diff --git a/src/main/java/io/cryostat/discovery/KubeApiDiscovery.java b/src/main/java/io/cryostat/discovery/KubeApiDiscovery.java
index 849843840..635c353ce 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/cryostat/discovery/KubeApiDiscovery.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/cryostat/discovery/KubeApiDiscovery.java
@@ -375,9 +375,12 @@ private Pair<HasMetadata, DiscoveryNode> queryForNode(
 
     @ApplicationScoped
     static final class KubeConfig {
+
         public static final String KUBERNETES_NAMESPACE_PATH =
                 "/var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/namespace";
 
+        private static final String OWN_NAMESPACE = ".";
+
         @Inject Logger logger;
         @Inject FileSystem fs;
 
@@ -389,8 +392,17 @@ static final class KubeConfig {
 
         private KubernetesClient kubeClient;
 
-        List<String> getWatchNamespaces() {
-            return watchNamespaces.orElse(List.of());
+        Collection<String> getWatchNamespaces() {
+            return watchNamespaces.orElse(List.of(OWN_NAMESPACE)).stream()
+                    .map(
+                            n -> {
+                                if (OWN_NAMESPACE.equals(n)) {
+                                    return getOwnNamespace();
+                                }
+                                return n;
+                            })
+                    .filter(Objects::nonNull)
+                    .collect(Collectors.toSet());
         }
 
         String getOwnNamespace() {