diff --git a/pact/custom_metrics_test.go b/pact/custom_metrics_test.go
index 14bb065..f93c574 100644
--- a/pact/custom_metrics_test.go
+++ b/pact/custom_metrics_test.go
@@ -13,7 +13,10 @@ import (
 	"github.com/pact-foundation/pact-go/dsl"
 	"github.com/replicatedhq/kotskinds/apis/kots/v1beta1"
 	"github.com/replicatedhq/replicated-sdk/pkg/handlers"
+	"github.com/replicatedhq/replicated-sdk/pkg/k8sutil"
 	"github.com/replicatedhq/replicated-sdk/pkg/store"
+	"github.com/replicatedhq/replicated-sdk/pkg/util"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes/fake"
 )
 
 func TestSendCustomAppMetrics(t *testing.T) {
@@ -78,7 +81,13 @@ func TestSendCustomAppMetrics(t *testing.T) {
 		defer store.SetStore(nil)
 
 		if err := pact.Verify(func() error {
-			handlers.SendCustomAppMetrics(clientWriter, clientRequest)
+			fakeClientSet := fake.NewSimpleClientset(
+				k8sutil.CreateTestDeployment(util.GetReplicatedDeploymentName(), "replicated-sdk-instance-namespace", "1", map[string]string{"app": "replicated"}),
+				k8sutil.CreateTestReplicaSet("replicated-sdk-instance-replicaset", "replicated-sdk-instance-namespace", "1"),
+				k8sutil.CreateTestPod("replicated-sdk-instance-pod", "replicated-sdk-instance-namespace", "replicated-sdk-instance-replicaset", map[string]string{"app": "replicated"}),
+			)
+			h := handlers.SendCustomAppMetrics(fakeClientSet)
+			h(clientWriter, clientRequest)
 			if clientWriter.Code != http.StatusOK {
 				return fmt.Errorf("expected status code %d but got %d", http.StatusOK, clientWriter.Code)
 			}
diff --git a/pkg/apiserver/server.go b/pkg/apiserver/server.go
index 24cb3fd..fb92220 100644
--- a/pkg/apiserver/server.go
+++ b/pkg/apiserver/server.go
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 	appstatetypes "github.com/replicatedhq/replicated-sdk/pkg/appstate/types"
 	"github.com/replicatedhq/replicated-sdk/pkg/buildversion"
 	"github.com/replicatedhq/replicated-sdk/pkg/handlers"
+	"github.com/replicatedhq/replicated-sdk/pkg/k8sutil"
 	sdklicensetypes "github.com/replicatedhq/replicated-sdk/pkg/license/types"
 )
 
@@ -48,6 +49,12 @@ func Start(params APIServerParams) {
 		log.Fatalf("failed to bootstrap: %v", err)
 	}
 
+	clientset, err := k8sutil.GetClientset()
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Fatalf("failed to get clientset: %v", err)
+		return
+	}
+
 	r := mux.NewRouter()
 	r.Use(handlers.CorsMiddleware)
 
@@ -66,7 +73,7 @@ func Start(params APIServerParams) {
 	r.HandleFunc("/api/v1/app/info", handlers.GetCurrentAppInfo).Methods("GET")
 	r.HandleFunc("/api/v1/app/updates", handlers.GetAppUpdates).Methods("GET")
 	r.HandleFunc("/api/v1/app/history", handlers.GetAppHistory).Methods("GET")
-	r.HandleFunc("/api/v1/app/custom-metrics", handlers.SendCustomAppMetrics).Methods("POST", "PATCH")
+	r.HandleFunc("/api/v1/app/custom-metrics", handlers.SendCustomAppMetrics(clientset)).Methods("POST", "PATCH")
 	r.HandleFunc("/api/v1/app/custom-metrics/{key}", handlers.DeleteCustomAppMetricsKey).Methods("DELETE")
 	r.HandleFunc("/api/v1/app/instance-tags", handlers.SendAppInstanceTags).Methods("POST")
 
diff --git a/pkg/handlers/app.go b/pkg/handlers/app.go
index 62d9f58..ea67601 100644
--- a/pkg/handlers/app.go
+++ b/pkg/handlers/app.go
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/replicatedhq/replicated-sdk/pkg/util"
 	helmrelease "helm.sh/helm/v3/pkg/release"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes/scheme"
 )
 
@@ -353,7 +354,13 @@ func mockReleaseToAppRelease(mockRelease integrationtypes.MockRelease) AppReleas
 	return appRelease
 }
 
-func SendCustomAppMetrics(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+func SendCustomAppMetrics(clientset kubernetes.Interface) func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+	return func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		sendCustomAppMetrics(clientset, w, r)
+	}
+}
+
+func sendCustomAppMetrics(clientset kubernetes.Interface, w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	request := SendCustomAppMetricsRequest{}
 	if err := json.NewDecoder(r.Body).Decode(&request); err != nil {
 		logger.Error(errors.Wrap(err, "decode request"))
@@ -367,12 +374,12 @@ func SendCustomAppMetrics(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		return
 	}
 
-	clientset, err := k8sutil.GetClientset()
-	if err != nil {
-		logger.Error(errors.Wrap(err, "failed to get clientset"))
-		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusInternalServerError)
-		return
-	}
+	// clientset, err := k8sutil.GetClientset()
+	// if err != nil {
+	// 	logger.Error(errors.Wrap(err, "failed to get clientset"))
+	// 	w.WriteHeader(http.StatusInternalServerError)
+	// 	return
+	// }
 
 	overwrite := true
 	if r.Method == http.MethodPatch {