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Comprehensive guides and references for the OpenFrame platform
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Comprehensive guides and references for the OpenFrame platform
Before installing and using OpenFrame CLI, make sure your system meets the requirements below. OpenFrame CLI ships with a built-in prerequisites command that can check (and, on macOS/Linux, auto-install) most of these tools for you.
The exact tool set depends on which cluster type you plan to use (k3d for local, eks for AWS, gke for GCP).
| Tool | Required for | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Docker | k3d (local clusters) |
Must be installed and running — the daemon, not just the CLI |
| k3d | k3d (local clusters) |
Kubernetes-in-Docker; auto-installed via Homebrew (macOS) or a pinned, checksum-verified binary (Linux) |
| Helm | k3d, eks, gke |
Used to install ArgoCD and the app-of-apps chart |
| Terraform | eks, gke (cloud clusters) |
Minimum version >= 1.15.0; always installed as a pinned, SHA256-verified binary (not via package managers) |
| AWS CLI | eks |
Required for identity/credential resolution against AWS |
gcloud CLI + gke-gcloud-auth-plugin |
gke |
Required for GCP authentication and kubectl credential plugin support |
| infracost (optional) | cloud cluster cost estimates | Optional; if missing, a generic pricing hint is shown instead |
On Windows, native auto-install is not supported for local (
k3d) prerequisites — the CLI forwards k3d/Docker-based cluster operations into WSL2 (Ubuntu). Cloud cluster provisioning (EKS/GKE via Terraform) works natively on Windows.
| Resource | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| RAM | 24 GB | 32 GB |
| CPU Cores | 6 | 12 |
| Disk Space | 50 GB | 100 GB |
These figures reflect running a full local OpenFrame platform install (ArgoCD + app-of-apps) inside a k3d cluster on your machine. Cloud cluster deployments (EKS/GKE) shift most resource consumption to the cloud provider, but the CLI host still needs enough local resources to run Docker, Terraform, and Helm operations.
| Cluster type | Access needed |
|---|---|
k3d (local) |
None — runs entirely on your local Docker daemon |
eks |
An AWS account with credentials configured (via the AWS CLI / environment) and permissions to create EKS clusters, VPCs, and related IAM resources |
gke |
A GCP project with billing enabled and permissions to create GKE clusters and related networking resources |
| Variable | Purpose | Required |
|---|---|---|
OPENFRAME_UPDATE_INSECURE_SKIP_VERIFY |
Escape hatch to bypass cosign signature verification during self-update | No — not recommended, emergency use only |
OPENFRAME_AUTO_UPDATE |
Set to 1 to opt in to automatic daily update checks (skipped in CI/non-interactive shells) |
No |
Cloud credentials themselves (AWS/GCP) are picked up from your existing AWS CLI / gcloud CLI configuration rather than dedicated OpenFrame-specific environment variables.
Once OpenFrame CLI is installed, verify your environment is ready before creating a cluster:
# Check prerequisites for the default (local k3d) cluster type
openframe prerequisites check
# Check prerequisites for an EKS cluster
openframe prerequisites check --type eks
# Check prerequisites for a GKE cluster
openframe prerequisites check --type gke
# Auto-install missing tools where supported (macOS/Linux)
openframe prerequisites install --type k3d
If any tool is missing, prerequisites check returns a non-zero exit code and prints the exact install --type ... command to fix it, along with the reason (e.g., "installed but not running" for Docker) and a documentation link for manual setup where auto-install isn't available.
Once your environment passes the prerequisites check, continue to the quick-start guide to create your first cluster and install the OpenFrame platform.