Your first cluster

knext deploys your Next.js app to a Kubernetes cluster running Knative Serving. If you don't have a cluster yet, the fastest way to get one is on your own laptop — free, disposable, and ready in a few minutes. This page walks that path end to end, then points you at the managed-cloud guides for when you outgrow it.

0 · Install the tools

You need three things on your machine: a container runtime (Docker Desktop or OrbStack — kind runs Kubernetes inside containers), kind itself, and kubectl, the Kubernetes command-line client.

brew install kind kubectl

On Linux or Windows, grab the binaries from the kind install page and the kubectl install page. Make sure Docker Desktop or OrbStack is running before you continue.

1 · Create the cluster

kind create cluster --name knext --wait 120s

This starts a single-node Kubernetes cluster in a container and points your kubectl at it. The --wait flag blocks until the node is actually ready, so when the command returns you have a working cluster.

2 · Install Knative Serving

Knative Serving is what gives your apps scale-to-zero. Install its resource definitions, then its core components:

KNATIVE_VERSION="knative-v1.16.0"
kubectl apply -f "https://github.com/knative/serving/releases/download/${KNATIVE_VERSION}/serving-crds.yaml"
kubectl apply -f "https://github.com/knative/serving/releases/download/${KNATIVE_VERSION}/serving-core.yaml"

3 · Install the Kourier networking layer

Knative needs a networking layer to route traffic to your apps; knext targets Kourier. Install it, then tell Knative to use it:

kubectl apply -f "https://github.com/knative/net-kourier/releases/download/${KNATIVE_VERSION}/kourier.yaml"
kubectl patch configmap/config-network \
  --namespace knative-serving \
  --type merge \
  --patch '{"data":{"ingress-class":"kourier.ingress.networking.knative.dev"}}'

Then wait for everything to come up (this pulls a few images, so give it a minute):

kubectl wait --for=condition=Available --timeout=300s \
  -n knative-serving deployment/controller deployment/webhook deployment/autoscaler
kubectl wait --for=condition=Available --timeout=300s \
  -n knative-serving deployment/net-kourier-controller

4 · Install cert-manager

The knext control plane runs an admission webhook, which needs a TLS certificate; cert-manager issues it:

kubectl apply -f https://github.com/cert-manager/cert-manager/releases/download/v1.16.2/cert-manager.yaml
kubectl wait --for=condition=Available --timeout=300s \
  -n cert-manager deployment/cert-manager deployment/cert-manager-webhook deployment/cert-manager-cainjector

5 · Install the knext operator

The operator is knext's control plane: it watches for NextApp resources and turns each one into a running, scale-to-zero Knative service. One bundle installs it:

kubectl apply --server-side -f https://github.com/getknext-dev/knext/releases/download/operator-latest/install.yaml
kubectl wait --for=condition=Available -n kn-next-operator-system \
  deployment/kn-next-operator-controller-manager --timeout=120s

The full install reference — what's in the bundle, signature verification, and troubleshooting — is on Install.

6 · Verify

From your Next.js project (or any directory with @getknext/core installed), run the preflight:

npx kn-next doctor

doctor checks the pieces you just installed — the NextApp resource definition, the operator, its admission webhook, the ingress class, and Knative Serving — and tells you exactly what's missing if anything is. All green? Head to Getting started and deploy your first app.

What a laptop cluster is (and isn't) for

Be honest with yourself about what you just built:

• It sleeps with your laptop. The cluster runs inside your container runtime — quit Docker Desktop / OrbStack or close the lid and your apps and their URLs are gone until it's back. Perfect for trying knext and developing against; not a place to serve real users from.
• Network isolation is declarative-only here. knext's default NetworkPolicy is enforced only if your cluster's network plugin (CNI) supports NetworkPolicy (Calico, Cilium); on kind's default CNI the policy is inert. See Production hardening.
• Deploys still need a registry. kn-next deploy pushes your app image to a container registry the cluster can pull from — the Getting started prerequisites cover that.

To throw the cluster away and start over:

kind delete cluster --name knext

When you outgrow the laptop

The same knext install (steps 2–5) works unchanged on a managed cluster — each guide below covers creating the cluster and the provider-specific pieces:

• Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)
• Amazon EKS
• Azure AKS
• Oracle Kubernetes Engine (OKE) — the reference-validated path
• OpenShift