Installation

In this guide, you'll:

1. Install the Kardinal CLI on your laptop
2. Set up a development Kubernetes cluster with Istio installed
3. Install the Kardinal Manager on your cluster, using the CLI
4. Deploy the baseline version of your application
5. Create a lightweight dev environment (aka dev flow)

Step 1: Install Kardinal

To install Kardinal, run the following command:

curl get.kardinal.dev -sL | sh

Step 2: Set up a development Kubernetes cluster

All you need is a Kubernetes cluster with Istio installed, and kubectl installed on your machine, pointing to your cluster.

For instructions on how to set up a local cluster that meets these requirements, see below:

Step 3: Deploy the Kardinal Manager to your cluster

Make sure that kubectl is pointing to your cluster, and then run the following command:

kardinal manager deploy kloud-kardinal-kontrol

Now the Kardinal Manager is deployed in your cluster, you're ready to set up your baseline application and start creating flows.

Step 4: Deploy the baseline version of your application

To deploy your baseline application, run the following command:

kardinal deploy -k <path-to-k8s-manifest-annotated-for-Kardinal>

where <path-to-k8s-manifest-annotated-for-Kardinal> is the path to the Kubernetes manifest file for your application, annotated according to our guide on deploying Kardinal on your own app.

To try out a demo application, you can use the following command:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kurtosis-tech/kardinal-playground/main/obd-demo.yaml
kardinal deploy -k obd-demo.yaml

Then, run

kardinal dashboard

to see the dashboard for your demo application.

Step 5: Create a flow

To create a flow, run:

kardinal flow create <service-name> <image> -s <additional-service-name-1>=<additional-image-name-1> <additional-service-name-2>=<additional-image-name-2> ...

To create a flow on the demo application, run:

kardinal flow create frontend kurtosistech/frontend:demo-on-sale -s productcatalogservice=kurtosistech/productcatalogservice:demo-on-sale

For a more in-depth guide to deploying your own application and creating a flow, see our guide on deploying Kardinal on your own app.