Prerequisites

Before you start with Syself Autopilot, you should install the necessary tools to interact with Kubernetes clusters. This section provides instruction on how to install kubectl and kubelogin. Make sure you have these tools installed before proceeding to the next sections.

• kubectl⁠ sends commands to Kubernetes clusters. Every step here uses it.
• kubelogin⁠ handles the browser-based login to the Syself Autopilot management cluster. kubectl calls it for you; you never run it yourself.

Install kubectl

kubectl is the Kubernetes command-line tool. You use it to create, inspect, and update everything in a cluster, from apps to servers.

		$ curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl"
$ sudo install -o root -g root -m 0755 kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
	

		$ curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl"
$ sudo install -o root -g root -m 0755 kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
	

		$ chmod +x kubectl
$ mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
$ mv ./kubectl ~/.local/bin/kubectl
# Make sure ~/.local/bin is in your $PATH
	

		$ curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl"
$ chmod +x ./kubectl
$ sudo mv ./kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
$ sudo chown root: /usr/local/bin/kubectl
	

		$ curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/darwin/arm64/kubectl"
$ chmod +x ./kubectl
$ sudo mv ./kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
$ sudo chown root: /usr/local/bin/kubectl
	

		Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))
	

		$ choco install kubernetes-cli
	

For more options and package-manager install methods, see the official kubectl documentation⁠.

Install kubelogin

kubelogin (also called oidc-login) is a kubectl plugin. The management cluster authenticates you with OpenID Connect (OIDC), the same standard behind most "log in with your identity provider" buttons: you log in through your browser instead of pasting a static token. kubelogin runs that browser flow whenever kubectl needs a fresh login.

On Linux and macOS, we recommend installing it with Krew, the kubectl plugin manager. On Windows, skip Krew. Install it directly with Chocolatey (see the Windows tab below).

Install Krew

Krew installs and updates kubectl plugins.

		(
  set -x; cd "$(mktemp -d)" &&
  OS="$(uname | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')" &&
  ARCH="$(uname -m | sed -e 's/x86_64/amd64/' -e 's/\(arm\)\(64\)\?.*/\1\2/' -e 's/aarch64$/arm64/')" &&
  KREW="krew-${OS}_${ARCH}" &&
  curl -fsSLO "https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/krew/releases/latest/download/${KREW}.tar.gz" &&
  tar zxvf "${KREW}.tar.gz" &&
  ./"${KREW}" install krew
)
	

		export PATH="${KREW_ROOT:-$HOME/.krew}/bin:$PATH"
	

Check the install:

		$ kubectl krew version
	

The command prints Krew's version details. If your shell reports unknown command "krew", the PATH line from step 3 is not active yet; restart your shell and try again.

Install kubelogin

Install the plugin for your OS:

		$ kubectl krew install oidc-login
	

		# Run as Administrator
$ choco install kubelogin
	

If you prefer to install from a GitHub release, download the binary and place it on your PATH as kubectl-oidc_login.

Verify

Check that both tools are available. kubectl exposes its client version behind a flag, while the oidc-login plugin exposes it as a subcommand instead:

		$ kubectl version --client
$ kubectl oidc-login version
	

Both commands print a version number and exit without an error. That is all the setup you need for now; you do not need a running cluster yet.

If kubectl oidc-login version fails with an unknown-command error, kubectl cannot find the plugin. If you installed via Krew, recheck the PATH line from the Install Krew step; if you installed via Chocolatey, confirm choco install kubelogin completed without errors.

Next step

Connect to the management cluster: Access the management cluster .

Related

• Getting started overview