UI files preview tab.
nogoo9/preview-type
Annotation (String)
Fallback preview rendering mode for the preview tab (e.g. markdown, html).
nogoo9/api.<api-name>.port
Annotation (Number)
Defines an additional HTTP service port exposed by the workspace.
nogoo9/api.<api-name>.visibility
Annotation (String)
Specifies access visibility for the custom API endpoint. Supported values: private (accessible only by the workspace owner), internal (accessible by any logged-in user), admin (accessible by the owner or users with the admin scope and role), scope:<scope_name> (accessible by users possessing the specified OIDC scope), role:<role_name> (accessible by users possessing the specified user role), or a comma-separated list of allowed user subjects.
nogoo9/api.<api-name>.path
Annotation (String)
Defines the subpath routing prefix for this specific API (e.g. /terminal).
nogoo9/api.<api-name>.desc
Annotation (String)
A short description of this additional API, shown in the UI interface.
nogoo9/api.<api-name>.method
Annotation (String)
Comma-separated list of supported HTTP methods (e.g. GET,POST, *, defaults to any method).
nogoo9/api.<api-name>.refresh
Annotation (Duration)
Sets the refresh frequency for custom stats/activity or other mini API views in the dashboard cards (e.g. 10s, 1m, or init to query only once on startup).
nogoo9/api.stats.refresh
Annotation (Duration)
Explicitly configures the reload frequency for the reserved stats API metrics on the workspace dashboard card (e.g., 10s, 30s, init).
nogoo9/api.last_activity.refresh
Annotation (Duration)
Explicitly configures the reload frequency for the reserved last_activity epoch timestamp API on the workspace dashboard card (e.g., 30s, 1m, init).
nogoo9/allowed-roles
Annotation (Comma-separated)
Comma-separated list of user roles allowed to spawn workspaces from this template (e.g., developer,lead-dev). Admins always bypass role restrictions.
nogoo9/allowed-scopes
Annotation (Comma-separated)
Comma-separated list of OAuth scopes allowed to spawn workspaces from this template (e.g., nogoo9:write). Admins always bypass scope restrictions.
📦 Programmatic SDK & API Proxy Services
@nogoo9/no-crd provides a complete programmatic SDK and dynamic cluster routing proxy to allow developers to build custom pod orchestrators and route workspace traffic natively.
1. Composable Programmatic SDK
You can import @nogoo9/no-crd in your Bun, Deno, or Node.js codebase to control pod sandboxes and templates programmatically, bypassing the MCP HTTP server.
import { KubeConfig } from "@kubernetes/client-node";
import {
initK8sContext,
spawnWorkspace,
stopWorkspace,
listWorkspaces
} from "@nogoo9/no-crd";
// 1. Initialize Kubernetes API Context (optionally pass custom configuration)
const kc = new KubeConfig();
kc.loadFromDefault();
const ctx = initK8sContext(kc);
// 2. Spawn a workspace sandbox from a template
const spawnResult = await spawnWorkspace(ctx, {
id: "agent-session-42",
templateRef: "nogoo9/default-agent-workspace",
context: {
"S3_BUCKET": "my-bucket",
"S3_FOLDER": "session-42"
}
});
console.log(`Spawned pod: ${spawnResult.podName}`);
// 3. List active workspaces running in the namespace
const list = await listWorkspaces(ctx, {
namespace: "nogoo9"
});
console.log(`Active workspaces count: ${list.workspaces.length}`);
// 4. Terminate the workspace sandbox
await stopWorkspace(ctx, {
id: "agent-session-42"
});
2. Workspace Routing Proxy (Experimental)
[!WARNING]
The workspace routing proxy and JWT authentication engine are experimental and likely to change in the next version.
The server includes a built-in reverse proxy routing service. HTTP requests targeting:
http://<mcp-server-host>/route/<workspace-id>/<subpath>
are dynamically proxied directly to the running workspace pod's IP address inside the cluster.
If AUTH_ENABLED is true:
Token Bootstrapping & Path-Scoped Cookies: Since standard browser navigations (links, iframes) cannot transmit custom HTTP headers, the client passes the active JWT via a ?token= query parameter on initial redirect. The proxy validates it and issues a secure, path-scoped cookie (nocr_token), allowing subsequent resource requests (JS, CSS, images, WebSockets) to authenticate seamlessly without URL parameters.
Direct Access Redirect (SSO): Accessing a workspace URL directly without active credentials redirects you to the main dashboard's login screen. Once logged in, the dashboard automatically routes you back to the target workspace URL with a fresh bootstrap token.
Resource Ownership Verification: The workspace pod's nogoo9/user-sub label must match the JWT's subject claim, preventing unauthorized access to other users' workspaces.
Proxy target port: Inside the workspace pod defaults to 3000 or can be overridden via pod annotation nogoo9/workspace-port or the DEFAULT_WORKSPACE_PORT environment variable.
Multi-Port / Custom API Routing: You can expose and route additional APIs inside the pod (e.g., a web terminal or secondary service) by defining custom annotations in the template (e.g., nogoo9/api.terminal.port: "7681", nogoo9/api.terminal.path: "/terminal"). The proxy will dynamically handle subpath routing and method checks.
