minikube

run a local single-node Kubernetes cluster

TLDR

Start the cluster with the default driver

$ minikube start

Start with a specific driver

$ minikube start --driver=[docker]

Start with a Kubernetes version pin

$ minikube start --kubernetes-version=[v1.30.0]

Stop the running cluster

$ minikube stop

Delete the cluster and its data

$ minikube delete

Check cluster status

$ minikube status

Open the Kubernetes dashboard in a browser

$ minikube dashboard

SSH into the cluster node

$ minikube ssh

Get a service URL exposed inside the cluster

$ minikube service [service_name] --url

Enable a built-in addon

$ minikube addons enable [ingress]

minikube provisions and runs a local single-node (or small multi-node) Kubernetes cluster suitable for development, learning, and CI. It abstracts the underlying compute platform: depending on the --driver flag it can spin up a VM (kvm2, virtualbox, hyperkit, qemu) or a container (docker, podman) hosting the Kubernetes components, then writes a context to ~/.kube/config so kubectl can target the cluster transparently.Minikube ships with optional addons (ingress, metrics-server, registry, storage-provisioner) that can be enabled with minikube addons enable. The service and tunnel commands bridge cluster networking to the host so applications running inside the cluster are reachable from the developer's machine.Multiple clusters can coexist via --profile, each with its own VM, addons, and kubeconfig context.

PARAMETERS

start

Create and start the local Kubernetes cluster.

stop

Stop the cluster while preserving its state.

delete

Delete the cluster, releasing all VM and disk resources.

status

Show the status of host, kubelet, apiserver, and kubeconfig.

dashboard

Launch the Kubernetes web dashboard.

ssh

Open a shell on the underlying VM or container.

service NAME

Print the URL of a Kubernetes service, optionally opening it in the browser.

addons SUBCOMMAND

Manage built-in addons (ingress, metrics-server, registry, ...).

tunnel

Create a network route into the cluster for LoadBalancer services.

profile NAME

Switch between named clusters managed by minikube.

--driver NAME

Select the hypervisor or runtime: docker, podman, kvm2, hyperkit, virtualbox, qemu, vfkit, parallels, hyperv, none.

--cpus N

Number of CPUs allocated to the node.

--memory MB

Amount of RAM in MB (or with suffix like 4g).

--disk-size SIZE

Disk size for the node, e.g. 20g.

--container-runtime RUNTIME

containerd (default since v1.24), cri-o, or docker.

--kubernetes-version VERSION

Kubernetes release to deploy, e.g. v1.30.0.

--addons LIST

Comma-separated list of addons to enable at start.

--help

Display help information.

INSTALL

sudo pacman -S minikube

sudo zypper install minikube

brew install minikube

nix profile install nixpkgs#minikube

CAVEATS

Single-node by default; multi-node clusters (--nodes=N) exist but are intended for local testing only. Resource-hungry: a typical cluster needs at least 2 CPUs and 2 GiB of RAM. The none driver runs Kubernetes directly on the host and is destructive to existing system configuration. On macOS Apple Silicon, prefer the docker, qemu, or vfkit drivers; hyperkit is x86-only.

HISTORY

minikube was created by the Kubernetes community to provide a reliable on-laptop development experience. It graduated from the kubernetes-incubator to the main kubernetes GitHub organization and has tracked upstream Kubernetes releases closely since version 0.1 (2016).