Agentkube uses a .kubeignore file to control which Kubernetes resources AI agents should ignore when analyzing your cluster. This file is located at ~/.agentkube/.kubeignore and follows a simple, line-based syntax similar to .gitignore.

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File Format

  • Lines starting with # are comments
  • Blank lines are ignored
  • Each rule is one line with a specific syntax pattern
  • Globs use *, ?, and ** (for file paths)

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Rule Types

Rule TypeSyntaxDescription
Namespacenamespace: <glob>Ignore any resource in matching namespaces
Kindkind: <glob>Ignore resources by Kubernetes kind
GVKgvk: <apiVersion>/<Kind>Ignore by exact API version and kind
Namename: <glob>Ignore resources by name pattern
GVKNgvkn: <apiVersion>/<Kind>/<namespace>/<name>Ignore specific resource in specific namespace
Labellabel: <key>=<value>Ignore resources with matching labels
Annotationannotation: <key>=<value>Ignore resources with matching annotations
Filefile: <glob>Ignore manifest files by path pattern

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Example .kubeignore

# ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
# Skip entire namespaces
# ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
namespace: kube-system
namespace: monitoring
namespace: istio-system

# ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
# Skip by kind or API group/kind
# ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
kind: Secret
kind: ConfigMap
gvk: apps/v1/Deployment

# ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
# Skip specific resources in specific namespaces
# ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
gvkn: apps/v1/Deployment/dev/test-app
gvkn: batch/v1/Job/qa/*
gvkn: v1/ConfigMap/*/temp-*

# ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
# Skip by name patterns
# ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
name: test-*-db
name: *-backup

# ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
# Skip by labels and annotations
# ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
label: skip-ci=true
label: tier=dev-*
annotation: audit.k8s.io/ignore=always

# ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
# Skip manifest files
# ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
file: drafts/**
file: tmp-*.yaml
file: **/test-manifests/*

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How It Works

For each Kubernetes resource, Agentkube builds candidate keys from:
  • metadata.namespace (defaults to default)
  • kind and apiVersion
  • metadata.name
  • All metadata.labels and metadata.annotations
  • Source file path (if applicable)
If any rule in .kubeignore matches one of these keys using glob patterns, the resource is ignored by AI agents.

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Common Use Cases

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Skip System Resources

namespace: kube-system
namespace: kube-public
namespace: kube-node-lease

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Skip Sensitive Data

kind: Secret
annotation: secret-manager.io/managed=true

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Skip Development Resources

label: environment=dev
gvkn: apps/v1/Deployment/*/test-*

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Skip Temporary Resources

name: *-backup
name: temp-*
label: temporary=true
The .kubeignore file provides fine-grained control over what resources your AI agents can see and analyze, helping you maintain security and focus on relevant resources.