metrics-server

metrics-server is a Kubernetes component that aggregates resource usage metrics (typically CPU/memory) from kubelets and exposes them to the Kubernetes API (for use by components like kubectl top and Horizontal Pod Autoscaler).

Evaluated Apr 04, 2026 (17d ago)

Homepage ↗ Repo ↗ Monitoring kubernetes monitoring metrics autoscaling hpa cluster-ops

⚙ Agent Friendliness

/ 100

Can an agent use this?

🔒 Security

/ 100

Is it safe for agents?

⚡ Reliability

/ 100

Does it work consistently?

Score Breakdown

⚙ Agent Friendliness

MCP Quality

Documentation

Error Messages

Auth Simplicity

Rate Limits

🔒 Security

TLS Enforcement

Auth Strength

Scope Granularity

Dep. Hygiene

Secret Handling

Runs inside Kubernetes; transport security typically relies on the Kubernetes control plane/proxying and TLS defaults. Authorization is governed by RBAC; operational security depends on least-privilege configuration. No direct evidence provided here of dependency scanning status or specific secret handling patterns.

⚡ Reliability

Uptime/SLA

Version Stability

Breaking Changes

Error Recovery

Best When

You want lightweight, in-cluster aggregation of node/pod resource metrics for Kubernetes-native autoscaling and visibility.

Avoid When

You need durable metrics storage, rich label-based analytics, or non-Kubernetes metric ingestion.

Use Cases

• Enable kubectl top for cluster resource monitoring
• Support Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA) based on CPU/memory metrics
• Provide aggregated metrics for other Kubernetes controllers/add-ons

Not For

• Providing application-level business metrics (APM/trace/log analytics)
• Long-term metrics storage/queries (use Prometheus/Thanos/etc. for that)
• External multi-tenant metrics collection for non-Kubernetes environments

Interface

REST API

GraphQL

gRPC

MCP Server

SDK

Webhooks

Authentication

Methods: Kubernetes RBAC/ServiceAccount authentication (in-cluster)

OAuth: No Scopes: No

Authentication is handled via Kubernetes service account identities and RBAC when deployed in a cluster; no external OAuth-style flow is indicated.

Pricing

Free tier: No

Requires CC: No

Open-source/self-hosted component; cost depends on your infrastructure/cluster operation.

Agent Metadata

Pagination

none

Idempotent

False

Retry Guidance

Not documented

Alternatives

Prometheus + kube-state-metrics (for richer metrics) metrics-server alternatives depending on cluster needs (e.g., custom metrics via adapters)

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API endpoint ↗ Agent guide ↗ Report inaccuracy

Scores are editorial opinions as of 2026-04-04.