Demo KMCP Installation

Welcome to this KMCP controllers lesson. Here you’ll learn how to install the KMCP controller (bundled with KAgent), confirm CRDs and API resources, inspect controller components, and deploy a sample MCPServer to verify reconciliation behavior. This guide assumes the KMCP CRDs and model config were already installed. We’ll begin by reviewing the Helm values file used to install KAgent.

1) Values file used for Helm install

Inspect the values file located at /root/01-values-min.yaml:

# /root/01-values-min.yaml
agents:
  argo-rollouts-agent:
    enabled: false
  cilium-debug-agent:
    enabled: false
  cilium-manager-agent:
    enabled: false
  cilium-policy-agent:
    enabled: false
  helm-agent:
    enabled: false
  istio-agent:
    enabled: false
  k8s-agent:
    enabled: true
  kgateway-agent:
    enabled: false
  observability-agent:
    enabled: false
  promql-agent:
    enabled: false

kmcp:
  enabled: true

kagent-tools:
  enabled: true

tools:
  grafana-mcp:
    enabled: false
  querydoc:
    enabled: false

Summary: the kmcp controller is enabled (kmcp.enabled=true) and minimal agents are enabled. The kagent-tools are also enabled.

Key	Purpose	Example
`kmcp.enabled`	Enable KMCP controller functionality within KAgent	`true`
`kagent-tools.enabled`	Enables utility containers included with KAgent	`true`
`agents.k8s-agent.enabled`	Local k8s agent for cluster integrations	`true`

2) Install KAgent (includes KMCP controller)

Install the KAgent Helm chart using the values file:

helm install kagent oci://ghcr.io/kagent-dev/kagent/helm/kagent \
  --namespace kagent \
  -f /root/01-values-min.yaml

Helm should pull the chart and install the release. Example Helm output:

Pulled: ghcr.io/kagent-dev/kagent/helm/kagent:0.7.7
Digest: sha256:070edef55214da5c8a964c21ee58869bc887e23a2dad37bf2922f1685fc7514c

Expose the KAgent UI (local access)

Patch the kagent-ui Service to NodePort for local access (adjust nodePort as required):

kubectl -n kagent patch svc kagent-ui -p '{"spec":{"type":"NodePort","ports":[{"name":"ui","port":8080,"targetPort":8080,"nodePort":30080}]}}'

Exposing services via NodePort opens them on each cluster node. For production clusters prefer LoadBalancer or Ingress solutions with proper authentication.

3) Verify pods and controller components

Check pods in the kagent namespace:

kubectl get pods -n kagent

Example output:

NAME                                              READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
k8s-agent-855bbb4fc4-x22vz                        1/1     Running   0          5m59s
kagent-controller-6886fc4f5c-xc4gq                1/1     Running   0          6m7s
kagent-kmcp-controller-manager-76645f577f-zncp9   1/1     Running   0          6m7s
kagent-tools-56c49d7d4d-bszs7                      1/1     Running   0          6m7s
kagent-ui-59d5bbd564-7p82q                         1/1     Running   0          6m7s

Troubleshooting quick pointers:

Check pod status: kubectl -n kagent get pods
View recent events: kubectl -n kagent get events --sort-by='.lastTimestamp'
Tail controller logs: kubectl -n kagent logs -l app.kubernetes.io/component=controller -f
Primary docs: https://kagent.dev

4) Confirm CRDs and API resources

List CRDs related to KAgent and KMCP:

kubectl get crd | grep -E "kagent|kmcp"

Example CRDs present:

agents.kagent.dev                     2025-12-15T11:03:27Z
mcpservers.kagent.dev                 2025-12-15T11:03:27Z
memories.kagent.dev                   2025-12-15T11:03:27Z
modelconfigs.kagent.dev               2025-12-15T11:03:27Z
remotemcpservers.kagent.dev           2025-12-15T11:03:27Z
toolservers.kagent.dev                2025-12-15T11:03:27Z

You can also confirm the MCP API resource registration:

kubectl api-resources | grep -i mcp

Example API resources:

mcpservers                      kagent.dev/v1alpha1        true    MCPServer
remotemcpservers                rmcps   kagent.dev/v1alpha1    true    RemoteMCPServer

Table — typical MCP-related CRDs:

CRD	Description
`mcpservers.kagent.dev`	Defines an MCPServer deployment and transport settings
`remotemcpservers.kagent.dev`	Remote MCPServer definitions for cross-cluster or remote hosts
`modelconfigs.kagent.dev`	Model configuration artifacts used by tools and agents

5) Locate KMCP controller pod and deployment

Filter pods for the KMCP controller:

kubectl get pods -n kagent | grep kmcp

Example:

kagent-kmcp-controller-manager-76645f577f-zncp9   1/1     Running   0    5m3s

Check deployments in the kagent namespace to confirm the controller deployment name and status:

kubectl get deployment -n kagent

Example:

NAME                             READY  UP-TO-DATE  AVAILABLE  AGE
k8s-agent                         1/1    1           1          6m23s
kagent-controller                 1/1    1           1          6m31s
kagent-kmcp-controller-manager   1/1    1           1          6m31s
kagent-tools                      1/1    1           1          6m31s
kagent-ui                         1/1    1           1          6m31s

