Quickstart

This guide assumes you have installed Truss and have a valid ~/.kube/config.

1. Initialize the Vault

On first launch, Truss prompts you to set up an encrypted vault.

Choose a mode:

• Password — Argon2id-derived key, ideal for portable local use
• GPG — encrypts with your local GPG key or hardware token

Your kubeconfigs and profile metadata are stored encrypted at rest in this vault.

2. Import Contexts

After vault setup, import your Kubernetes contexts:

• Auto-import from ~/.kube/config (Truss detects it automatically)
• Paste a raw kubeconfig YAML directly

Each context becomes a selectable entry in Truss. You can group contexts into Profiles and color-label them (e.g. red for production, blue for staging).

3. Stay in Read-Only Mode

Always confirm your active context and namespace before enabling Write mode, especially on production clusters.

4. Navigate the Three-Pane Interface

┌─────────────────┬──────────────────┬─────────────────────┐
│  Navigator      │  Resource List   │  Inspector          │
│                 │                  │                     │
│  Namespaces     │  pod-abc-123      │  Summary / Events   │
│  Workloads      │  pod-def-456      │  YAML / Data        │
│  Services       │  pod-ghi-789      │  Logs / Exec        │
│  …              │  …               │  …                  │
└─────────────────┴──────────────────┴─────────────────────┘

5. Open the Overview

Click ◈ Overview in the left navigator to see:

• Node readiness and pod phase breakdown
• Warning events from your cluster
• Workload health summaries

6. Open a Pod Shell

1. Navigate to Workloads → Pods
2. Select a pod in the resource list
3. Press Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+T — an exec terminal opens in a popout window

7. Tail Logs

1. Select any pod or workload
2. Press Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+L — a streaming log window opens
3. Use Cmd/Ctrl+F to filter log lines

Common Keyboard Shortcuts

Press ? at any time for the full interactive shortcut reference.