> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://notes.kodekloud.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Demo Creating Kubernetes Clusters with Claude > Demonstrates using Claude Code to generate and run an idempotent Bash script that installs prerequisites and launches a multi-node Minikube Kubernetes cluster with a demo nginx app In this lesson you'll see how a single detailed prompt to [Claude Code For Beginners](https://learn.kodekloud.com/user/courses/claude-code-for-beginners) can generate and execute an idempotent Bash script that: * Installs prerequisites on an Ubuntu VM, * Configures kernel settings and systemd services, * Installs Docker, kubectl (from pkgs.k8s.io), and Minikube, * Starts a multi-node Minikube Kubernetes cluster (Docker driver), * Enables add-ons (metrics-server, ingress, dashboard), * Deploys an nginx demo application and prints access information. A presentation slide titled "Creating Kubernetes Clusters with Claude" with a large "Demo" label on a dark curved background. A small "© Copyright KodeKloud" appears in the bottom corner. Estimated time: \~15–30 minutes (depending on downloads and VM resources)\ Difficulty: Intermediate Environment and prerequisites | Requirement | Notes / Recommendation | | ------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | VM (Linux — Ubuntu) with sudo access | Local VM, EC2, GCP, Azure, etc. | | RAM & CPU | Recommended: at least 8 GB RAM and 2+ vCPUs. If you plan a 3-node profile with 4 GB per node, increase host RAM accordingly. | | Internet access | Required to download packages and container images | | Shell access | Ability to run curl and install packages with sudo | 1 — Install Claude Code on the VM Install the Claude Code CLI on the machine where you plan to run this automation. For the KodeKloud course use the provided installer: ```bash theme={null} curl -sSL https://cloud.ai/install.sh | bash ``` After installing, launch the Claude Code CLI and follow the interactive sign-in. You may be asked to open a browser to paste an authorization code. Example abbreviated output: ```text theme={null} Browser didn't open? Use the url below to sign in: https://claude.ai/oauth/authorize?code=... Logged in as [REDACTED_EMAIL] Login successful. Press Enter to continue... ``` Once signed in you’ll see the Claude Code prompt similar to: ```text theme={null} * Welcome to Claude Code! /help for help, /status for your current setup cwd: /home/ubuntu Tips for getting started: Run /init to create a CLAUDE.md file with instructions for Claude Use Claude to help with file analysis, editing, bash commands and git Be as specific as you would with another engineer for the best results Note: You have launched claude in your home directory. For the best experience, launch it in a project directory instead. > Try "refactor " ? for shortcuts ``` 2 — Provide a detailed prompt (the setup guide) We provided Claude Code a comprehensive prompt called “Minikube Kubernetes Demo Setup Guide” describing: * Prerequisites and system-level configuration (sysctls, modules), * Packages to install (Docker, kubectl, Minikube), * Cluster profile (name, node count, CPU, memory), * Add-ons to enable (metrics-server, ingress, dashboard), * Demo application to deploy (nginx "hello" deployment), * Verification steps and fallbacks (port-forward). Claude Code used that prompt to generate a single idempotent Bash script that performs the entire setup. The script below is the consolidated output saved as `/tmp/minikube-demo.sh`. 3 — The generated installation script Save the following to `/tmp/minikube-demo.sh`. The script is written to be idempotent: it checks for existing installs and skips re-installation where appropriate. ```bash theme={null} #!/usr/bin/env bash set -euo pipefail # Configuration PROFILE_NAME="demo" NODES=3 CPU=2 MEM=4096 # Determine non-root user (when run with sudo) TARGET_USER="${SUDO_USER:-$USER}" # Update package list sudo apt-get update -y # Install prerequisites sudo apt-get install -y ca-certificates curl gnupg apt-transport-https \ conntrack socat ebtables ethtool # Configure kernel modules and sysctls sudo modprobe br_netfilter || true echo "net.bridge.bridge-nf-call-iptables=1" | sudo tee /etc/sysctl.d/99-k8s.conf >/dev/null echo "net.ipv4.ip_forward=1" | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.d/99-k8s.conf >/dev/null sudo sysctl --system # Install Docker (idempotent) if ! command -v docker >/dev/null 2>&1; then sudo apt-get install -y docker.io sudo systemctl enable --now docker # Add the non-root user (or current user) to the docker group sudo usermod -aG docker "$TARGET_USER" || true fi # Install kubectl (using official packages) if ! command -v kubectl >/dev/null 2>&1; then sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings curl -fsSL https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/v1.34/deb/Release.key \ | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg] https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/v1.34/deb/ /" \ | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kubernetes.list sudo apt-get update -y sudo apt-get install -y kubectl fi # Install Minikube (idempotent) if ! command -v minikube >/dev/null 2>&1; then curl -Lo minikube https://storage.googleapis.com/minikube/releases/latest/minikube-linux-amd64 sudo install minikube /usr/local/bin/minikube rm -f minikube fi # Start Minikube profile if it doesn't exist if ! minikube profile list -o=json | grep -q "\"Name\": \"$PROFILE_NAME\""; then # Start minikube using the docker driver minikube start -p "$PROFILE_NAME" --driver=docker --nodes="$NODES" --cpus="$CPU" --memory="$MEM" else echo "Minikube profile \"$PROFILE_NAME\" already exists; skipping start." fi # Enable addons (run under docker group context if necessary) # Some addon operations may require being in the docker group context if ! minikube -p "$PROFILE_NAME" addons list | grep -q "metrics-server.