---
title: 'Kubernetes Custom Resources'
description: 'Configure the Kubernetes CRD provider that allows managing Traefik custom resources.'
---

Traefik provides some Kubernetes Custom Resources, such as `IngressRoute`, `Middleware`, etc.

When using KubernetesCRD as a provider,
Traefik uses [Custom Resource Definition](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/extend-kubernetes/api-extension/custom-resources/) to retrieve its routing configuration.
Traefik Custom Resource Definitions are [listed below](#routing-configuration).

When Traefik is installed using the Helm Chart, by default, the provider `kubernetesCRD` is enabled.

## Requirements

When you install Traefik without using the Helm Chart, or when you are upgrading the stack using Helm, ensure that you satisfy the following requirements:

- Add/update **all** the Traefik resources definitions
- Add/update the [RBAC](https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/access-authn-authz/rbac/) for the Traefik custom resources

```bash
# Install Traefik Resource Definitions:
kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/traefik/traefik/v3.7/docs/content/reference/dynamic-configuration/kubernetes-crd-definition-v1.yml

# Install RBAC for Traefik:
kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/traefik/traefik/v3.7/docs/content/reference/dynamic-configuration/kubernetes-crd-rbac.yml
```

## Configuration Example

You can enable the `kubernetesCRD` provider as detailed below:

```yaml tab="File (YAML)"
providers:
  kubernetesCRD: {}
```

```toml tab="File (TOML)"
[providers.kubernetesCRD]
```

```bash tab="CLI"
--providers.kubernetescrd=true
```

```yaml tab="Helm Chart Values"
## Values file
providers:
  kubernetesCRD:
    enabled: true
```

## Configuration Options

| Field | Description                                               | Default | Required |
|:------|:----------------------------------------------------------|:--------|:---------|
| <a id="opt-providers-providersThrottleDuration" href="#opt-providers-providersThrottleDuration" title="#opt-providers-providersThrottleDuration">`providers.providersThrottleDuration`</a> | Minimum amount of time to wait for, after a configuration reload, before taking into account any new configuration refresh event.<br />If multiple events occur within this time, only the most recent one is taken into account, and all others are discarded.<br />**This option cannot be set per provider, but the throttling algorithm applies to each of them independently.** | 2s      | No |
| <a id="opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-endpoint" href="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-endpoint" title="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-endpoint">`providers.kubernetesCRD.endpoint`</a> | Server endpoint URL.<br />More information [here](#endpoint). | ""      | No |
| <a id="opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-token" href="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-token" title="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-token">`providers.kubernetesCRD.token`</a> | Bearer token used for the Kubernetes client configuration. | ""      | No |
| <a id="opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-certAuthFilePath" href="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-certAuthFilePath" title="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-certAuthFilePath">`providers.kubernetesCRD.certAuthFilePath`</a> | Path to the certificate authority file.<br />Used for the Kubernetes client configuration. | ""      | No |
| <a id="opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-namespaces" href="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-namespaces" title="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-namespaces">`providers.kubernetesCRD.namespaces`</a> | Array of namespaces to watch.<br />If left empty, watch all namespaces. | []      | No |
| <a id="opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-labelSelector" href="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-labelSelector" title="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-labelSelector">`providers.kubernetesCRD.labelSelector`</a> | Allow filtering on specific resource objects only using label selectors.<br />Only to Traefik [Custom Resources](#routing-configuration) (they all must match the filter).<br />No effect on Kubernetes `Secrets`, `EndpointSlices` and `Services`.<br />See [label-selectors](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/working-with-objects/labels/#label-selectors) for details. | ""      | No |
| <a id="opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-ingressClass" href="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-ingressClass" title="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-ingressClass">`providers.kubernetesCRD.ingressClass`</a> | Value of `spec.ingressClassName` field (or the deprecated `kubernetes.io/ingress.class` annotation) that identifies resource objects to be processed.<br />If empty, resources missing the field/annotation, having an empty value, or the value `traefik` are processed.<br />The `spec.ingressClassName` field takes precedence over the annotation. | ""      | No |
| <a id="opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-throttleDuration" href="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-throttleDuration" title="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-throttleDuration">`providers.kubernetesCRD.throttleDuration`</a> | Minimum amount of time to wait between two Kubernetes events before producing a new configuration.<br />This prevents a Kubernetes cluster that updates many times per second from continuously changing your Traefik configuration.<br />If empty, every event is caught. | 0s      | No |
| <a id="opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-allowEmptyServices" href="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-allowEmptyServices" title="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-allowEmptyServices">`providers.kubernetesCRD.allowEmptyServices`</a> | Allows creating a route to reach a service that has no endpoint available.<br />It allows Traefik to handle the requests and responses targeting this service (applying middleware or observability operations) before returning a `503` HTTP Status.  | false   | No |
| <a id="opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-allowCrossNamespace" href="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-allowCrossNamespace" title="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-allowCrossNamespace">`providers.kubernetesCRD.allowCrossNamespace`</a> | Allows the `IngressRoutes` to reference resources in namespaces other than theirs. | false   | No |
| <a id="opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-allowExternalNameServices" href="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-allowExternalNameServices" title="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-allowExternalNameServices">`providers.kubernetesCRD.allowExternalNameServices`</a> | Allows the `IngressRoutes` to reference ExternalName services. | false   | No |
| <a id="opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-nativeLBByDefault" href="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-nativeLBByDefault" title="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-nativeLBByDefault">`providers.kubernetesCRD.nativeLBByDefault`</a> | Allow using the Kubernetes Service load balancing between the pods instead of the one provided by Traefik for every `IngressRoute` by default.<br />It can be overridden in the [`Service`](../../../../reference/routing-configuration/kubernetes/crd/http/service.md#opt-nativeLB). | false   | No |
| <a id="opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-disableClusterScopeResources" href="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-disableClusterScopeResources" title="#opt-providers-kubernetesCRD-disableClusterScopeResources">`providers.kubernetesCRD.disableClusterScopeResources`</a> | Prevent from discovering cluster scope resources (`IngressClass` and `Nodes`).<br />By doing so, it alleviates the requirement of giving Traefik the rights to look up for cluster resources.<br />Furthermore, Traefik will not handle IngressRoutes with IngressClass references, therefore such Ingresses will be ignored (please note that annotations are not affected by this option).<br />This will also prevent from using the `NodePortLB` options on services. | false   | No |

