Quickstart

Funnel: install → kprompt demo ($0 Observe) → kprompt init --ollama for NL ($0) → optional cloud BYOK. kprompt does not sell API keys. Team kp_… tokens are org policy/audit only. When you are ready for natural-language plans on your own cluster, jump to Level up with NL. Already have a real cluster? Prefer the brownfield Adopt playbook (bind tools, read-first) over installing a second stack.

1. Try at $0 — no provider key (~60s)

Requires Docker (or Colima/Podman), kind, kubectl, and make. Start with kprompt demo for prerequisite checks and the exact commands. The walkthrough is deterministic and offline — zero LLM spend.

kprompt demo
kprompt demo --check

# then (as printed):
git clone https://github.com/kprompt/kprompt-examples.git
cd kprompt-examples && make walkthrough

Prefer one failure at a time? Use make up && make break SCENARIO=01-crashloop && make agent. Full caveats and scenario list: kprompt-examples README.

2. Level up with NL plans

Natural-language plans (scale, investigate, Helm install, …) need an LLM on your machine. Prefer local Ollama ($0) first. Cloud provider keys are optional BYOK — yours, not a kprompt product. Start on a disposable cluster (kind, minikube, or a dedicated sandbox). Do not point an unreviewed --approve flow at production until you have practiced the plan → approve loop.

Cluster access

kubectl config current-context
kubectl get ns

A) Local Ollama ($0 — recommended first)

# ollama serve && ollama pull llama3.2
kprompt init --ollama
kprompt "list pods"

No cloud account and no provider key. Bare kprompt prints a readiness coach when unconfigured (no silent OpenAI default). Details: Providers · Init.

B) Optional: your cloud provider key (BYOK)

kprompt init --provider gemini
export KPROMPT_GEMINI_API_KEY="..."
# or OPENAI / ANTHROPIC / GROQ / … — see Providers

Config lives at ~/.kprompt/config.yaml. It never stores provider keys — only whether a key is set or unset in the environment. Provider matrix: Providers.

Save defaults (no secrets)

kprompt config set namespace default
kprompt config

First prompts

kprompt "list deployments"
kprompt "scale api to 3"          # plan + y/N on a TTY
kprompt "scale api to 3" --approve --wait
kprompt "explain why api is crashing"
kprompt tools

3. Pick a terminal theme

kprompt theme preview              # sample every palette
kprompt --theme dracula "list deployments"
kprompt config set theme nord
# auto | dracula | nord | gruvbox | mono | none

Themes only color terminal output, respect NO_COLOR, and stay disabled when stdout is not a TTY. See Themes for environment overrides.

4. Try an installed integration

kprompt tools
kprompt "install redis"                         # Helm
kprompt "train a yolov11 model" --approve --wait # Argo Workflows
kprompt "why is my api slow?" -n production      # Prometheus
kprompt "optimize my cluster"                    # read-only report
kprompt "show service dependency graph"
kprompt "show gitops sync status"

Run kprompt tools first. Integrations use real CLIs/CRDs and configured endpoints; missing dependencies produce setup hints instead of fabricated output.

5. Optional Team enrollment

kprompt login --open
kprompt whoami
kprompt policy pull
kprompt policy

Free CLI behavior is unchanged until you enroll. Login issues a Team kp_… token for orgs that already have access — not a public signup or LLM-key purchase. App /run jobs also need kprompt run listen — see App runs & CLI bridge.

History

kprompt history
kprompt history rerun
kprompt history rerun 3 --approve