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Logging and Output

KubeBuddy prints progress to the terminal while it runs and can also write HTML, JSON, text, and CSV reports.

Console Output

During a run, KubeBuddy shows:

  • the banner
  • major phases such as Kubernetes, AKS, Prometheus, AI, Radar, and report writing
  • per-check Checking and Checked lines
  • inline finding counts when a check returns results
  • explicit Prometheus snapshot status when Prometheus checks are enabled

Example:

[Starting] Preparing native KubeBuddy run
[Kubernetes] [041/095] Checking PROM001 - High CPU Pods (Prometheus)
[Kubernetes] [041/095] Checked PROM001 - High CPU Pods (Prometheus) (3 findings)
[Prometheus] Snapshot unavailable: no usable node metric series were collected for report metrics
[Reports] writing /path/to/kubebuddy-report-20260413-134408.html

The PowerShell wrapper streams the same native output, so Invoke-KubeBuddy shows the Go binary progress directly in the terminal.

Save Console Output

PowerShell:

Invoke-KubeBuddy | Out-File "KubeBuddyOutput.log"

Bash:

kubebuddy run --html-report --yes | tee kubebuddy-output.log

Report Outputs

KubeBuddy can generate:

  • HTML
  • JSON
  • TXT
  • CSV

Examples:

kubebuddy run --html-report --json-report --yes --output-path ./reports

Invoke-KubeBuddy -HtmlReport -jsonReport -OutputPath ./reports

If --output-path or -OutputPath points to a directory, KubeBuddy writes timestamped report files there.

If it points to a specific filename in the PowerShell wrapper, the wrapper renames the generated report to match the requested base name.

When Prometheus is enabled but the report snapshot cannot be built, JSON output keeps metrics: null and records the reason in metadata:

  • metadata.prometheusSnapshotStatus
  • metadata.prometheusSnapshotReason

Completion Output

At the end of a successful run, KubeBuddy prints where the reports were written.

Example:

[Reports] writing /path/to/kubebuddy-report-20260413-134408.html
[Reports] writing /path/to/kubebuddy-report-20260413-134408.json
reports written to /path/to/reports

Common Errors

Error Meaning What to do
missing input file or live AKS target (--subscription-id, --resource-group, --cluster-name) scan-aks was run without AKS JSON input or live AKS target flags. Supply --input or all three AKS live collection flags.
KUBECONFIG environment variable not set Container-mode run is missing kubeconfig wiring. Set KUBECONFIG and mount the kubeconfig into the container.
AKS mode is enabled but missing: CLUSTER_NAME, RESOURCE_GROUP or SUBSCRIPTION_ID run-env AKS mode is missing required env vars. Set the missing AKS environment variables.
prometheus bearer token env "<name>" is empty Bearer-token Prometheus mode was selected, but the token env var was not set. Export the named token env var before running.
Unable to locate the native KubeBuddy CLI The PowerShell wrapper could not find the bundled binary, a binary on PATH, or an override path. Reinstall the module, ensure the platform is supported, or set KUBEBUDDY_BINARY.