Kubernetes executor

Use Mage Pro if you need to run your blocks in separate pods or process while developing in the code editor.
Running a block from the code editor, while developing a pipeline, won’t use this executor. Instead, the block will be executed using the same process that the code editor is running on.

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If your Mage app is deployed in a Kubernetes cluster, you can configure the Kubernetes Executor (executor_type: k8s) to run each block in its own Kubernetes pod. Defaults in Mage Pro:

Namespace: default
Job name format: mage-data-prep-block-{block_run_id}

You can override these defaults at the block level, project level, or with a full Kubernetes job template.

Basic Setup

To configure a pipeline block to use Kubernetes executor, you simply just need to update the executor_type of the block to k8s in pipeline’s metadata.yaml:

blocks:
- uuid: example_data_loader
  type: data_loader
  upstream_blocks: []
  downstream_blocks: []
  executor_type: k8s
  ...

By default, Mage uses default as the Kubernetes namespace. You can customize the namespace by setting the KUBE_NAMESPACE environment variable.

export KUBE_NAMESPACE=my-namespace

Configuration Methods

You can configure Kubernetes Executor in three ways:

1. Block-Level Configuration

Add executor_config to a block in metadata.yaml:

blocks:
- uuid: example_data_loader
  type: data_loader
  executor_type: k8s
  executor_config:
    namespace: default
    resource_limits:
      cpu: 1000m
      memory: 2048Mi
    resource_requests:
      cpu: 500m
      memory: 1024Mi

✅ Use when: You only want to:

Run certain blocks in the Kubernetes executor
Override the k8s executor config for specific blocks

2. Project-Level Configuration (applies to all k8s executor blocks)

Set k8s_executor_config in the project’s metadata.yaml:

k8s_executor_config:
  job_name_prefix: data-prep
  namespace: default
  resource_limits:
    cpu: 1000m
    memory: 2048Mi
  resource_requests:
    cpu: 500m
    memory: 1024Mi
  service_account_name: default
  # Node scheduling configurations
  pod:
    node_selector:
      node-type: gpu
      instance-type: c5.large
    scheduler_name: custom-scheduler
    tolerations:
      - key: "nvidia.com/gpu"
        operator: "Exists"
        effect: "NoSchedule"
    affinity:
      nodeAffinity:
        requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
          nodeSelectorTerms:
            - matchExpressions:
                - key: "node-type"
                  operator: "In"
                  values: ["gpu", "compute"]
      podAntiAffinity:
        requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
          - labelSelector:
              matchLabels:
                app: mage-pipeline
            topologyKey: "kubernetes.io/hostname"
    volumes:
      - name: data-volume
        persistent_volume_claim:
          claim_name: mage-data-pvc
    image_pull_secrets: my-registry-secret

The Kubernetes job name is in this format: mage-{job_name_prefix}-block-{block_run_id}. The default job_name_prefix is data-prep. You can customize it in the k8s_executor_config. You can interpolate the trigger name in the job_name_prefix field with the format {trigger_name}.

GPU Support:

k8s_executor_config:
  resource_limits:
    nvidia.com/gpu: 1  # request 1 GPU
  pod:
    node_selector:
      accelerator: nvidia-tesla-v100
    tolerations:
      - key: "nvidia.com/gpu"
        operator: "Exists"
        effect: "NoSchedule"

Make sure GPU device plugins are installed.

Custom container & job spec:

k8s_executor_config:
  container_config:
    image: mageai/mageai:0.9.7
    env:
    - name: USER_CODE_PATH
      value: /home/src/k8s_project
  job:
    active_deadline_seconds: 120
    backoff_limit: 3
    ttl_seconds_after_finished: 86400

✅ Use when: You want consistent settings for all blocks using the Kubernetes Executor in the project.

3. Full Kubernetes Job Template (maximum control)

Set the K8S_CONFIG_FILE environment variable to the path of a YAML configuration file. Example template:

metadata:
  annotations:
    application: "mage"
    component: "executor"
  labels:
    application: "mage"
    type: "spark"
  namespace: "default"

pod:
  service_account_name: "mage-service-account"
  image_pull_secrets: "my-registry-secret"
  node_selector:
    node-type: "compute"
    instance-type: "c5.xlarge"
    zone: "us-west-1a"
  scheduler_name: "custom-scheduler"
  tolerations:
    - key: "nvidia.com/gpu"
      operator: "Exists"
      effect: "NoSchedule"
    - key: "spot-instance"
      operator: "Equal"
      value: "true"
      effect: "NoSchedule"
  affinity:
    nodeAffinity:
      requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
        nodeSelectorTerms:
          - matchExpressions:
              - key: "node-type"
                operator: "In"
                values: ["compute", "gpu"]
              - key: "instance-type"
                operator: "In"
                values: ["c5.xlarge", "c5.2xlarge"]
      preferredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
        - weight: 100
          preference:
            matchExpressions:
              - key: "zone"
                operator: "In"
                values: ["us-west-1a", "us-west-1b"]
    podAntiAffinity:
      requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
        - labelSelector:
            matchLabels:
              app: "mage-pipeline"
          topologyKey: "kubernetes.io/hostname"
  volumes:
  - name: data-pvc
    persistent_volume_claim:
      claim_name: mage-data-pvc
  - name: config-volume
    config_map:
      name: mage-config
  - name: secret-volume
    secret:
      secret_name: mage-secrets
  - name: empty-dir-volume
    empty_dir: {}

