KSail

Important

🆕 UP NEXT 🆕

1. Support for ArgoCD as a Deployment Tool - https://github.com/devantler-tech/ksail/pull/878
2. Support for Talos Linux as a Distribution

Take control of Kubernetes without the chaos. ⚡ KSail is your all-in-one SDK for spinning up clusters and managing workloads—right from your own machine. Instead of juggling a dozen CLI tools, KSail streamlines your workflow with a single, declarative interface built on top of the Kubernetes tools you already know and trust.

🌟 Declarative. Local. Effortless. Welcome to Kubernetes, simplified.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Linux (amd64 and arm64)
• MacOS (amd64 and arm64)
• Windows (amd64 and arm64)
  • I am unable to test Windows builds, so please report any issues you encounter.

Installation

Currently, KSail is available in two ways: via Homebrew or GitHub releases.

Homebrew

It is recommended to install KSail using Homebrew for easy updates and management. If you don’t have Homebrew installed, you can find installation instructions on their website.

brew tap devantler-tech/formulas
brew install ksail

Manually

Warning

If you install KSail manually, you need to ensure the dependent binaries are available in your $PATH for all functionality to work. These include: age, argocd, cilium, flux, helm, k3d, k9s, kind, kubeconform, kubectl, kustomize, sops, talosctl

1. Download the latest release for your OS from the releases page.
2. Make the binary executable: chmod +x ksail.
3. Move the binary to a directory in your $PATH: mv ksail /usr/local/bin/ksail.

Usage

Getting started with KSail is straightforward. Begin by initializing a new KSail project:

> ksail init # to create a new default project

> ksail init \ # to create a new custom project (★ is default)
  --container-engine <★Docker★|Podman> \ # the container engine to provision your cluster in
  --distribution <★Kind★|K3d> \ # the kubernetes distribution for your cluster
  --deployment-tool <★Kubectl★|Flux> \ # the tool you want to use for declarative deployments
  --cni <★Default★|Cilium|None> \ # the Container Network Interface (CNI) you want pre-installed
  --csi <★Default★|LocalPathProvisioner|None> \ # the Container Storage Interface (CSI) you want pre-installed
  --ingress-controller <★Default★|Traefik|None> \ # the Ingress Controller you want pre-installed
  --gateway-controller <★Default★|None> \ # the Gateway Controller you want pre-installed
  --metrics-server <★True★|False> \ # whether metrics server should be pre-installed
  --secret-manager <★None★|SOPS> \ # the secret manager you want to use to manage secrets in Git
  --mirror-registries <★True★|False> \ # whether mirror registries should be set up or not
  --editor <★Nano★|Vim> # the editor you want to use for commands that require it

This creates the following project files, depending on your choices:

├── ksail.yaml # Configuration for KSail
├── <distribution>.yaml # Configuration for a distribution (e.g., kind.yaml, k3d.yaml)
├── .sops.yaml # Configuration for SOPS - the secret manager (if enabled)
└── k8s # Kubernetes manifests
    └── kustomization.yaml # The entry point for your workloads

Customize these files to suit your setup. Once ready, create your cluster with:

> ksail up # to create the cluster

You can then modify your manifest files in the k8s folder as needed. To apply changes to your cluster, use:

> ksail update # to apply changes to the cluster

For advanced debugging, connect to the cluster via the K9s tool with:

> ksail connect # to connect to the cluster

When you’re done, you can stop the cluster to resume later:

> ksail stop # to shut down the cluster

> ksail start # to start the cluster again

Or completely remove it and its resources with:

> ksail down # to dismantle the cluster and all of its resources

For more details on the available commands, checkout the KSail CLI Options page.

Documentation

The documentation for KSail is available at ksail.devantler.tech.

Related Projects

KSail is a powerful tool that can be used in many different ways. Here are some projects that use KSail in their setup:

Project	Description	Type
devantler-tech/platform	A platform I use for personal projects.	Platform
devantler-tech/testkube-poc	A proof of concept for using TestKube as a test framework in your cluster.	Proof of Concept
devantler-tech/pinniped-poc	A proof of concept for using Pinniped for authenticating to your cluster.	Proof of Concept

If you use KSail in your project, feel free to open a PR to add it to the list, so others can see how you use KSail.

Presentations

• KSail - a Kubernetes SDK for local GitOps development and CI - A presentation on KSail at KCD2024.

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