motd-operator

Display messages in Kubernetes via pod names.

What it does

Creates pods whose names spell out your message. View with kubectl get pods or in k9s to see your message displayed as a list of pods.

Features

• Multi-line messages (newlines create separate pods)
• Header/footer framing with decorative zeros
• Word-boundary splitting
• k9s-compatible (58 char max per pod)
• Optional "crashloop" intensity for visual effects in k9s

Quick Install

# One-liner install
kubectl apply -f https://motd.howcoldismy.beer/install.yaml

Usage

# Install the kubectl plugin
curl -Lo ~/.local/bin/kubectl-motd https://raw.githubusercontent.com/robindiddams/motd-operator/main/hack/kubectl-motd
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/kubectl-motd

# Set a message
kubectl motd Hello World

Running Locally (Development)

Prerequisites

• Go 1.24+
• kubectl
• Access to a Kubernetes cluster

Install the CRD

make install

Run locally

make run

Create a message

kubectl apply -f config/samples/
# or use the kubectl plugin
kubectl motd Hello World

Uninstall

kubectl delete motd --all
make uninstall

kubectl plugin

Install the kubectl motd plugin for easy message updates:

# Install
curl -Lo ~/.local/bin/kubectl-motd https://raw.githubusercontent.com/robindiddams/motd-operator/main/hack/kubectl-motd
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/kubectl-motd

# Usage
kubectl motd Hello World                    # Auto-detects existing Motd
kubectl motd -n my-namespace Hello World    # Specific namespace
echo -e "Line 1\nLine 2" | kubectl motd     # Multi-line from stdin
kubectl motd --help                         # Show help

API

apiVersion: motd.howcoldismy.beer/v1alpha1
kind: Motd
metadata:
  name: my-message
spec:
  message: "Hello World"
  intensity: ""  # "crashloop" makes pods crash (red in k9s)

Pod naming

Messages are encoded as pod names:

00-00-00-00-00-00-00-message-of-the-day-00-00-00-00-00-00    (header)
01-hello-world                                              (message)
02-second-line-here
99-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00    (footer)

• Line numbers start at 01 (00 is header, 99 is footer)
• Words stay intact across pods
• Each pod max 58 chars (k9s display limit)

Build & Deploy

# Build and push
docker build -t ghcr.io/robindiddams/motd-operator:latest .
docker push ghcr.io/robindiddams/motd-operator:latest

# Generate install.yaml
make build-installer IMG=ghcr.io/robindiddams/motd-operator:latest

# Deploy to cluster
kubectl apply -f dist/install.yaml

License

Apache 2.0