Local Kubernetes Clusters

ClawMachine runs on any Kubernetes cluster. For local development, you’ll need a local cluster. Here are the most common options.

OrbStack

OrbStack is a fast, lightweight alternative to Docker Desktop on macOS. It includes a built-in single-node Kubernetes cluster and provides automatic local DNS for services (<service>.<namespace>.svc.cluster.local).

# Enable Kubernetes in OrbStack settings, then:
kubectl config use-context orbstack

ClawMachine’s Tiltfile is configured to use OrbStack’s local DNS for accessing the dashboard.

See the OrbStack Kubernetes docs for setup details.

Kind

Kind (Kubernetes in Docker) runs clusters using Docker containers as nodes. It’s lightweight and widely used for local development and CI.

# Install
brew install kind

# Create a cluster
kind create cluster --name clawmachine

# Delete when done
kind delete cluster --name clawmachine

To access services, you’ll need to set up port forwarding or an ingress controller.

See the Kind quick start guide for full setup instructions.

k3d

k3d runs k3s (a lightweight Kubernetes distribution) inside Docker containers. It’s fast to start and has built-in support for local registries and load balancers.

# Install
brew install k3d

# Create a cluster with port mapping
k3d cluster create clawmachine -p "8080:80@loadbalancer"

# Delete when done
k3d cluster delete clawmachine

See the k3d usage guide for configuration options.

Docker Desktop

Docker Desktop includes an optional single-node Kubernetes cluster. Enable it in Settings > Kubernetes.

# After enabling Kubernetes in Docker Desktop:
kubectl config use-context docker-desktop

See the Docker Desktop Kubernetes docs for setup details.

Verifying Your Cluster

Regardless of which option you choose, verify your cluster is running:

kubectl cluster-info
kubectl get nodes

Once your cluster is ready, proceed to Getting Started to install ClawMachine.

Getting Started Architecture