Now, millions of Docker Desktop developers can leverage open source vcluster running in Docker Desktop. Loft Labs, a provider of developer tooling and multi-tenancy solutions for Kubernetes, has joined hands with Docker so that Docker Desktop users can now set up and manage virtual Kubernetes clusters.

Recently, Docker announced the launch of an extensions API (application programming interface) called Docker Extensions that enables partners to extend Docker Desktop capabilities with additional capabilities for developers. With this announcement, Loft introduces an extension for open source vcluster that makes it easy to create and manage virtual clusters in Docker Desktop.

With vcluster, users can create virtual clusters which are easy to pause and resume. This is ideal for developers that need to set up different development and testing configurations which is easy to do and can all be run as virtual clusters in Kubernetes – much like virtual machines on a server.

First launched in April 2021, vcluster is used to create lightweight Kubernetes clusters that run inside the namespaces of underlying Kubernetes clusters.

Using virtual clusters solves the majority of multi-tenancy issues of Kubernetes because they offer: better isolation than simple namespace-based multi-tenancy; reduced cloud computing cost because virtual clusters are much more lightweight and resource-efficient than spinning up separate single-tenant clusters; as well as logical separation and encapsulation of application workloads from the underlying cluster’s shared infrastructure workloads.