Bridge: Modern Kubernetes Dashboard

The Problem#

Platform engineers often struggle with managing access across dozens of AWS accounts and Kubernetes clusters.

• Credential Fatigue: ~/.aws/config files become unmanageable with hundreds of profiles.
• Binary Hell: Relying on external tools like aws-iam-authenticator often breaks during updates.
• Security Risks: Granting permanent access to developers is dangerous; creating temporary RBAC roles manually is tedious.

The Solution#

I built Bridge, a zero-dependency, single-binary tool that acts as both a visual dashboard and a secure access manager.

Key Innovations#

1. Native AWS SSO Integration

   • Replaced the need for aws-iam-authenticator by implementing the AWS Device Code Flow directly in Go.
   • Generates native EKS tokens using aws-sdk-go-v2, keeping the global ~/.aws/config clean.

2. Ephemeral Access Control

   • Implemented a "Vending Machine" for Kubeconfigs. Admins can grant Time-Limited Access (e.g., "Read-Only for 1 hour").
   • A built-in Janitor automatically cleans up expired ServiceAccounts and RoleBindings from the cluster.

3. Zero-Dependency Architecture

   • Backend: Pure Go (Gin framework).
   • Frontend: React 18 + TypeScript (compiled and embedded into the Go binary).
   • Deployment: Runs as a single executable—no database required (uses Kubernetes as the source of truth).

Visual Features#

• Topology Map: An interactive graph visualizing the relationship between Ingress → Service → Pods.
• Real-time Logs: Aggregated multi-pod log streaming via WebSockets.