kind is a tool for running local Kubernetes clusters using Docker container “nodes”.
kind was primarily designed for testing Kubernetes itself, but may be used for local development or CI.

If you have go (1.17+) and docker installed go install sigs.k8s.io/kind@v0.12.0 && kind create cluster is all you need!

For older versions use GO111MODULE="on" go get sigs.k8s.io/kind@v0.12.0.

kind consists of:

• Go packages implementing cluster creation, image build, etc.
• A command line interface (kind) built on these packages.
• Docker image(s) written to run systemd, Kubernetes, etc.
• kubetest integration also built on these packages (WIP)

kind bootstraps each “node” with kubeadm. For more details see the design documentation.

NOTE: kind is still a work in progress, see the 1.0 roadmap.

Installation and usage

For more detailed instructions see the user guide.

You can install kind with go get sigs.k8s.io/kind. This will put kind in $(go env GOPATH)/bin. You may need to add that directory to your $PATH as shown here if you encounter the error kind: command not found after installation.

To use kind, you will also need to install docker.
Once you have docker running you can create a cluster with:

kind create cluster

To delete your cluster use:

kind delete cluster

To create a cluster from Kubernetes source:

• ensure that Kubernetes is cloned in $(go env GOPATH)/src/k8s.io/kubernetes
• build a node image and create a cluster with

kind build node-image
kind create cluster --image kindest/node:latest

Multi-node clusters and other advanced features may be configured with a config file, for more usage see the user guide or run kind [command] --help

Community

Please reach out for bugs, feature requests, and other issues!
The maintainers of this project are reachable via:

• Kubernetes Slack in the #kind channel
• filing an issue against this repo
• The Kubernetes SIG-Testing Mailing List

Current maintainers are @BenTheElder, @munnerz, @aojea, and @amwat – feel free to reach out directly if you have any questions!

Pull Requests are very welcome!
If you’re planning a new feature, please file an issue to discuss first.

Check the issue tracker for help wanted issues if you’re unsure where to start, or feel free to reach out to discuss. 🙂

See also: our own contributor guide and the Kubernetes community page.

Why kind?

• kind supports multi-node (including HA) clusters
• kind supports building Kubernetes release builds from source
  • support for make / bash or docker, in addition to pre-published builds
• kind supports Linux, macOS and Windows
• kind is a CNCF certified conformant Kubernetes installer

Code of conduct

Participation in the Kubernetes community is governed by the Kubernetes Code of Conduct.