Install vcluster CLI

About This Guide

Goal: Install vcluster CLI, deploy virtual clusters and learn how they work
Estimated time: 10 minutes
Requirements:

kubectl (check via kubectl version)
helm v3 (check with helm version)
a working kube-context with access to a Kubernetes cluster (check with kubectl get namespaces)

Download vcluster CLI#

Use one of the following commands to download the vcluster CLI binary from GitHub:

Mac (Intel/AMD)
Mac (Silicon/ARM)
Linux (AMD)
Linux (ARM)
Windows Powershell

curl -L -o vcluster "https://github.com/loft-sh/vcluster/releases/latest/download/vcluster-darwin-amd64" && sudo install -c -m 0755 vcluster /usr/local/bin && rm -f vcluster

md -Force "$Env:APPDATA\vcluster"; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.SecurityProtocolType]'Tls,Tls11,Tls12';
Invoke-WebRequest -URI "https://github.com/loft-sh/vcluster/releases/latest/download/vcluster-windows-amd64.exe" -o $Env:APPDATA\vcluster\vcluster.exe;
$env:Path += ";" + $Env:APPDATA + "\vcluster";
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", $env:Path, [System.EnvironmentVariableTarget]::User);

Reboot Required

You may need to reboot your computer to use the CLI due to changes to the PATH variable (see below).

Check Environment Variable $PATH

Line 4 of this install script adds the install directory %APPDATA%\vcluster to the $PATH environment variable. This is only effective for the current Powershell session, i.e. when opening a new terminal window, vcluster may not be found.

Make sure to add the folder %APPDATA%\vcluster to the PATH environment variable after installing vcluster CLI via Powershell. Afterward, a reboot might be necessary.

Alternatively, you can download the binary for your platform from the GitHub Releases page and add this binary to your PATH.

To confirm that vcluster CLI is successfully installed, test via:

vcluster --version