Karpenter consolidation: 6 settings worth tuning in 2026 (opens in new tab)

Quick take Karpenter's defaults are tuned for compute cost, not for your workload's tolerance for disruption. Six settings decide whether consolidation saves you 40% or causes a Sev-2 every Tuesday. Tune them once and the autoscaler stops being a footgun. If you only have 90 seconds, this is the shape: consolidationPolicy: WhenEmptyOrUnderutilized is the right default for most prod fleets in 2026. consolidateAfter at the wrong value causes either expensive idle nodes or thrashy churn. disrupt...