Getting Started

This guide will help you set up Strato for development or production use.

Prerequisites

Required

• Kubernetes: minikube, kind, or production cluster
• Helm: v3.0 or later
• Skaffold: v2.0 or later (for development)
• Docker: For building container images

Platform-Specific

Linux (Production)

• KVM kernel module (/dev/kvm access)
• QEMU packages: qemu-system-x86_64, qemu-utils
• OVN/OVS packages: ovn-central, ovn-host, openvswitch-switch
• Network capabilities: NET_ADMIN, SYS_ADMIN

macOS (Development)

• macOS 14.0 or later
• QEMU: brew install qemu
• Xcode Command Line Tools

Swift Development (Optional)

• Swift 6.0 or later
• Vapor CLI (optional): brew install vapor

Installation

Development Setup with Skaffold

1. Start Kubernetes cluster:

minikube start --memory=4096 --cpus=2

2. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/samcat116/strato.git
cd strato

3. Build Helm dependencies:

cd helm/strato
helm dependency build
cd ../..

4. Start development environment:

# Full environment
skaffold dev

# Or minimal environment (Control Plane + PostgreSQL + Permify only)
skaffold dev --profile=minimal

# Or with debug logging
skaffold dev --profile=debug

The development environment includes:

• Control Plane (web UI and API)
• PostgreSQL database
• Permify authorization service
• Agents (in full mode)
• OVN/OVS networking (Linux only, in full mode)

Production Deployment

See the Deployment Guide for production installation instructions.

Accessing the Application

During Development

Get the Control Plane URL:

# Port forward (recommended)
kubectl port-forward service/strato-control-plane 8080:8080

# Or get minikube URL
minikube service strato-control-plane --url

Access the web UI at http://localhost:8080

View Logs

# Control Plane logs
kubectl logs -f deployment/strato-control-plane

# Agent logs
kubectl logs -f deployment/strato-agent

# All pods
kubectl get pods

First Steps

1. Register a User

Visit the registration page and create an account using WebAuthn/Passkeys:

1. Navigate to /register
2. Enter username, email, and display name
3. Click "Register with Passkey"
4. Follow your browser's prompts to create a passkey

2. Create a Virtual Machine

After logging in:

1. Navigate to the VMs page
2. Click "Create VM"
3. Configure:
   • Name and description
   • CPU cores and memory
   • Disk size
   • OS image
4. Click "Create"

The VM will be automatically scheduled to an available agent.

3. Start and Connect

1. Click "Start" on your VM
2. Wait for it to boot
3. Use the web console to interact with your VM

Development Workflow

Hot Reload

Skaffold provides automatic rebuilding and redeployment:

1. Edit Swift code in control-plane/ or agent/
2. Save the file
3. Skaffold detects changes and rebuilds
4. New containers are deployed automatically

Running Tests

# Control Plane tests
cd control-plane
swift test

# Agent tests
cd agent
swift test

# Shared package tests
cd shared
swift test

# JavaScript linting
cd control-plane
npm run lint

Building Locally

# Control Plane
cd control-plane
swift build

# Agent
cd agent
swift build

Next Steps

• Quick Start Guide
• Architecture Overview
• Development with Skaffold
• Troubleshooting