2. Pick a Kubernetes Plugin

In order to deploy our project, we (perhaps obviously) need somewhere to deploy it to.

Here we hit a bit of a fork in the road since we have a choice between:

1. Setting up a local Kubernetes cluster on our dev machine

2. Using our own remote cluster.

Option 1 — Local Kubernetes

You can use a local installation of Kubernetes (e.g. K3s, Minikube or Docker for Desktop). It's great for getting started quickly but you'll miss out on all the collaboration and team features you get with a remote Kubernetes environment.

To use this option follow the steps below.

Step 1 — Install Kuberneters locally

Follow our local Kubernetes guide to set up this plugin.

Step 2 — Set default environment

Open the project.garden.yml file we created earlier and ensure the defaultEnvironment field is set to local like so:

defaultEnvironment: local

Option 2 — Your own remote Kubernetes cluster

This option requires more upfront work but is highly recommended for teams using Garden. It allows you to build, test, and develop in a remote production-like environment that scales with your stack and allows you to easily share work with your team.

If you want to get started quickly we recommend first going for Option 1 above and then coming back to this one once you've kicked the tires.

Otherwise follow the steps below.

Step 1 — Setup remote Kubernetes

Follow our remote Kubernetes guide to set up this plugin.

In particular you'll need to update the values under the kubernetes provider in the project.garden.yml file we created earlier.

Step 2 — Enable Remote Container Builder (optional)

We highly recommend using our Remote Container Builder which can significantly speed up container builds.

Step 3 — Update the default environment

Open the project.garden.yml file we created earlier and update the defaultEnvironment field like so:

defaultEnvironment: remote-dev

Next Step

Once you've set up your Kubernetes plugin and updated your project configuration accordingly, you can move on to adding Garden actions to the project.