# [](https://k3d.io/)
[](https://drone-publish.rancher.io/rancher/k3d)
[](./LICENSE.md)
[](https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/rancher/k3d/v4)
[](./go.mod)
[](https://goreportcard.com/report/github.com/rancher/k3d)
<!-- ALL - CONTRIBUTORS - BADGE:START - Do not remove or modify this section -->
[](#contributors-)
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[](code_of_conduct.md)
**Please Note:** `main` is now v3.0.0 and the code for v1.x can be found in the `main-v1` branch!
## [k3s in docker](https://k3d.io)
k3s is the lightweight Kubernetes distribution by Rancher: [rancher/k3s ](https://github.com/rancher/k3s )
k3d creates containerized k3s clusters. This means, that you can spin up a multi-node k3s cluster on a single machine using docker.
[](https://asciinema.org/a/347570)
## Learning
- Website with documentation: [k3d.io ](https://k3d.io/ )
- [Rancher Meetup - May 2020 - Simplifying Your Cloud-Native Development Workflow With K3s, K3c and K3d (YouTube) ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMr3prm9gDM )
- k3d demo repository: [iwilltry42/k3d-demo ](https://github.com/iwilltry42/k3d-demo )
## Requirements
- [docker ](https://docs.docker.com/install/ )
## Releases
**Note**: In May 2020 we upgraded from v1.7.x to **v3.0.0** after a complete rewrite of k3d!
| Platform | Stage | Version | Release Date | |
|-----------------|--------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---|
| [**GitHub Releases** ](https://github.com/rancher/k3d/releases ) | stable | [](https://github.com/rancher/k3d/releases/latest) | [](https://github.com/rancher/k3d/releases/latest) | |
| [**GitHub Releases** ](https://github.com/rancher/k3d/releases ) | latest | [](https://github.com/rancher/k3d/releases) | [](https://github.com/rancher/k3d/releases) | |
| [**Homebrew** ](https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/k3d ) | - | [](https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/k3d) | - | |
## Get
You have several options there:
- use the install script to grab the latest release:
- wget: `wget -q -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rancher/k3d/main/install.sh | bash`
- curl: `curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rancher/k3d/main/install.sh | bash`
- use the install script to grab a specific release (via `TAG` environment variable):
- wget: `wget -q -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rancher/k3d/main/install.sh | TAG=v3.0.0 bash`
- curl: `curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rancher/k3d/main/install.sh | TAG=v3.0.0 bash`
- use [Homebrew ](https://brew.sh ): `brew install k3d` (Homebrew is available for MacOS and Linux)
- Formula can be found in [homebrew/homebrew-core ](https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/master/Formula/k3d.rb ) and is mirrored to [homebrew/linuxbrew-core ](https://github.com/Homebrew/linuxbrew-core/blob/master/Formula/k3d.rb )
- install via [AUR ](https://aur.archlinux.org/ ) package [rancher-k3d-bin ](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/rancher-k3d-bin/ ): `yay -S rancher-k3d-bin`
- grab a release from the [release tab ](https://github.com/rancher/k3d/releases ) and install it yourself.
- install via go: `go install github.com/rancher/k3d` (**Note**: this will give you unreleased/bleeding-edge changes)
or...
## Build
1. Clone this repo, e.g. via `git clone git@github.com:rancher/k3d.git` or `go get github.com/rancher/k3d/v4@main`
2. Inside the repo run
- 'make install-tools' to make sure required go packages are installed
3. Inside the repo run one of the following commands
- `make build` to build for your current system
- `go install` to install it to your `GOPATH` (**Note**: this will give you unreleased/bleeding-edge changes)
- `make build-cross` to build for all systems
## Usage
Check out what you can do via `k3d help` or check the docs @ [k3d.io ](https://k3d.io )
Example Workflow: Create a new cluster and use it with `kubectl`
1. `k3d cluster create CLUSTER_NAME` to create a new single-node cluster (= 1 container running k3s + 1 loadbalancer container)
2. `k3d kubeconfig merge CLUSTER_NAME --kubeconfig-switch-context` to update your default kubeconfig and switch the current-context to the new one
3. execute some commands like `kubectl get pods --all-namespaces`
4. `k3d cluster delete CLUSTER_NAME` to delete the default cluster
## Connect
1. Join the Rancher community on slack via [slack.rancher.io ](https://slack.rancher.io/ )
2. Go to [rancher-users.slack.com ](https://rancher-users.slack.com ) and join our channel #k3d
3. Start chatting
## History
This repository is based on [@zeerorg ](https://github.com/zeerorg/ )'s [zeerorg/k3s-in-docker ](https://github.com/zeerorg/k3s-in-docker ), reimplemented in Go by [@iwilltry42 ](https://github.com/iwilltry42/ ) in [iwilltry42/k3d ](https://github.com/iwilltry42/k3d ), which got adopted by Rancher in[rancher/k3d](https://github.com/rancher/k3d).
