Where Does Lens Store Kubeconfigs and Logs?
Lens reads your ~/.kube files and stages its own copies under ~/.lens. Watched paths, generated kubeconfigs and log locations.
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Lens never moves your kubeconfigs. It watches ~/.kube (or %USERPROFILE%\.kube on Windows) and reads them in place, picking up edits live. Copies it generates itself land in a kubeconfigs directory under its own app folder, alongside synced cloud-provider credentials.
Add more sources in Preferences > Kubernetes > Manage Kubeconfigs or paste content directly for ad-hoc clusters. Logs follow OS conventions and are the first thing support asks for. Remember exec-based contexts need their binaries on the system PATH: shell rc files don't count for GUI apps.
Where Lens stores this, by platform
%USERPROFILE%\.kube
Watched by default; Lens-managed copies sit in the app's kubeconfigs dir. Logs at %APPDATA%\Lens\logs. Pasted-in kubeconfigs live inside Lens state only.
~/.kube
Same watch-and-read model. Generated copies under ~/.lens/kubeconfigs. Logs at ~/Library/Logs/Lens. Snap-style confinement quirks don't apply here.
~/.kube
Mirrors macOS, with logs in ~/.config/Lens/logs. Snap installs may need extra symlinking for exec credential plugins to resolve.
Frequently asked questions
Lens doesn't see my new cluster, where do I look?
Confirm the kubeconfig sits in a watched path under Preferences > Kubernetes > Manage Kubeconfigs. Validate every context inside it, since one bad entry can hide the file. Lens refreshes watched folders without restarts.
Where are Lens application logs?
At ~/Library/Logs/Lens on Mac, %APPDATA%\Lens\logs on Windows, ~/.config/Lens/logs on Linux. Attach them to support tickets before anything else. Cluster-side issues still need kubectl-side logs too.
Notice an outdated path? Let us know.