*enabled"; then newgrp docker <<'EOFF' minikube -p "$PROFILE_NAME" addons enable metrics-server || true minikube -p "$PROFILE_NAME" addons enable ingress || true minikube -p "$PROFILE_NAME" addons enable dashboard || true EOFF fi # Deploy demo app if not present if ! kubectl get deploy hello >/dev/null 2>&1; then kubectl create deployment hello --image=nginx --port=80 kubectl expose deployment hello --type=NodePort --port=80 fi # Final status output echo "=== Nodes ===" kubectl get nodes -o wide || true echo echo "=== Services ===" kubectl get svc -o wide || true echo echo "=== Demo URL(s) ===" minikube -p "$PROFILE_NAME" service hello --url || true echo echo "Fallback (port-forward from this VM):" echo " kubectl port-forward deploy/hello 8080:80" echo "Then curl http://localhost:8080" ``` Make the script executable and run it: ```bash theme={null} chmod +x /tmp/minikube-demo.sh /tmp/minikube-demo.sh ``` 4 — Handling Docker group and add-ons When the installer adds your user to the docker group, the membership may not take effect until you start a new login shell. The generated script attempts to enable add-ons inside a `newgrp docker` subshell to avoid permission errors. If an add-on fails due to permissions, re-run the add-on commands after obtaining docker group privileges: ```bash theme={null} # Ensure the current shell has docker group privileges, then: newgrp docker minikube -p demo addons enable metrics-server minikube -p demo addons enable ingress minikube -p demo addons enable dashboard ``` If you do not start a new shell or run `newgrp docker`, Minikube or addon commands may fail with permission errors. Log out and log back in, or use `newgrp docker`, before re-running addon commands. 5 — Test the demo application (port-forward) Quick port-forward test from the VM: ```bash theme={null} kubectl port-forward deploy/hello 8080:80 & PF_PID=$! sleep 2 curl -s http://localhost:8080 | head -n 5 kill "$PF_PID" 2>/dev/null || true ``` Alternatively, use the Minikube-provided service URL printed by the script: ```bash theme={null} minikube -p demo service hello --url ``` 6 — Expected result summary After the script runs successfully you should see: | Component | What to expect | | --------: | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Prereqs | ca-certificates, curl, gnupg, apt-transport-https, conntrack, socat, ebtables, ethtool installed | | Sysctls | net.bridge.bridge-nf-call-iptables=1 and net.ipv4.ip\_forward=1 applied | | Docker | Installed, enabled, and user added to docker group | | kubectl | Installed from the official pkgs.k8s.io repository | | Minikube | Installed and a 3-node Minikube profile named "demo" started (Docker driver) | | Add-ons | metrics-server, ingress, dashboard enabled (if permissions allow) | | Demo app | "hello" nginx Deployment created and exposed as a NodePort service | | Access | Demo URL(s) printed and a port-forward fallback provided | Example verification console snippets you may see: ```text theme={null} Forwarding from 127.0.0.1:8080 -> 80 Forwarding from [::1]:8080 -> 80 Handling connection for 8080 ``` and ```text theme={null} === Nodes === NAME STATUS ROLES AGE VERSION demo-m01 Ready control-plane 2m v1.33.1 demo-m02 Ready 2m v1.33.1 demo-m03 Ready 2m v1.33.1 === Services === NAME TYPE CLUSTER-IP EXTERNAL-IP PORT(S) AGE hello NodePort 10.96.0.123 80:31902/TCP 1m === Demo URL(s) === http://192.168.49.2:31902 ``` Notes and tips Running the full three-node demo on a single VM requires sufficient host resources. If you have limited RAM/CPU, reduce NODES or MEM in the script (for example, use 1 node or 2GB per node) to test locally. Also consider using fewer add-ons while troubleshooting. Quick checklist (sanity checks) * Ensure the VM has enough RAM and CPUs for the configured node count. * Confirm internet connectivity for package and image downloads. * If kubectl or minikube fail unexpectedly, inspect logs and retry after ensuring docker group membership is active. Links and references * [Claude Code For Beginners (KodeKloud course)](https://learn.kodekloud.com/user/courses/claude-code-for-beginners) * [Kubernetes Documentation — Concepts](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/what-is-kubernetes/) * Minikube: [https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/](https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/) * Docker: [https://docs.docker.com/](https://docs.docker.com/) * pkgs.k8s.io (kubectl packages): [https://pkgs.k8s.io/](https://pkgs.k8s.io/) This lesson demonstrates how a single clear, structured prompt to Claude Code can produce an automated, idempotent script that reduces manual setup time for local Kubernetes testing with Minikube.