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OpsWorker Kubernetes Agent

Overview​

The OpsWorker Kubernetes Agent is a lightweight component that runs inside your Kubernetes cluster. It serves as OpsWorker's data collection layer, executing read-only commands to gather the information that AI agents need during investigations and chat sessions.

Key Characteristics​

  • Deployed via Helm into a dedicated opsworker-agent namespace. A default install runs three pods: the agent plus two bundled subcharts (the read-only kubernetes-mcp-server and grafana-mcp).
  • Read-only: only observes resources; never modifies cluster state
  • Outbound-only: initiates all communication; no inbound ports required
  • Lightweight: small resource footprint (256Mi request / 512Mi limit memory, 100m / 200m CPU)
  • Secure: authenticated via cluster token and API key, communicates over TLS

Architecture​

sequenceDiagram
    participant OW as OpsWorker Cloud
    participant SQS as AWS SQS
    participant Agent as K8s Agent (your cluster)
    participant API as Kubernetes API

    OW->>SQS: Send data collection command
    Agent->>SQS: Poll for commands (outbound HTTPS)
    Agent->>API: Execute read-only query
    API-->>Agent: Return data
    Agent->>SQS: Send results (outbound HTTPS)
    SQS-->>OW: Deliver collected data

The agent polls AWS SQS for commands from OpsWorker, executes them against the Kubernetes API, and returns results - all over outbound HTTPS connections.

What the Agent Does​

During investigations and chat sessions, the agent:

  • Retrieves pod status, logs, and container details
  • Lists and describes deployments, services, ingresses
  • Reads Kubernetes events for incident timeline construction
  • Checks service endpoints for health status
  • Reads ConfigMap contents and Secret metadata (not values; Secret values are not accessible by default)
  • Inspects node status and conditions

Supported Kubernetes Distributions​

DistributionSupport
Amazon EKSFully supported
Google GKEFully supported
Azure AKSFully supported
Self-hosted (kubeadm, k3s, Rancher)Fully supported
OpenShiftSupported (may need SCC adjustments)

Next Steps​