k3OS is a Linux distribution designed to remove as much OS maintenance as possible in a Kubernetes cluster. It is specifically designed to only have what is needed to run k3s. Additionally the OS is designed to be managed by kubectl once a cluster is bootstrapped. Nodes only need to join a cluster and then all aspects of the OS can be managed from Kubernetes. Both k3OS and k3s upgrades are handled by the Rancher System Upgrade Controller.

k3OS History⌗

k3OS began as a project by Rancher Labs It was intended to be a lightweight Operating System for running k3s, Rancher’s distribution of kubernetes. When Rancher Labs was acquired by SUSE in December of 2020 ^(SUSE), the decision was made to drop the project in favor of SUSE base alternative.

As a user of k3OS and a fan of it’s design, I have forked the project and started maintaining it on my github.