A stateless signed session cookie (nocr_sess) is minted on first successful JWT validation, enabling workspace traffic to survive short-lived token expiry. (Available from v0.4.0) See ADR-002 and ADR-003 for design details.
For a detailed breakdown of the redirection lifecycle, Keycloak configuration, and JWT claims, see the SSO & OIDC Integration Guide.
3. OAuth Resource Discovery (RFC 9728)
Exposes the standardized metadata endpoint GET /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource returning:
Supported authorization servers.
Token format specifications.
Required scopes.
This allows client interfaces (and MCP clients) to automatically discover security requirements and handle dynamic OAuth authentication flows.
4. Embedded Web UI & Dashboard Themes
When the server runs in HTTP/SSE transport mode, the visual React Pod Manager UI Dashboard is served directly at root / (e.g. http://localhost:3000/).
Dashboard Themes: The UI includes a system/light/dark toggle and supports custom visual themes.
Three-Source Theme Merge Engine: CSS stylesheets are dynamically scanned and merged from:
Duplicate theme IDs are resolved according to priority: ConfigMap > Local Directory > Built-In Catalog. For detailed customization guidelines and CSS templates, see the Dashboard Themes & Branding Guide.
🔌 API Reference (MCP Tools & Resources)
Pod Tools
list_pods: Retrieve a summary of pods in the namespace. Filters by labelSelector, fieldSelector, and limit.
get_pod: Fetch full Kubernetes API JSON payload for a target pod name.
create_pod: Create a custom pod with direct container/volume specifications.
patch_pod: Apply a Strategic Merge Patch to modify labels, annotations, or container resource limits dynamically.
delete_pod: Terminate a pod with optional gracePeriodSeconds.
get_pod_logs: Fetch logs for a container with options like tailLines, sinceSeconds, timestamps, limitBytes, and previous.
list_namespaces: List all namespaces accessible with current credentials.
list_registry_images: List catalog images from the configured REGISTRY_URL.
Pod Template Tools
Manage preconfigured pod specifications stored as standard Kubernetes ConfigMaps (labeled nogoo9/pod-template=true).
list_templates: Show available templates.
get_template: Get the raw pod template spec.
create_template: Store a new pod template spec.
update_template: Update labels, annotations, or specs on an existing template.
delete_template: Delete a template.
create_pod_from_template: Spawn a pod using a template, applying container overrides (environment variables, commands, resources) and top-level overrides.
Agent Workspace (Spawner) Tools
Specially designed for AI agents to safely spawn and clean up their own workspace sandboxes.
list_workspaces: List active agent workspaces (with JWT/owner mapping support).
spawn_workspace: Spawn a workspace sandbox pod. Features:
Context Validation (nogoo9/required-context): Requires the caller to supply critical env variables (e.g. API keys) before spawning.
Init Containers (nogoo9/init-image / nogoo9/init-command): Initialize workspace directories/files before main containers start.
Pre-Stop Hooks (nogoo9/pre-stop-command): Run custom cleanup commands (e.g., commit/sync code to git or S3) upon termination.
IAM Role Mapping (nogoo9/iam-role-arn): Dynamically provisions AWS EKS IAM Role service accounts.
stop_workspace: Clean up and terminate the workspace pod.
Utilities
current_namespace: Returns active namespace and access mode.
MCP Resources
pod-template://{namespace}/{name}: Exposes stored pod templates directly as read-only MCP resources.
ui://nogoo9/app: Exposes the embedded React/web UI app (if UI_ENABLED=true and built). When the server runs in HTTP/SSE transport mode, the UI is also served directly at / or /ui (e.g. http://localhost:3000/) and automatically falls back to standard HTTP JSON-RPC calls when loaded outside a postMessage-compatible MCP host (such as in a standard browser tab or the MCP Inspector).
The server interacts directly with the Kubernetes API using @kubernetes/client-node. By using standard Pod and ConfigMap resources, the setup is highly scalable, requires no cluster operator installs, and easily adheres to strict enterprise namespace-level security policies.
🛠️ Development
We use Moon for toolchain management and task running, and Biome for formatting and linting.
Prerequisites
Bun 1.3.11+
Node.js 22.14.0+
Moon 2.1.3+
k3d (for local Kubernetes cluster)
Setup Environment
# Install dependencies
bun install
# Auto-fix code formatting and linting via Biome
bun run format
# Run TypeScript compilation checks
bun run typecheck
Running Tests
# Run unit tests
moon run mcp:test
# Run full spawner workspace lifecycle tests (requires local k3d)
bun run test:lifecycle
Local Cluster Testing (k3d)
Bootstrap a local k3d Kubernetes cluster complete with a local registry, built-in mock S3, and Traefik:
# Spin up development cluster
moon run k3d:bootstrap
# Rebuild, push, and deploy MCP server to the cluster
moon run mcp:deploy
# Tear down the cluster
moon run k3d:teardown
📄 License
This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE for details.
Noch keine Tool-Liste. Remote-Server erhalten eine nach dem ersten Health-Check.
FAQ
Fragen
Wie installiere ich No Crd?
Kopieren Sie auf dieser Seite die stdio-Konfiguration für Cursor, Claude Desktop, Claude Code oder VS Code. Sie nutzt die Installation des Herausgebers, keinen PlugMCP-Proxy.
