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Installation

k13d can be installed in multiple ways depending on your environment and requirements.

Supported today: local binary for TUI and Web UI

The only officially supported install path today is the single binary running locally with your kubeconfig. Docker, Docker Compose, Kubernetes, Helm, and containerized air-gapped deployment flows are still Beta / in preparation and are not officially supported yet. There is no official public Docker image repository for end users yet.

Prerequisites

  • Go 1.25+ (for building from source)
  • Kubernetes 1.29+ cluster with a valid kubeconfig
  • kubectl installed and configured

Binary Installation

Build from Source

The recommended way to install k13d is to build from source:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/cloudbro-kube-ai/k13d.git
cd k13d

# Build the binary
make build

# Or build with Go directly
go build -o k13d ./cmd/kube-ai-dashboard-cli/main.go

# Verify installation
./k13d --version

Cross-Platform Builds

Build binaries for multiple platforms:

# Build for all platforms
make build-all

# Build for specific platforms
make build-linux    # Linux (amd64, arm64, arm)
make build-darwin   # macOS (Intel, Apple Silicon)
make build-windows  # Windows (amd64)

Install to PATH

# Move binary to a directory in your PATH
sudo mv k13d /usr/local/bin/

# Or add to your PATH in ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
export PATH="$PATH:/path/to/k13d"

Docker / Docker Compose

Beta / not supported yet

Docker and Docker Compose deployment are still being prepared. Do not treat the current repository files as a supported end-user install path yet. Use the local binary instead: ./k13d for TUI or ./k13d --web --auth-mode local for the Web UI.

Kubernetes / Helm

Beta / not supported yet

Kubernetes and Helm deployment are not officially supported in the current release line. The manifests and chart-related material in this repository should be treated as work in progress. For now, please evaluate k13d as a local binary with the TUI or Web UI.

Air-Gapped Installation

Current status

The supported offline story today is still the single binary copied into the target environment and run locally. Container-image-based air-gapped deployment remains Beta / in preparation.

macOS Gatekeeper

macOS Security Warning

macOS may block the binary with "Apple could not verify k13d is free of malware".

Option 1: Remove Quarantine Attribute

# Remove quarantine and provenance attributes
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ./k13d
xattr -d com.apple.provenance ./k13d

Option 2: Allow in System Settings

  1. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security
  2. Scroll down to find the blocked app message
  3. Click "Allow Anyway"
  4. Run the binary again and click "Open" when prompted

Verifying Installation

# Check version
./k13d --version

# Run TUI mode (requires valid kubeconfig)
./k13d

# Run web mode with local auth (recommended for desktop use)
./k13d --web --auth-mode local
# Open http://localhost:8080 — Username: admin / Password: printed in terminal

# Token/cluster-oriented auth modes exist in the binary, but their deployment story is still preview-only
./k13d --web --auth-mode token

Authentication Modes

When running the Web server (--web), choose an authentication mode:

Mode Flag Description
Local --auth-mode local Supported and recommended for local desktop Web UI use.
Token --auth-mode token Preview only. The broader deployment/in-cluster usage story is not officially supported yet.
LDAP --auth-mode ldap Preview only. Provider-specific LDAP wiring is still incomplete.
OIDC --auth-mode oidc Preview only. Provider-specific OIDC wiring is still incomplete.
No Auth --no-auth Disables authentication entirely. Not recommended — use only for local testing.

For LDAP, OIDC, MFA, and SAML guidance, see the Security guide.

For local/desktop usage, --auth-mode local is the simplest option:

# With auto-generated password (printed in terminal)
./k13d --web --auth-mode local

# With custom credentials
./k13d --web --auth-mode local --admin-user myadmin --admin-password mysecurepassword

# Or via environment variables
export K13D_USERNAME=myadmin
export K13D_PASSWORD=mysecurepassword
./k13d --web --auth-mode local

Next Steps