> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.coreweave.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Install metrics-server

> Install metrics-server for kubectl top and Horizontal Pod Autoscaler on CKS

<Info>
  **CKS and the metrics-server**

  * CKS clusters created after July 7, 2025 do not include [metrics-server](https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/metrics-server); if your workloads need it, install it yourself as described on this page.
  * Clusters created before July 7, 2025 include a CoreWeave-managed metrics-server in the `kube-system` namespace, so you don't need to install your own. See the [July 7, 2025 release notes](/changelog/release-notes/control-plane-node-pools) for details about this change.
</Info>

Metrics-server is not required for core cluster functionality. It serves the Kubernetes Metrics API, which powers `kubectl top node` and `kubectl top pod` and provides real-time metrics to the [Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA)](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/run-application/horizontal-pod-autoscale/).

Metrics-server only affects `kubectl top` and HPA. Metrics shown in CoreWeave Grafana are collected through a separate pipeline and don't depend on metrics-server. To collect custom application metrics, see [Forward application metrics](/observability/logs-metrics/forward-metrics).

## Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

* At least one [CPU Node](/platform/instances/cpu-instances) in your cluster to run the metrics-server Pods.
* `kubectl` access to your CKS cluster with permission to create resources in the `kube-system` namespace. See [Obtain access with a kubeconfig file](/products/cks/auth-access/managed-auth/kubeconfig).
* [Helm](https://helm.sh/docs/intro/install/) version 3 or later installed on your workstation.

## Install metrics-server

<Steps>
  <Step title="Install the chart">
    Install the upstream metrics-server Helm chart into the `kube-system` namespace:

    ```bash theme={"system"}
    helm repo add metrics-server https://kubernetes-sigs.github.io/metrics-server/
    helm repo update
    helm upgrade --install metrics-server metrics-server/metrics-server \
      --namespace kube-system
    ```

    Confirm the Deployment is ready:

    ```bash theme={"system"}
    kubectl get deployment metrics-server --namespace kube-system
    ```

    You should see `1/1` in the `READY` column:

    ```text title="Example output" theme={"system"}
    NAME             READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   AGE
    metrics-server   1/1     1            1           60s
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Verify the Metrics API">
    Query Node metrics:

    ```bash theme={"system"}
    kubectl top nodes
    ```

    If metrics-server is working correctly, the command returns CPU and memory usage for each Node:

    ```text title="Example output" theme={"system"}
    NAME      CPU(cores)   CPU(%)   MEMORY(bytes)   MEMORY(%)
    g123ab4   512m         1%       12480Mi         9%
    g567cd8   4210m        3%       98304Mi         14%
    ```

    Metrics can take a minute or two to appear after installation.
  </Step>
</Steps>