Backend API

The backend is a single Express server (server.js) that provides both REST API endpoints and WebSocket connections.

Server Structure

server.js          // Main entry — Express app, K8s routes, WebSocket setup
routes/
├── aws.js         // AWS service endpoints
├── gcp.js         // GCP service endpoints
├── helm.js        // Helm repositories, chart search, install and releases
├── envManager.js  // Profile/credential management
├── localShell.js  // Local terminal WebSocket
└── systemTools.js // CLI tool detection

REST API Endpoints

Kubernetes

Method	Path	Description
GET	/api/contexts	List all kubeconfig contexts
POST	/api/context	Switch active context
DELETE	/api/context/:name	Delete a context
GET	/api/namespaces	List namespaces
GET	/api/:ns/pods	List pods
GET	/api/:ns/pods/:name/yaml	Get pod YAML
DELETE	/api/:ns/pods/:name	Delete pod
POST	/api/:ns/deployments/:name/restart	Restart deployment
POST	/api/:ns/deployments/:name/scale	Scale deployment
POST	/api/kubeconfig/import	Import kubeconfig YAML
POST	/api/kubeconfig/path	Register an existing kubeconfig file path
GET	/api/:ns/:resource/:name/metrics	Metrics for Pods and workloads with Prometheus fallback
GET	/api/nodes/:name/metrics	Node CPU/memory metrics
GET	/api/events/related	Events related to a resource or Node
POST	/api/nodes/:name/cordon	Cordon node
POST	/api/nodes/:name/uncordon	Uncordon node
POST	/api/nodes/:name/drain	Drain node

Cloud Routes

Prefix	Module	Description
/api/cloud/aws	routes/aws.js	AWS services
/api/cloud/gcp	routes/gcp.js	GCP services
/api/cloud/envs	routes/envManager.js	Profile management
/api/system	routes/systemTools.js	CLI tool detection
/api/helm	routes/helm.js	Helm repositories, chart search, install, release inventory and uninstall

WebSocket Endpoints

Path	Purpose
/ws/logs	Pod log streaming
/ws/exec	Pod exec (interactive shell)
/ws/shell	Local system shell
/ws/ec2-shell	EC2 instance shell (via SSH)

All WebSocket connections use noServer mode with manual upgrade routing to avoid conflicts between multiple WebSocket.Server instances.

Kubeconfig Management

The server merges kubeconfig files from multiple sources:

1. KUBECONFIG env var paths
2. Default ~/.kube/config
3. UI-imported configs (~/.kube/kuadashboard_merged.yaml)
4. Registered file paths (~/.kube/kuadashboard_paths.json)

Merging is non-destructive — existing entries are never overwritten.

Metrics Fallback

Kubernetes metrics first use the metrics.k8s.io/v1beta1 API. If Metrics Server is unavailable, KuaDashboard discovers Prometheus Services and queries them through the Kubernetes API server Service proxy, preserving the user's current kubeconfig and context.