Visualizing Helm Deployments to Debug Kubernetes Faster

Starting with a very common scenario, a Helm chart deploys, something doesn't look right, and suddenly you're juggling terminal tabs, piecing together the picture one kubectl command at a time.

kubectl get all -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=my-release
kubectl describe helmrelease my-release -n flux-system
kubectl get pods -l app=my-app -o wide
# ...still assembling the puzzle

There's a better way to make sense of it all. What if you could simply see your entire deployment at a glance?

See it in action:

A Visual Approach to Helm Releases

Most Kubernetes tools give you lists and tables, and those are great for certain tasks. Kunobi adds something complementary: an interactive flow diagram that maps out your entire Helm release as a visual resource tree.

When you open a Helm release, you get the complete picture laid out hierarchically:

HelmRelease → HelmChart → All deployed resources, each represented as a connected node with color coding to help you orient quickly. Every node carries a real-time status indicator so you can tell at a glance what's healthy, what's pending, and what needs attention.

For complex charts that deploy dozens of resources, you can collapse sections you're not focused on, parent nodes show a badge count of collapsed children so you always know what's tucked away. Expand any section when you need the detail.

Search That Understands Your Deployment

One of the features we're most excited about is visual search. Start typing a resource name and Kunobi automatically expands any collapsed sections that contain matches, highlights every result, and smoothly pans to center each one. You can navigate between matches with arrow keys, and a small badge shows the total result count, like "3 of 7 matches," so you always know where you are in the results.

It's a small thing that makes a real difference when you're working with large deployments.

From Status Indicator to Root Cause

Every node in the flow carries a real-time status indicator, a green checkmark when things are healthy, a yellow hourglass for pending states, or a red warning when something needs your attention.

When you spot an issue, click the node to open a context menu with the actions you'd typically reach for (depends on the resource):

View Logs – Stream logs from the resource instantly
Open Shell – Drop into the container
Edit YAML – Adjust the configuration
Scale Replicas – Resize a deployment
Reconcile – Trigger a Flux sync

Here's what that looks like in practice: Say your Helm release reports "Ready" but users are seeing errors. In Kunobi, you open the release in flow view, scan for the red indicator among the green, click it, choose "View Logs," and you're looking at the stack trace. The whole loop, from "something's wrong" to "here's why", takes seconds instead of a chain of kubectl commands.

Four Ways to View Your Data

Different tasks call for different views. Kunobi lets you switch instantly from the status bar:

Mode	Best For
Flow View	Understanding relationships, visual debugging
Table View	Sorting, filtering, bulk operations
Vertical Split	Table on the left, flow on the right
Horizontal Split	Flow on top, table below

Your preference is remembered per resource type, so you can default to table mode for Pods and flow mode for Helm releases, whatever fits your workflow.

Layout Controls for Any Workflow

The flow diagram supports three layout directions, Tree layout, Hierarchical (Left-Right), and Hierarchical (Top-Down), along with one-click Expand All, Collapse All, and Fit View controls. It's easy to rearrange things until the diagram feels natural for whatever you're working on.

Works Across Hierarchical Resources

Flow View isn't limited to Helm releases. It works anywhere Kunobi shows hierarchical resource relationships:

Helm Releases – See every resource deployed by a chart
Flux Applications – Follow the chain from Kustomization → HelmRelease → Resources
Resource Groups – Explore any parent-child relationships in your cluster

To try it, just click the Flow View icon in the status bar when available. That's all there is to it.

Give It a Try

If you've ever wished you could just look at a Helm deployment instead of assembling the picture manually, Flow View might be exactly what you're after. Here's what it brings to your workflow:

Instant visibility into how your resources connect
One-click debugging that takes you from a status indicator straight to logs
Smart search that expands, highlights, and navigates across the entire tree
Flexible views so you can work the way that suits you best

Kunobi is free to download at kunobi.ninja, give Flow View a spin on your next deployment.