Korrel8r comes with a comprehensive set of rules for correlating Kubernetes resources and observability signals. You can add your own rules to handle custom relationships – for example, correlating a custom resource with its logs or metrics.

Rule Basics

A rule defines a relationship between start classes and goal classes. It contains a template that takes a start object and generates a query for the goal class. Both types of rule use the same YAML metadata schema to describe start and goal classes.

If a template returns a blank string or raises an error, korrel8r skips the rule for that object.

Choose a rule type

Use	Configuration rule	Compiled rule
Intended audience	Users and operators	Korrel8r contributors
Source	YAML configuration	pkg/rules/quickrules/*.qtpl
Template language	Go text/template	Quicktemplate with type-checked Go
Requires rebuilding	No	Yes
Best for	Custom and rapidly changing relationships	Built-in, complex, or performance-sensitive relationships

Configuration rules

Start here when adding a relationship for your environment. Configuration rules are loaded at runtime and can be changed without rebuilding Korrel8r. See Configuration Rules for the complete schema, examples, and template functions.

Compiled rules

Compiled rules are a contributor-facing mechanism for rules shipped in the Korrel8r executable. They use quicktemplate and require generation, compilation, and Go tests. See Compiled Rules for the development workflow.