### endpoint

The Kubernetes server endpoint URL.

When deployed into Kubernetes, Traefik reads the environment variables `KUBERNETES_SERVICE_HOST` and `KUBERNETES_SERVICE_PORT` or `KUBECONFIG` to construct the endpoint.

The access token is looked up in `/var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token` and the SSL CA certificate in `/var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/ca.crt`.
Both are mounted automatically when deployed inside Kubernetes.

The endpoint may be specified to override the environment variable values inside a cluster.

When the environment variables are not found, Traefik tries to connect to the Kubernetes API server with an external-cluster client.
In this case, the endpoint is required.
Specifically, it may be set to the URL used by `kubectl proxy` to connect to a Kubernetes cluster using the granted authentication and authorization of the associated kubeconfig.

```yaml tab="File (YAML)"
providers:
  kubernetesCRD:
    endpoint: "http://localhost:8080"
    # ...
```

```toml tab="File (TOML)"
[providers.kubernetesCRD]
  endpoint = "http://localhost:8080"
  # ...
```

```bash tab="CLI"
--providers.kubernetesCRD.endpoint=http://localhost:8080
```

## Routing Configuration

Traefik CRDs are building blocks that you can assemble according to your needs.

The available custom resources are in the table below:

<!-- markdownlint-disable MD013 -->

| Resource                                                                                                                                                                                            | Purpose                                                           |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
| <a id="opt-IngressRoute" href="#opt-IngressRoute" title="#opt-IngressRoute">[IngressRoute](../../../routing-configuration/kubernetes/crd/http/ingressroute.md)</a> | HTTP Routing                                                      |
| <a id="opt-Middleware" href="#opt-Middleware" title="#opt-Middleware">[Middleware](../../../routing-configuration/kubernetes/crd/http/middleware.md)</a> | Tweaks the HTTP requests before they are sent to your service     |
| <a id="opt-TraefikService" href="#opt-TraefikService" title="#opt-TraefikService">[TraefikService](../../../routing-configuration/kubernetes/crd/http/traefikservice.md)</a> | Abstraction for HTTP loadbalancing/mirroring                      | 
| <a id="opt-TLSOptions" href="#opt-TLSOptions" title="#opt-TLSOptions">[TLSOptions](../../../routing-configuration/kubernetes/crd/tls/tlsoption.md)</a> | Allows configuring some parameters of the TLS connection          |
| <a id="opt-TLSStores" href="#opt-TLSStores" title="#opt-TLSStores">[TLSStores](../../../routing-configuration/kubernetes/crd/tls/tlsstore.md)</a> | Allows configuring the default TLS store                          |  
| <a id="opt-ServersTransport" href="#opt-ServersTransport" title="#opt-ServersTransport">[ServersTransport](../../../routing-configuration/kubernetes/crd/http/serverstransport.md)</a> | Allows configuring the transport between Traefik and the backends | 
| <a id="opt-IngressRouteTCP" href="#opt-IngressRouteTCP" title="#opt-IngressRouteTCP">[IngressRouteTCP](../../../routing-configuration/kubernetes/crd/tcp/ingressroutetcp.md)</a> | TCP Routing                                                       | 
| <a id="opt-MiddlewareTCP" href="#opt-MiddlewareTCP" title="#opt-MiddlewareTCP">[MiddlewareTCP](../../../routing-configuration/kubernetes/crd/tcp/middlewaretcp.md)</a> | Tweaks the TCP requests before they are sent to your service      |
| <a id="opt-ServersTransportTCP" href="#opt-ServersTransportTCP" title="#opt-ServersTransportTCP">[ServersTransportTCP](../../../routing-configuration/kubernetes/crd/tcp/serverstransporttcp.md)</a> | Allows configuring the transport between Traefik and the backends |
| <a id="opt-IngressRouteUDP" href="#opt-IngressRouteUDP" title="#opt-IngressRouteUDP">[IngressRouteUDP](../../../routing-configuration/kubernetes/crd/udp/ingressrouteudp.md)</a> | UDP Routing                                                       |

## Particularities

- The usage of `name` **and** `namespace` to refer to another Kubernetes resource.
- The usage of [secret](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/configuration/secret/) for sensitive data (TLS certificates and credentials).

## Full Example

For additional information on exposing services with Kubernetes, refer to the [Kubernetes guide](../../../../expose/kubernetes/basic.md).

{% include-markdown "includes/traefik-for-business-applications.md" %}
