About

Garden has three Kubernetes plugins:

• The local-kubernetes plugin is for local installations of Kubernetes such as Minikube or Docker for Desktop.

• The kubernetes plugin works with any Kubernetes cluster.

• The ephemeral-kubernetes plugin is for spinning up a zero-config, temporary Garden managed Kubernetes cluster.

The following pages provide step-by-step guides for getting started with either plugin. You can skip any steps you've already completed.

How it works

Under the hood, Garden uses the Kubernetes API and kubectl to interact with your Kubernetes cluster.

Typically, each developer will have their own isolated Kubernetes Namespace. Similarly, CI tests and preview environments are isolated via Namespaces, although this is all configurable.

For tests and tasks, Garden spins up Pods from the respective image that execute the task.

For live code synchronization, Garden uses a tool called Mutagen to sync changes to the running container.

There's a lot more to the Kubernetes plugins and if you're interested in the "nitty-gritty", we're more than happy to answer questions us on our Discord channel.