Adopt on an existing cluster

Brownfield playbook: attach kprompt to a working kubeconfig in ~15 minutes — detect, bind existing tools, read-first insight, optional MCP. Prefer configure over install.

Greenfield is easy (kind + demo). This page is the other path: you already have a cluster, Helm or Prometheus somewhere, GitOps, and RBAC you do not want to rewrite. Goal — first useful insight without installing a second monitoring stack.

Scorecard

Signal	Good	Avoid
Time-to-first-insight	Useful read in ≤15 min	Spend the hour installing operators first
Cluster touch	No new operators	kube-prometheus-stack “just for the demo”
Tools	Bind URLs / PATH you already have	Treat missing as “must install via setup”
Mutations	Plan only; apply later on a TTY	--approve on the first unfamiliar prompt
IDE	Optional MCP read/plan	Expect auto-apply from the editor

15-minute path

0–2 min — binary + context

curl -fsSL https://kprompt.ai/install | bash   # or: brew install kprompt/tap/kprompt
kubectl config current-context                 # staging / sandbox first
kprompt version

Use a non-production context until the plan loop feels boring. Multi-context notes: Multi-cluster.

2–5 min — provider

# $0 local (recommended first)
ollama serve && ollama pull llama3.2
kprompt init --ollama

# or BYOK — your key, never stored in config.yaml
# kprompt init --provider openai && export KPROMPT_OPENAI_API_KEY=…

kprompt doctor

Init only writes provider/model (and optional context). It does not create clusters or run setup installs.

5–8 min — detect, then bind

kprompt tools

# Prefer bind when backends already exist:
kprompt config set tools.prometheus.url http://prometheus.monitoring:9090
# kprompt config set tools.grafana.url http://grafana.monitoring:3000
# kprompt config set tools.otel.backend tempo

kprompt tools
kprompt doctor

kprompt tools inventories Helm on PATH, Argo Workflow CRDs, Prom/Grafana/OTel URLs, GitOps controllers, and more. Missing is a hint — not a mandate to install. Use kprompt setup only when you truly lack a component and accept an approve-gated install plan. Full flag reference: Setup · Integrations.

8–12 min — first insight (read-only)

kprompt "list deployments" -n <your-ns>
kprompt "explain why <workload> is failing" -n <your-ns>
kprompt "why is my api slow?" -n <your-ns>          # needs Prometheus URL
kprompt "optimize my cluster"                       # read-only report
kprompt "show service dependency graph"

Reads run under your kubeconfig RBAC. Optimize and graph degrade honestly when Prom/OTel are absent — they do not invent metrics.

12–15 min — optional IDE + plan-only mutate

MCP (Cursor / Claude Desktop) — never applies

# ~/.cursor/mcp.json  (or project .cursor/mcp.json)
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kprompt": {
      "command": "kprompt",
      "args": ["mcp", "serve"]
    }
  }
}

Mutation stays plan → human approve

kprompt "scale <workload> to 3" -n <your-ns>
# read the plan + risk; approve on TTY, or leave it

# Apply only after you trust the shape:
# kprompt "scale <workload> to 3" -n <your-ns> --approve

MCP tools are read/plan-only. An assistant can call kprompt.plan; it cannot pass --approve over the protocol. Details: MCP · Safety.

Anti-patterns

Installing kube-prometheus-stack before trying tools.prometheus.url against the Prom you already run
Pointing the first session at production with --approve
Treating setup --profile platform as the default brownfield path
Expecting MCP or Autopilot to mutate without a human on the approve path
Skipping doctor when tools look empty — often config URL, not a missing CRD

What this playbook is not

Not a cluster provisioner (kind / EKS / GKE stay out of scope)
Not a second GitOps or Helmfile installer
Not a promise that every integration lights up green in 15 minutes — only that the path prefers bind + read-first
Not production Autopilot — Observe agent and Autopilot stay propose/notify unless you explicitly opt into approve flows elsewhere

Next: deepen Integrations, wire MCP, or practice Safety on a sandbox mutate. Narrative version of this path: brownfield in 15 minutes.