MetalLB
LoadBalancer services with real external IPs from your Docker or Podman subnet.
kinder
kind, but with everything you actually need.
Install
Section titled “Install”kind vs kinder
Section titled “kind vs kinder”kind
- Bare Kubernetes cluster
- No LoadBalancer support
- No ingress controller
- No metrics (kubectl top fails)
- Default CoreDNS config
- No dashboard
- No local registry
- No TLS certificates
kinder
- Kubernetes cluster
- MetalLB — real LoadBalancer IPs
- Envoy Gateway — Gateway API routing
- Metrics Server — kubectl top and HPA
- CoreDNS — autopath, pods verified, 60s cache
- Headlamp — web dashboard
- Local Registry — push images to localhost:5001
- cert-manager — automatic TLS certificates
Core Addons
Section titled “Core Addons”Always-on essentials for every kinder cluster.
Metrics Server
Enables kubectl top and Horizontal Pod Autoscaler support.
CoreDNS Tuning
Autopath short names, verified pod records, and doubled cache TTL.
Local Path Provisioner
Automatic dynamic PVC provisioning — local-path as the default StorageClass.
Optional Addons
Section titled “Optional Addons”Powerful extras enabled by default — disable with --profile minimal for lightweight clusters.
Envoy Gateway
Gateway API routing with the eg GatewayClass pre-configured.
Headlamp Dashboard
Web-based cluster UI. Access via port-forward, token printed at cluster creation.
Local Registry
Private container registry at localhost:5001 with dev tool auto-discovery.
cert-manager
Automatic TLS certificates with a self-signed ClusterIssuer ready immediately.
Daily Iteration
Section titled “Daily Iteration”A small set of lifecycle verbs that make iterating on a kinder cluster as fast as creating one.
Pause & Resume
kinder pause stops every container in quorum-safe order to free laptop CPU/RAM. kinder resume brings it back exactly as it was.
Snapshot & Restore
Capture etcd state, container images, and PV contents into a single bundle. Restore in seconds for an instant clean-state reset.
Hot Reload
kinder dev --watch ./src --target myapp watches a directory and runs a build → load → rollout cycle on every save.
Runtime Decoder
kinder doctor decode scans recent logs and events and explains cryptic kubelet/kubeadm/containerd errors in plain English.
Built by Patryk Golabek