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Version: 0.5 (Next)

Quickstart

Get from zero to a running workload cluster in under 30 minutes using the Konstruct Hosted Control Plane.

Summary​

This guide walks you through signing up for hosted Konstruct, connecting your Civo cloud account, provisioning a management cluster, creating a workload cluster, and deploying a sample application.

Prerequisites​

Step 1: Sign Up​

  1. Go to konstruct.saas.civo.com.
  2. Click Sign in with Civo.
  3. Authorize Konstruct to access your Civo account.

After authorizing, you land on the Konstruct dashboard.

Step 2: Create an Organization​

An organization is the top-level container for your management clusters, workload clusters, teams, and applications.

  1. Click Create Organization.
  2. Enter a name for your organization. This name is used as the prefix for your GitOps repository (for example, acme creates acme-gitops).
  3. Click Create.
tip

Choose a short, lowercase name without spaces. You cannot rename an organization after creation.

Step 3: Connect Your Civo Cloud Account​

Konstruct needs your Civo API key to provision clusters on your behalf.

  1. In the left sidebar, go to Settings > Cloud Accounts.
  2. Click Add Cloud Account.
  3. Select Civo as the provider.
  4. Paste your Civo API key into the API Key field.
  5. Click Save.

Konstruct validates the key and confirms the connection.

If you do not have an API key yet, see Civo Account Setup.

Step 4: Connect Your Git Account​

Konstruct creates and manages a GitOps repository in your Git provider. You need to authorize access before creating clusters.

  1. Go to Settings > Git Accounts.
  2. Click Add Git Account.
  3. Choose your GitHub organization.
  4. Follow the OAuth authorization flow to grant Konstruct access to create repositories in your organization.

Step 5: Create a Management Cluster​

The management cluster hosts ArgoCD, Crossplane, and your platform tooling. It is the control point for all workload clusters in your organization.

  1. In the left sidebar, click Clusters.
  2. Click Create Cluster.
  3. Select Management Cluster as the cluster type.
  4. Fill in the cluster details:
    • Name — a short identifier, for example mgmt-prod
    • Cloud Account — select the Civo account you connected in Step 3
    • Region — choose a Civo region
    • Node size — g4s.kube.medium or larger is recommended for a management cluster
  5. Click Create Cluster.

Konstruct provisions the Civo Kubernetes cluster and bootstraps it with ArgoCD and the Konstruct platform tools. Provisioning takes approximately 8–12 minutes.

note

You can monitor progress from the cluster detail page. The cluster status moves through Provisioning > Bootstrapping > Ready.

Step 6: Create a Workload Cluster​

Workload clusters run your applications. You manage them through the management cluster.

  1. On the Clusters page, click Create Cluster.
  2. Select Workload Cluster as the cluster type.
  3. Select the management cluster you created in Step 5 as the Parent Cluster.
  4. Fill in the cluster details:
    • Name — for example dev-workloads
    • Cloud Account — select your Civo account
    • Region — choose a region
    • Node size — g4s.kube.small is sufficient for testing
  5. Click Create Cluster.

The workload cluster provisions in approximately 5–8 minutes and registers automatically with your management cluster.

Step 7: Deploy a Sample Application​

With your workload cluster ready, deploy a sample application to verify the full delivery pipeline.

  1. In the left sidebar, click Applications.
  2. Click Add Application.
  3. Select metaphor from the sample application catalog, or enter the URL of your own application repository.
  4. Select dev-workloads as the target cluster.
  5. Select the development environment.
  6. Click Deploy.

ArgoCD on your management cluster syncs the application to the workload cluster. The deployment typically completes within 2–3 minutes.

Verify​

Check that everything is working:

  1. On the Applications page, confirm the application status shows Synced and Healthy.
  2. Click the application name to view the ArgoCD sync status and pod health.

What's Next?​