container:
  name: "mage-data"
  image: "mageai/mageai:latest"
  image_pull_policy: "IfNotPresent"
  env:
    - name: "KUBE_NAMESPACE"
      value: "default"
    - name: "secret_key"
      value: "somesecret"
  resources:
    limits:
      cpu: "1"
      memory: "1Gi"
      nvidia.com/gpu: 1
    requests:
      cpu: "0.1"
      memory: "0.5Gi"
      nvidia.com/gpu: 1
  volume_mounts:
    - mount_path: "/tmp/data"
      name: "data-pvc"
    - mount_path: "/etc/config"
      name: "config-volume"
    - mount_path: "/etc/secrets"
      name: "secret-volume"
      read_only: true

Node Scheduling Configuration

Node Selector

Use node_selector to schedule pods on specific nodes based on labels:

k8s_executor_config:
  pod:
    node_selector:
      node-type: "gpu"           # Schedule on GPU nodes
      instance-type: "c5.large"  # Schedule on specific instance types
      zone: "us-west-1a"         # Schedule in specific availability zones

Tolerations

Use tolerations to allow pods to be scheduled on tainted nodes:

k8s_executor_config:
  pod:
    tolerations:
      - key: "nvidia.com/gpu"
        operator: "Exists"
        effect: "NoSchedule"
      - key: "spot-instance"
        operator: "Equal"
        value: "true"
        effect: "NoSchedule"

Affinity Rules

Use affinity for advanced scheduling rules:

k8s_executor_config:
  pod:
    affinity:
      # Node affinity - prefer specific node types
      nodeAffinity:
        requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
          nodeSelectorTerms:
            - matchExpressions:
                - key: "node-type"
                  operator: "In"
                  values: ["compute", "gpu"]
        preferredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
          - weight: 100
            preference:
              matchExpressions:
                - key: "zone"
                  operator: "In"
                  values: ["us-west-1a", "us-west-1b"]

      # Pod anti-affinity - avoid co-locating similar pods
      podAntiAffinity:
        requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
          - labelSelector:
              matchLabels:
                app: "mage-pipeline"
            topologyKey: "kubernetes.io/hostname"

Custom Scheduler

Use a custom scheduler for advanced scheduling logic:

k8s_executor_config:
  pod:
    scheduler_name: "custom-scheduler"

✅ Use when: You need full control over pod specs, annotations, volume mounts, and other Kubernetes settings.

Multi-Container Pods

If your Mage deployment runs in a multi-container pod, set the MAGE_CONTAINER_NAME environment variable to specify which container runs Mage:

env:
  - name: MAGE_CONTAINER_NAME
    valueFrom:
      fieldRef:
        fieldPath: metadata.name

If not set, Mage defaults to the first container in the pod.

Environment Variables Reference

Variable	Purpose	Default
`KUBE_NAMESPACE`	Namespace for job execution	default
`K8S_CONFIG_FILE`	Path to full Kubernetes job config file	—
`MAGE_CONTAINER_NAME`	Container to run Mage in multi-container pods	—

Deployment

Cloud infrastructure

Compute resources

Secret manager

Authentication

Kubernetes executor

Basic Setup

Configuration Methods

1. Block-Level Configuration

2. Project-Level Configuration (applies to all k8s executor blocks)

3. Full Kubernetes Job Template (maximum control)

Node Scheduling Configuration

Node Selector

Tolerations

Affinity Rules

Custom Scheduler

Multi-Container Pods

Environment Variables Reference

Deployment

Cloud infrastructure

Compute resources

Secret manager

Authentication

​Basic Setup

​Configuration Methods

​1. Block-Level Configuration

​2. Project-Level Configuration (applies to all k8s executor blocks)

​3. Full Kubernetes Job Template (maximum control)

​Node Scheduling Configuration

​Node Selector

​Tolerations

​Affinity Rules

​Custom Scheduler

​Multi-Container Pods

​Environment Variables Reference

Basic Setup

Configuration Methods

1. Block-Level Configuration

2. Project-Level Configuration (applies to all k8s executor blocks)

3. Full Kubernetes Job Template (maximum control)

Node Scheduling Configuration

Node Selector

Tolerations

Affinity Rules

Custom Scheduler

Multi-Container Pods

Environment Variables Reference