Tail controller logs to verify the KMCP controller has started and is reconciling:

kubectl -n kagent logs -l app.kubernetes.io/name=kagent -f

Look for messages indicating the MCP controller has started, registered event sources, and is serving metrics. Verify service accounts created by the KMCP controller:

kubectl get serviceaccount -n kagent | grep kmcp

Example:

kagent-kmcp-controller-manager  0  5m32s

6) What the KMCP controller manages

The KMCP controller watches MCPServer custom resources and reconciles them into concrete Kubernetes objects (Deployments, Services, RBAC, etc.).
Each MCPServer CR results in one or more pods running the defined MCP server image/configuration.
The controller also updates MCPServer status conditions (e.g., whether the underlying pods are Ready).

7) MCPServer CRD structure (example)

Always verify CRD schema in your installed version. A high-level example of an MCPServer resource:

apiVersion: kagent.dev/v1alpha1
kind: MCPServer
metadata:
  name: example-mcp-server
  namespace: kagent
spec:
  deployment:
    image: ghcr.io/example/mcp-server:latest
    port: 3000
    cmd: "python"
    args: ["src/main.py"]
    env:
      API_KEY: "your-api-key-here"
  transportType: "stdio"

Notes about the main fields:

spec.deployment.image: Container image for the MCP server.
spec.deployment.port: Port the server listens on inside the container.
spec.deployment.cmd / args: Command and arguments to start the server.
spec.deployment.env: Environment variables (for example, LLM API keys).
spec.transportType: Recommended transport for local KAgent servers is stdio. Some servers support http.

8) Lifecycle: what happens when you create an MCPServer

When you create an MCPServer CR:

KMCP controller detects the new CR and begins reconciliation.
The controller creates required Kubernetes resources (Deployment, Service, ConfigMaps, Secrets, etc.).
A pod (or pods) start using the configured image and arguments.
The MCPServer CR status will progress from unready to True once the pod(s) reach Ready.

9) Deploy a sample AWS API MCP server and verify

Apply the sample manifest (example file path):

kubectl apply -f /root/aws-api-mcp-server.yaml

Verify the MCPServer resource and status:

kubectl get mcpserver -n kagent
kubectl describe mcpserver aws-api-mcp-server -n kagent

During initialization the MCPServer’s status may show False until the pod becomes Ready. Once the pod is Running and Ready, the MCPServer status will indicate success.

10) Common questions (FAQ)

Question	Answer
Are KMCP CRDs automatically installed in recent KAgent releases?	Yes. KMCP CRDs are bundled starting with KAgent v0.7+. Older versions may require manual CRD installation.
What is the MCPServer API group/version?	`kagent.dev/v1alpha1` — always confirm using `kubectl api-resources`.
How do I confirm the MCPServer CRD is accessible?	Use `kubectl api-resources	grep mcp`and`kubectl get crd mcpservers.kagent.dev`.
What if `kubectl get mcpserver -A` returns “No resources found”?	Either there are no MCPServer resources created, or the CRD is not installed. Verify CRDs and namespaces.

11) Next steps

This lesson completed the KMCP installation and basic exploration. The next lesson will show deploying additional AWS MCP servers and demonstrating integrations with model configs and tool servers.

Links and references

KAgent official site: https://kagent.dev
KAgent Helm releases (GitHub/OCI): https://github.com/kagent-dev/kagent
Kubernetes docs: https://kubernetes.io/docs/

Introduction

KAgent Installation & Architecture Overview

KMCP Installation & Overview

System Prompts for AI Agent Building

Debugging AI Agents

Creating AI Agents - Bring It all together

Demo KMCP Installation

1) Values file used for Helm install

2) Install KAgent (includes KMCP controller)

Expose the KAgent UI (local access)

3) Verify pods and controller components

4) Confirm CRDs and API resources

5) Locate KMCP controller pod and deployment

6) What the KMCP controller manages

7) MCPServer CRD structure (example)

8) Lifecycle: what happens when you create an MCPServer

9) Deploy a sample AWS API MCP server and verify

10) Common questions (FAQ)

11) Next steps

Links and references

Watch Video

Practice Lab

​1) Values file used for Helm install

​2) Install KAgent (includes KMCP controller)

​Expose the KAgent UI (local access)

​3) Verify pods and controller components

​4) Confirm CRDs and API resources

​5) Locate KMCP controller pod and deployment

​6) What the KMCP controller manages

​7) MCPServer CRD structure (example)

​8) Lifecycle: what happens when you create an MCPServer

​9) Deploy a sample AWS API MCP server and verify

​10) Common questions (FAQ)

​11) Next steps

​Links and references

Watch Video

Practice Lab

1) Values file used for Helm install

2) Install KAgent (includes KMCP controller)

Expose the KAgent UI (local access)

3) Verify pods and controller components

4) Confirm CRDs and API resources

5) Locate KMCP controller pod and deployment

6) What the KMCP controller manages

7) MCPServer CRD structure (example)

8) Lifecycle: what happens when you create an MCPServer

9) Deploy a sample AWS API MCP server and verify

10) Common questions (FAQ)

11) Next steps

Links and references