What is Kubernetes?
Kubernetes (often shortened to k8s) is a system for running and managing containerized workloads. It schedules containers across resources, keeps the declared number of instances running, handles restarts, and exposes services inside the cluster - giving applications a consistent way to deploy and scale.
On TurboStack, Kubernetes provides a lightweight orchestrator for containerized applications. It is aimed at platform-grade workloads that ship as Kubernetes manifests, rather than at standard PHP or single-container apps.
On TurboStack
Kubernetes is enabled per application under Configure application > Technologies > K8s.
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When you enable it, TurboStack provisions a lightweight Kubernetes environment on the host so you can run containerized workloads.
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It is used by platform-grade self-hosted applications - for example GitLab and Advanced Database Monitoring - that are packaged to run on Kubernetes. See Self-hosted platforms.
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TurboStack manages the cluster provisioning; you deploy your workloads onto it and, where needed, front them with TurboStack's web and security layers.
Note
Kubernetes is the right choice for platform-grade applications that expect to run on k8s. For a single custom container, Docker with the reverse proxy is usually simpler.
Best practices
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Reserve Kubernetes for workloads that genuinely benefit from orchestration; use Docker for simple single-container apps.
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Declare resource requests and limits so workloads are scheduled predictably.
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Keep manifests in version control so deployments are reproducible.
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Pin container image versions rather than relying on
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Use readiness and liveness probes so unhealthy pods are restarted automatically.