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World K1: The Food Court

Your first cluster with kind

You will learn: how to open a practice cluster on your own laptop with kind.

Checked with Kubernetes 1.37 on 31 Oct 2026

The problem

Kubernetes runs huge data centres. Can you run a cluster on your own laptop?

Watch

bash
kind create cluster --name dev --config kind-dev.yaml
Creating cluster "dev" ...
✓ Ensuring node image (kindest/node:v1.37.0) 🖼
✓ Preparing nodes 📦 📦 📦
✓ Writing configuration 📜
✓ Starting control-plane 🕹️
✓ Installing CNI 🔌
✓ Installing StorageClass 💾
✓ Joining worker nodes 🚜
Set kubectl context to "kind-dev"
You can now use your cluster with:
kubectl cluster-info --context kind-dev
Have a nice day! 👋

kind: Kubernetes IN Docker: a practice food court built from containers on your laptop. means Kubernetes IN Docker. Each stall is a Docker container on your laptop. One command opens a practice food court.

Try it

Build the command that opens a cluster called dev.

Tap the pieces in the right order.

…

Predict

This file is kind-dev.yaml. How many stalls will your cluster get?

kind: Cluster
apiVersion: kind.x-k8s.io/v1alpha4
nodes:
  - role: control-plane
  - role: worker
  - role: worker

Try it

Your cluster is up. Say hello: type kubectl cluster-info. Then type kubectl get nodes.

You are here: cluster kind-dev namespace default
dev-control-planeOpenManager

No trays here.

dev-workerOpen

No trays here.

dev-worker2Open

No trays here.

Time: +0s (sped up)

Check

Good habit, or needs work? Swipe each one.

Swipe right for good, left for needs work. Or use the buttons.

1 / 4

Install kind and kubectl from their official docs

Try it

Real rep (optional): open your own food court. Docker must be running first.

Real mission

  1. docker version
  4. kind create cluster --name dev --config kind-dev.yaml
  5. kubectl get nodes
  6. kind delete cluster --name dev

0 of 6 steps done · Your ticks are saved.

You did it!

You can now open a practice cluster with kind.

Go deeper (optional)

Other practice clusters work too. minikube runs a cluster in a container or a virtual machine. k3d runs k3s, a light Kubernetes, inside Docker. The kubectl commands stay the same.

A cluster needs memory. About 8 GB of RAM works for a small one. Your kind version may print a newer node image.