Kindling v0.6.0: Hot Reload for Every Language in Your Kubernetes Dev Environment

February 2026 · kindling-sh/kindling We just shipped v0.6.0 of kindling, and the headline feature is kindling sync — live hot reload for any language running in a Kubernetes pod. This post walks through how it works, what it replaces, and where the project is headed. The Problem If you're building on Kubernetes, your development loop probably looks like this: Edit code Build a container image Push to a registry Wait for a rollout Check logs Repeat Even with local tools, steps 2–4 take 30–90 seconds. Multiply that by the number of iterations in a session and you lose hours per week to build latency. Docker Compose sidesteps Kubernetes entirely, but then you're not testing against real Services, Ingress, RBAC, or any of the infrastructure your app actually runs on. Kindling takes a different approach: keep the full Kubernetes environment, but make the feedback loop sub-second. How kindling sync Works The sync command watches your local source directory using fsnotify, debounces changes (