## Related Projects
- [k3x ](https://github.com/inercia/k3x ): a graphics interface (for Linux) to k3d.
## Contributing
k3d is a community-driven project and so we welcome contributions of any form, be it code, logic, documentation, examples, requests, bug reports, ideas or anything else that pushes this project forward.
Please read our [**Contributing Guidelines** ](./CONTRIBUTING.md ) and the related [**Code of Conduct** ](./CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md ).
[](code_of_conduct.md)
## Contributors ✨
Thanks goes to these wonderful people ([emoji key](https://allcontributors.org/docs/en/emoji-key)):
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< td align = "center" > < a href = "https://blog.zeerorg.site/" > < img src = "https://avatars0.githubusercontent.com/u/13547997?v=4" width = "100px;" alt = "" / > < br / > < sub > < b > Rishabh Gupta< / b > < / sub > < / a > < br / > < a href = "#ideas-zeerorg" title = "Ideas, Planning, & Feedback" > 🤔< / a > < a href = "https://github.com/rancher/k3d/commits?author=zeerorg" title = "Code" > 💻< / a > < / td >
< td align = "center" > < a href = "http://www.zenika.com" > < img src = "https://avatars3.githubusercontent.com/u/25585516?v=4" width = "100px;" alt = "" / > < br / > < sub > < b > Louis Tournayre< / b > < / sub > < / a > < br / > < a href = "https://github.com/rancher/k3d/commits?author=louiznk" title = "Documentation" > 📖< / a > < / td >
< td align = "center" > < a href = "https://github.com/lionelnicolas" > < img src = "https://avatars3.githubusercontent.com/u/6538664?v=4" width = "100px;" alt = "" / > < br / > < sub > < b > Lionel Nicolas< / b > < / sub > < / a > < br / > < a href = "https://github.com/rancher/k3d/commits?author=lionelnicolas" title = "Code" > 💻< / a > < / td >
< td align = "center" > < a href = "https://github.com/toonsevrin.keys" > < img src = "https://avatars1.githubusercontent.com/u/5507199?v=4" width = "100px;" alt = "" / > < br / > < sub > < b > Toon Sevrin< / b > < / sub > < / a > < br / > < a href = "https://github.com/rancher/k3d/commits?author=toonsevrin" title = "Code" > 💻< / a > < / td >
< td align = "center" > < a href = "http://debian-solutions.de" > < img src = "https://avatars3.githubusercontent.com/u/1111056?v=4" width = "100px;" alt = "" / > < br / > < sub > < b > Dennis Hoppe< / b > < / sub > < / a > < br / > < a href = "https://github.com/rancher/k3d/commits?author=dhoppe" title = "Documentation" > 📖< / a > < a href = "#example-dhoppe" title = "Examples" > 💡< / a > < / td >
< td align = "center" > < a href = "https://dellinger.dev" > < img src = "https://avatars0.githubusercontent.com/u/3109892?v=4" width = "100px;" alt = "" / > < br / > < sub > < b > Jonas Dellinger< / b > < / sub > < / a > < br / > < a href = "#infra-JohnnyCrazy" title = "Infrastructure (Hosting, Build-Tools, etc)" > 🚇< / a > < / td >
< / tr >
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< td align = "center" > < a href = "https://github.com/markrexwinkel" > < img src = "https://avatars2.githubusercontent.com/u/10704814?v=4" width = "100px;" alt = "" / > < br / > < sub > < b > markrexwinkel< / b > < / sub > < / a > < br / > < a href = "https://github.com/rancher/k3d/commits?author=markrexwinkel" title = "Documentation" > 📖< / a > < / td >
< td align = "center" > < a href = "http://inerciatech.com/" > < img src = "https://avatars2.githubusercontent.com/u/1841612?v=4" width = "100px;" alt = "" / > < br / > < sub > < b > Alvaro< / b > < / sub > < / a > < br / > < a href = "https://github.com/rancher/k3d/commits?author=inercia" title = "Code" > 💻< / a > < a href = "#ideas-inercia" title = "Ideas, Planning, & Feedback" > 🤔< / a > < a href = "#plugin-inercia" title = "Plugin/utility libraries" > 🔌< / a > < / td >
< td align = "center" > < a href = "http://wsl.dev" > < img src = "https://avatars2.githubusercontent.com/u/905874?v=4" width = "100px;" alt = "" / > < br / > < sub > < b > Nuno do Carmo< / b > < / sub > < / a > < br / > < a href = "#content-nunix" title = "Content" > 🖋< / a > < a href = "#tutorial-nunix" title = "Tutorials" > ✅< / a > < a href = "#question-nunix" title = "Answering Questions" > 💬< / a > < / td >
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This project follows the [all-contributors ](https://github.com/all-contributors/all-contributors ) specification. Contributions of any kind welcome!
