Local, VM or VPS

Run all of OpenCrane on a single machine — your laptop, a VM, or a VPS. This is the fastest way to try it, demo it, or serve a small team. Everything (control plane, operator, assistants, database) runs in one lightweight Kubernetes node.

On your laptop

The bundled installer spins up a local k3d cluster and installs the full stack:

./platform/install.sh local

That's enough to create assistants and explore the oc CLI. Tear it down anytime; nothing leaves your machine.

On a VM or VPS

For an always-on single server (a cloud VM, or a box under your desk), use k3s — a tiny, production-grade Kubernetes that's perfect for one node:

# 1. Install k3s (gives you a one-node cluster + kubectl)
curl -sfL https://get.k3s.io | sh -
export KUBECONFIG=/etc/rancher/k3s/k3s.yaml

# 2. Install OpenCrane with your domain
helm install opencrane platform/helm --set ingress.domain=<your-domain>

Point your domain at the server's IP (see Set up your domain) and you have a real, public deployment on a single host.

When to move to a cluster

A single machine is great up to a point. When you need high availability, more capacity, or auto-scaling, the exact same helm install works on a managed Kubernetes cluster — see Cluster deployment.

Next

→ Set up your domain → Create your first assistant