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Quick Start (Local Dev)

Purpose: For new users, shows how to install the CLI, create a Kind cluster, deploy platform services, and verify a running cluster (10 minutes configuration + 30–50 minutes deployment).

What You'll Do​

  1. Install the openCenter CLI
  2. Initialize and deploy a Kind cluster with platform services
  3. Verify FluxCD is reconciling and services are running

End result: A local Kubernetes cluster running cert-manager, Kyverno, Prometheus, Grafana, and Headlamp — fully managed by FluxCD GitOps and ready for application deployment (~40 minutes total).

Prerequisites​

  • Docker installed and running
  • 8 GB RAM available
  • 20 GB disk space
  • Git 2.30+

Step 1: Install the CLI​

Pick one method. For the full list see CLI Installation.

Download a GitHub Release binary​

# Linux amd64 — swap suffix for your platform (darwin-arm64, linux-arm64, etc.)
curl -Lo opencenter https://github.com/rackerlabs/openCenter-cli/releases/download/v1.0.0/opencenter-linux-amd64
chmod +x opencenter
sudo mv opencenter /usr/local/bin/

Or install with go install​

go install github.com/opencenter-cloud/opencenter-cli@v1.0.0

Verify installation​

opencenter version

Expected output:

opencenter version 1.0.0

Step 2: Initialize a Kind Cluster​

opencenter cluster init my-first-cluster --org local --type kind

This creates a configuration file at ~/.config/opencenter/clusters/local/.my-first-cluster-config.yaml and generates SOPS Age encryption keys and an SSH key pair automatically.

Review the generated configuration:

opencenter cluster edit my-first-cluster

The default Kind configuration works out of the box — no edits required for a quick start.

Step 3: Validate and Generate​

# Validate configuration (catches schema and business-rule errors)
opencenter cluster validate my-first-cluster

# Generate the GitOps repository (Terraform + Kubespray + FluxCD manifests)
opencenter cluster generate my-first-cluster

The generate command creates the complete GitOps directory structure with infrastructure code and FluxCD application manifests.

Step 4: Deploy the Cluster​

opencenter cluster deploy my-first-cluster

Deployment takes 30–50 minutes. The CLI provisions the Kind cluster, installs Kubernetes, and bootstraps FluxCD which begins reconciling platform services.

Step 5: Verify the Cluster​

# Check overall status
opencenter cluster status my-first-cluster

# Verify nodes
kubectl get nodes

# Check FluxCD reconciliation
flux get kustomizations

# Access Headlamp UI
kubectl port-forward -n headlamp svc/headlamp 8080:80
# Open http://localhost:8080

Check Your Work​

  • opencenter cluster status my-first-cluster shows healthy
  • All pods in flux-system namespace are Running
  • Platform services are deploying (cert-manager, kyverno, kube-prometheus-stack)
  • Headlamp UI is accessible at http://localhost:8080

What Got Deployed​

The Kind cluster includes these platform services from openCenter-gitops-base:

ServicePurpose
cert-managerTLS certificate automation
KyvernoPolicy engine (17 ClusterPolicies)
kube-prometheus-stackPrometheus + Grafana monitoring
HeadlampKubernetes dashboard
Gateway API (Envoy)Ingress routing

Next Steps​