Deprecation

This version of localkube is deprecated.

The localkube project has been donated to be part of minikube where it is actively maintained. All new development can be found at https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/tree/master/pkg/localkube

⚡ localkube ⚡

localkube is the easiest way to use Kubernetes. It provides a Kubernetes cluster configured to run locally and optimized for rapid development.

The environment is intended to be used with Kubernetes development tool spread.

localkube is a full Kubernetes 1.2 cluster, and has everything you need for a cluster in regards to networking (proxy, DNS, etc). Some more highlights:

• Single executable
• Single container
• Single process
• One command to start with spread

It's great for:

• Playing around with Kubernetes without having to set up a cluster on GCP or AWS
• Offline and rapid development with Kubernetes

Requirements

• spread
• kubectl
• Make sure Docker is set up correctly, including starting docker-machine to bring up a VM [1]

Getting started

• Run spread cluster start to start localkube
• Sanity check: kubectl cluster-info [2]

Suggested workflow

• docker build the image that you want to work with [2]
• Create Kubernetes objects that use the image build above
• Run spread build . to deploy to cluster [3]
• Iterate on your application, updating image and objects running spread build . each time you want to deploy changes
• To preview changes, grab the IP of your docker daemon and use kubectl describe services/'SERVICE-NAME' for the NodePort, then put the IP:NodePort in your browser
• When finished, run spread cluster stop to stop localkube

[1] For now, we recommend everyone use a VM when working with localkube
[2] There will be a delay in returning info the first time you start localkube, as the Weave networking container needs to download. This pause will be fixed in future releases.
[3] spread will soon integrate building (#59)
[4] Since localkube shares a Docker daemon with your host, there is no need to push images :)

Developing on localkube

For those interested in contributing to development, this will compile localkube executable, build an image with it inside, and run a container with the build image.

The docker command should be setup for the Docker daemon you want to run the cluster with.

Linux

make run-image

OS X/Windows

make docker-build run-image

The apiserver will run on port 8080 of the Docker host.

FAQ

Why use a local Kubernetes cluster in the first place?

Setting up a remote Kubernetes cluster takes too long, and you can't develop and test on a Kubernetes cluster offline with a remote cluster.

Why not use hyperkube or monokube for local dev?

We built localkube to integrate with spread for an interactive workflow when developing with Kubernetes. localkube is built as a full Kubernetes 1.2 cluster, has pod networking set up with Weave, and uses spread for a rapid development workflow.