Stack Init

Before you begin, set up a local Kubernetes cluster. See the Kubernetes Already? guide for Docker Desktop and k3s options.

Install Stack

  1. Grab the CLI.

    curl -fsSL https://stack-cli.com/install.sh | bash

  2. Bootstrap the platform operators into your cluster.

    stack init

    This command installs CloudNativePG, Keycloak, ingress, the Stack controller, and custom resource definitions that describe your applications.

    🔌 Connecting to the cluster...
✅ Connected
🐘 Installing Cloud Native Postgres Operator (CNPG)
⏳ Waiting for Cloud Native Postgres Controller Manager
🛡️ Installing Keycloak Operator
📦 Creating namespace keycloak
⏳ Waiting for Keycloak Operator to be Available
📦 Creating namespace stack-system
📜 Installing StackApp CRD
⏳ Waiting for StackApp CRD
🔐 Setting up roles
🤖 Installing the operator into stack-system
🗄️ Ensuring Keycloak database in namespace keycloak
✅ Keycloak database created.
🛡️ Ensuring Keycloak instance in namespace keycloak

  3. Apply the demo StackApp manifest.

    curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/stack-cli/stack-cli/main/demo-apps/demo.stack.yaml \
  -o demo.stack.yaml

    And then

    stack deploy --manifest demo.stack.yaml --profile staging

    You should see

    🔌 Connecting to the cluster...
✅ Connected
📜 Installing StackApp CRD
⏳ Waiting for StackApp CRD
📦 Creating namespace stack-demo
🚀 Applied StackApp `stack-demo` in namespace `stack-demo`

What just happened?

You now have a Kubernetes namespace with a full backend stack wired together:

  • A Postgres cluster created for your app.
  • Auth, REST, Realtime, and Storage services ready to use.
  • Secrets created for database URLs and JWTs.
  • An nginx gateway that exposes /auth, /rest, /realtime, and /storage.

If you come from a Next.js background, think of this as a production-ready backend running beside your app, but declared with a single manifest instead of a pile of services.

Optional: install k9s

k9s is a terminal UI for Kubernetes. It makes it easy to browse pods, logs, and services while you are learning the platform.

brew install k9s

On Linux, follow the install guide in the k9s docs.

Watching Startup

With k9s you can see the demo applications pods downlaoding and starting

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