kinder

A CLI tool to stand up a local Kind Kubernetes cluster with integrated infrastructure services for development.

Features

• Kind Cluster - Kubernetes IN Docker with CA trust and registry mirrors pre-configured
• Step CA - Certificate authority with ACME support for automatic TLS certificates
• Zot Registry - OCI-compliant registry with pull-through caching for major registries
• Traefik - Reverse proxy with automatic HTTPS via ACME
• Gatus - Health monitoring dashboard for all services

Quick Start

# Start all infrastructure services
kinder start

# Create a Kind cluster (optional)
kinder kind start

# Verify everything is working
kinder diagnostics

# Get kubeconfig for kubectl
export KUBECONFIG=$(kinder kind kubeconfig)
kubectl get nodes

Architecture

                    ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
                    │                   Docker Network                     │
                    │                     (kind)                           │
                    │                                                      │
   Browser ─────────┼──► Traefik (:8443) ──┬──► Step CA (ACME)            │
                    │         │            ├──► Zot Registry               │
                    │         │            ├──► Gatus Dashboard            │
                    │         │            └──► Traefik Dashboard          │
                    │         │                                            │
                    │         └── ACME certs from Step CA                  │
                    │                                                      │
                    │   Kind Cluster ──────► Zot (pull-through cache)     │
                    │         │                    │                       │
                    │         └── Trusts CA cert   ├── docker.io           │
                    │                              ├── ghcr.io             │
                    │                              ├── quay.io             │
                    │                              └── registry.k8s.io    │
                    └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Services

Commands

Core Commands

kinder start              # Start all services
kinder stop               # Stop all services
kinder restart            # Restart with updated config
kinder status             # Show service status
kinder diagnostics        # Run comprehensive health checks
kinder clean              # Remove all data (keeps CA cert)

Kind Cluster

kinder kind start         # Create Kind cluster
kinder kind stop          # Delete Kind cluster
kinder kind status        # Show cluster status
kinder kind kubeconfig    # Print kubeconfig

Certificate Authority

kinder ca generate        # Generate CA certificate
kinder ca print           # Display CA certificate info

Configuration

kinder config show        # Display current config as YAML
kinder config path        # Show config file location
kinder config init        # Create default config file

ArgoCD (Optional)

kinder argocd show        # Show ArgoCD install manifest
kinder argocd initial-app # Generate bootstrap Application

Configuration

Configuration uses Viper with the following precedence (highest to lowest):

1. CLI flags
2. Environment variables (KINDER_*)
3. Config file (~/.config/kinder/config.yaml)
4. Built-in defaults

Example Config File

appName: kinder
domain: c0000201.sslip.io
network:
  name: kind
  cidr: 172.28.28.0/24
  bridge: kindbr0
traefik:
  port: "8443"
argocd:
  version: v3.1.10
images:
  stepca: smallstep/step-ca:latest
  zot: ghcr.io/project-zot/zot-linux-amd64:latest
  gatus: twinproduction/gatus:latest
  traefik: traefik:latest
registryMirrors:
  - ghcr.io
  - registry-1.docker.io
  - quay.io
  - registry.k8s.io

Environment Variables

KINDER_DATADIR=/path/to/data    # Data directory
KINDER_DOMAIN=example.sslip.io  # Base domain
KINDER_TRAEFIK_PORT=9443        # HTTPS port
KINDER_ARGOCD_VERSION=v3.2.3    # ArgoCD version

Browser Certificate Trust

To access services without security warnings, import the CA certificate:

1. Locate: ~/.local/share/kinder/ca.crt
2. Import into your browser's certificate authorities:
   • Firefox: Settings > Privacy & Security > Certificates > View Certificates > Authorities > Import
   • Chrome/Edge: Settings > Privacy and security > Security > Manage certificates > Authorities > Import
   • Safari: Open file, add to Keychain, mark as trusted for SSL

Requirements

• Docker (Docker CE or Docker Desktop)
• Go 1.21+ (for building from source)
• kind CLI (for Kind cluster management)
• kubectl (for Kubernetes interaction)
• skopeo (optional, for registry diagnostics)

Building from Source

git clone https://codeberg.org/hipkoi/kinder.git
cd kinder
go build -o kinder .

Data Storage

Network Configuration

The default network uses CIDR 172.28.28.0/24:

• 172.28.28.0/25 - Container DHCP range
• 172.28.28.128-255 - Reserved for MetalLB (Kind cluster)

License

MIT