---
title: "Apply Adaptive Pod Placement"
slug: "enable-adaptive-pod-placement"
description: "Apply Adaptive Pod placement to a cluster using Helm values.yaml, with prerequisites, UI and Terraform steps, and optional eviction and classification settings."
updated: 2026-10-22T10:46:08Z
published: 2026-10-22T10:46:08Z
canonical: "docs.zesty.co/enable-adaptive-pod-placement"
---

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

# Apply Adaptive Pod Placement

When you install the Kompass agent, it enables Adaptive Pod Placement (APP) in read-only mode by default. In this mode, APP determines Pod eviction status and displays that status and potential savings.

To allow APP to make changes in the cluster, apply it by changing from read-only to write mode in the Helm **values.yaml** configuration. With the UI, you can do this during installation or afterward. With Terraform, install the agent first, then update its configuration.

In read-only mode, APP displays workload eviction status in the **Clusters > Workloads** tab after an hour.

After you apply APP to the cluster, the Zesty platform removes the APP banner from the **Clusters > Workloads** tab. For more information, see [Manage workloads](/v1/docs/manage-workloads).

### Apply Adaptive Pod Placement

To apply APP to a cluster, update the cluster **values.yaml** file and apply the updated configuration.

**Prerequisites**

- Pod rightsizing (or Multi-dimensional autoscaling) is active on at least one workload in the cluster.

**To apply Adaptive Pod Placement to a cluster**:

1. Locate the cluster-specific **values.yaml** file:
  - **During UI installation**: Use the file you downloaded during the installation of the Kompass agent.
  - **After installation**: Use your existing file.

If you installed with Terraform, use the **values.yaml** that Terraform generated. To download it again through the Zesty Platform UI, follow the [agent installation instructions](https://docs.zesty.co/docs/install-the-insights-agent-aws-eks) through when you download the values.yaml file. Do not install the Helm chart.
2. In **values.yaml**, change the APP configuration mode from `read-only` to `classification`:

```yaml
kompass-pod-placement:
  enabled: true
  mode: "classification"
```

The configuration value `classification` selects write mode.
3. Apply the updated configuration:
  - If you are installing the Kompass agent through the UI, continue the installation as directed.
  - If you have already installed the Kompass agent, run `helm upgrade` using the updated **values.yaml** file.

### Optional configurations

You can configure the following parameters during the installation:

| Parameter | Description | Default | Environment variable |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `--classification-interval` | How often APP updates Pod eviction status | Duration (default: 1h0m0s) | `CLASSIFICATION_INTERVAL` |
| `--eviction-interval` | Minimum time between Pod eviction cycle | Duration (default 4h0m0s) | `EVICTION_INTERVAL` |
| `--eviction-max-pods-multiplier` | Fraction of workload replicas that can be simultaneously deleted (e.g. 0.2 = 20%) | Float (default 0.2) | `EVICTION_MAX_PODS_MULTIPLIER` |