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PipeOps Kubernetes Agent Documentation

Version: 0.0.162 View All Releases

Welcome to the official documentation for the PipeOps Kubernetes Agent — a lightweight, intelligent agent that transforms your virtual machines into production-ready Kubernetes servers for seamless project deployment through PipeOps.

What is PipeOps Kubernetes Agent?

The PipeOps Kubernetes Agent is a background service that:

  • VM to Server Transformation - Converts any virtual machine into a Kubernetes-ready deployment server
  • PipeOps Integration - Seamlessly connects your infrastructure to the PipeOps platform for secure management
  • Automated Setup - Handles Kubernetes installation, configuration, and management automatically
  • Secure Access - Provides secure admin access via WebSocket tunnel (no inbound ports required)
  • Project Deployment - Enables easy deployment of applications and services through PipeOps
  • Infrastructure Management - Manages server resources, networking, and scaling automatically
  • Smart Gateway Proxy - Automatic ingress management with intelligent routing (tunnel for private, direct for public clusters)

Key Features

  • One-Click Server Setup - Transform any VM into a deployment-ready server in minutes
  • Secure Cluster Access - WebSocket tunnel for secure admin access without inbound firewall rules
  • Comprehensive Monitoring - Built-in monitoring stack with Grafana, Prometheus, and Loki (optional)
  • Secure Communications - Encrypted connections to PipeOps platform with enterprise-grade security
  • PipeOps Gateway Proxy - Automatic ingress route discovery with smart routing detection (enabled by default)
  • Dual Routing Modes - Direct routing for public clusters (3-5x faster) or tunnel for private clusters
  • Multi-Project Support - Deploy and manage multiple applications on a single server
  • Auto-Scaling - Intelligent resource management and automatic scaling based on demand
  • Zero-Downtime Deployments - Seamless updates and rollbacks without service interruption

Quick Navigation

Quick Start

Transform your VM into a deployment server in a few steps:

  1. Set your PipeOps token and install: 

    export PIPEOPS_TOKEN="your-pipeops-token"
export CLUSTER_NAME="my-pipeops-cluster"
# For production k3s: use 'sudo bash'
# For development (k3d/kind/minikube): use 'bash' (no sudo)
curl -fsSL https://get.pipeops.dev/k8-install.sh | sudo bash
# curl -fsSL https://get.pipeops.dev/k8-install.sh | bash

  2. Agent automatically handles everything: 

    # Service starts automatically and:
# - Installs K3s Kubernetes
# - Connects to PipeOps platform
# - Sets up monitoring stack
# - Registers your server

  3. Deploy applications through PipeOps dashboard: 

    # Your VM is now ready to receive deployments
# Use the PipeOps web dashboard to deploy applications
# Everything is handled automatically

  4. Monitor through built-in dashboards: 

    # Access monitoring at http://your-server:3000
# View logs, metrics, and application status

What's New

Latest Updates

  • v2.1.0: Enhanced monitoring with custom metrics support
  • Multi-arch support: Now supports ARM64 and x86_64 architectures (works on Raspberry Pi!)
  • Improved security: mTLS encryption for all communications with PipeOps platform
  • Better automation: Fully automated Kubernetes setup and configuration

Supported Virtual Machine Platforms

Platform Architecture Status Notes
Ubuntu/Debian x86_64 ✅ Recommended for production
Ubuntu/Debian ARM64 ✅ Great for Raspberry Pi servers
CentOS/RHEL x86_64 ✅ Enterprise Linux support
Amazon Linux x86_64 ✅ AWS EC2 optimized
Google COS x86_64 ✅ Google Cloud Platform
Windows (WSL2) x86_64 ✅ Via Windows Subsystem for Linux

Deployment Options

Choose the deployment method that fits your infrastructure:

The easiest way to get started:

# Automatically detects and installs the best cluster type
# Production k3s on Linux VMs:
curl -fsSL https://get.pipeops.dev/k8-install.sh | sudo bash
# Development clusters (k3d/kind/minikube): omit sudo
# curl -fsSL https://get.pipeops.dev/k8-install.sh | bash

Note: k3s (production) requires root - use sudo bash. Development clusters (k3d/kind/minikube) must run as regular user without sudo.

  • Automatically detects your environment
  • Installs prerequisites and dependencies
  • Configures monitoring stack

For Kubernetes-native deployments:

helm install pipeops-agent oci://ghcr.io/pipeopshq/pipeops-agent \
  --set agent.pipeops.token="your-pipeops-token" \
  --set agent.cluster.name="your-cluster-name"

Run in containerized environments:

docker run -d --name pipeops-agent \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  pipeops/agent:latest

Direct installation from GitHub releases:

# Download and install latest release
wget https://github.com/PipeOpsHQ/pipeops-k8-agent/releases/latest/download/pipeops-agent-linux-amd64.tar.gz
tar -xzf pipeops-agent-linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo mv pipeops-agent /usr/local/bin/

Architecture Overview

The PipeOps Kubernetes Agent consists of several key components:

graph TB
    A[PipeOps Control Plane] --> B[Agent Core]
    B --> C[Kubernetes API Server]
    B --> D[Monitoring Stack]
    D --> E[Prometheus]
    D --> F[Grafana]
    D --> G[Loki]
    B --> H[Tunnel Manager]
    H --> I[WebSocket Connection]
  • Agent Core: Main orchestration engine
  • Tunnel Manager: Secure communication with control plane
  • Monitoring Stack: Observability and metrics collection
  • Kubernetes Integration: Native K8s resource management

Community & Support

Security & Compliance

The PipeOps Kubernetes Agent is built with security as a first-class concern:

  • mTLS Encryption: All communications use mutual TLS
  • RBAC Integration: Native Kubernetes role-based access control
  • Audit Logging: Comprehensive audit trails for compliance
  • Secret Management: Secure handling of sensitive configuration

Made with care by the PipeOps team