Use this how-to to bring up a local Platform Mesh environment on a Kind cluster. The result is a running portal, kcp endpoint, and the Platform Mesh runtime components needed to follow the tutorials.
::: warning Development preview The local setup is intended for evaluation and development. It differs from production deployments in architecture, security configuration, and scalability.
Track progress and upcoming improvements on the project dashboard. :::
Allocate at least 8 GB RAM and 6 CPUs to your container runtime.
Install:
Install the kubectl-kcp plugin if you want to run the example-data setup later.
Task is optional. It provides convenient command aliases, but the setup scripts can be run directly.
::: tip WSL2 users WSL version 2.1.5 or higher is required with Docker Desktop WSL2 integration enabled. See the local setup README for mkcert details. :::
::: tip macOS Podman users
Set KIND_EXPERIMENTAL_PROVIDER=podman before running the setup.
:::
git clone https://github.com/platform-mesh/helm-charts.git
cd helm-charts
git checkout 0.3.0
cd local-setup
Use one of the following options.
::: code-group
```bash [Task]
task local-setup
task local-setup:iterate
```bash [Script]
# Full setup. Deletes any existing platform-mesh Kind cluster first.
kind delete cluster --name platform-mesh
./local-setup/scripts/start.sh
# Faster iteration on an existing cluster.
./local-setup/scripts/start.sh
:::
When the setup completes, it prints Installation Complete and shows the portal access details.
::: info Setup duration The initial setup typically takes 5-10 minutes, depending on network speed and machine performance. :::
Open:
https://portal.localhost:8443https://localhost:8443::: tip No hosts file configuration required
Modern browsers resolve *.localhost domains to 127.0.0.1, so organization subdomains like <organization-name>.portal.localhost work without /etc/hosts changes.
:::
::: warning Certificate trust
The setup uses local certificates generated by mkcert. If the browser shows a certificate warning, run mkcert -install or see Troubleshoot local setup.
:::
The local setup deploys the Platform Mesh operator and the runtime components it manages. Key components include:
For the architecture behind these components, see Architecture. For the exact component set per release, see Platform Mesh runtime.