DevSpace is an open-source developer tool for Kubernetes being used by hundreds of thousands of developers. It helps large engineering teams to streamline their workflow with Kubernetes. It works by putting the devspace.yaml file in multiple data repositories for each one of your projects so that developers can spin each one of these projects with a single command.

In this episode of TFiR Let’s Talk, Swapnil Bhartiya sits down with Lukas Gentele, CEO of Loft Labs, to discuss the benefits of DevSpace and what is new in version 6. He discusses how Loft Labs is taking a different approach to other companies and why he feels their approach is more effective. He also shares what the company is focusing on and what is in the pipeline.

Key highlights of this video interview are:

• Gentele introduces DevSpace and how it helps developers with Kubernetes development.
• Gentele discusses the other open source projects trying to solve the development challenges for Kubernetes. He explains what sets DevSpace apart from the other tools, such as the hot reloading mechanism for containers which enables developers to change a line of code and be able to see the effect inside the cluster straight away.
• vcluster works well in combination with DevSpace with vcluster creating the environments you are using for development; however, it does not solve the challenge of deploying the application once you have the Kubernetes environment. Gentele discusses how the tools fit in together.
• One of the benefits of DevSpace is repeatability since some development teams do not have standardized best practices with developers doing their own tricks and a lack of standardization across the team. Gentele explains how DevSpace is enabling teams to codify their best practices into a database.yml file that is accessible to the whole team.
• Version 6 of DevSpace brings flexibility for customizing the inner logic of DevSpace. Gentele shares its three new key features such as Pipelines which allows teams to use the out-of-the-box functionality migration from version 5 to 6 easily so developers can customize what happens when you run a command. Secondly, Imports, which allows teams to create devspace.yaml files with shared functionality to help companies standardize building images or Helm charts, and databases. The third key new feature is better integration with IDEs.
• Several platform-as-a-service companies have emerged trying to simplify Kubernetes, however, Gentele explains why he feels that approach is a mistake and why he believes it takes away the flexibility. He discusses why Loft Labs is taking a different approach.
• Gentele takes us through some of their notable users like Apple and Costco, but he explains that many up and coming companies are also using the platform.
• One of the next big steps for Loft Labs is bringing DevSpace to CNCF and making it a sandbox project. Gentele discusses what is in the pipeline for DevSpace, and explains that they are working on deeper integration with IDEs and overhauling the UI with a clean redesign which will likely be database version 7.
• Loft Labs continually patch releases for minor fixes but the bigger features are typically planned approximately four weeks ahead to allow time for customers to test the better version and for them to receive feedback. Gentele discusses the release cadence for DevSpace releases.

Connect with Lukas Gentele (LinkedIn)
Learn more about Loft Labs (Twitter)

The summary of the show is written by Emily Nicholls.