Getting Started with kube-bind: The Quick Way

kube-bind facilitates service sharing between Kubernetes clusters. It allows a Service Provider cluster to export APIs and a Consumer cluster to bind to them, projecting the resources into the consumer's cluster. This enables seamless cross-cluster consumption without complex networking or federation.

Here is what we will build:

graph TB
    User((User))

    subgraph Local["Local Computer"]
        CLI["kubectl bind CLI"]
    end

    subgraph Provider["Provider Cluster"]
        Backend["kube-bind Backend"]
        ProviderAPI["MangoDB API/CRD"]
        Backend --> ProviderAPI
    end

    subgraph Consumer["Consumer Cluster"]
        Konnector["Konnector Agent"]
        BoundAPI["MangoDB CRD<br/>Synced Copy"]
        Konnector --> BoundAPI
    end

    User -->|"1. kubectl bind dev create"| CLI
    CLI -.->|"Creates & Installs"| Backend
    CLI -.->|"Creates Cluster"| Consumer

    User -->|"2. kubectl bind login"| Backend
    Backend -->|"Auth Token"| User

    User -->|"3. kubectl bind create<br/>Select API in UI"| CLI
    CLI -->|"Install Konnector"| Konnector

    Konnector <-->|"4. Syncs Resources"| Backend

    User -.->|"5. kubectl apply/get"| BoundAPI
    BoundAPI -.->|"Synced to"| ProviderAPI

In this guide, we'll get you up and running with kube-bind in minutes. We'll use the dev create command to automatically provision a local playground with a Provider and Consumer cluster.

Note: If you want to understand how kube-bind works internally or set it up manually for production, check out our deep dive: Understanding kube-bind Internals.

Prerequisites

You'll need:

• Docker running.
• kubectl.
• kube-bind CLI installed.

Install kube-bind

The easiest way is via krew:

kubectl krew index add bind https://github.com/kube-bind/krew-index.git
kubectl krew install bind/bind

Step 1: Create the Environment

Run the following command to spin up the entire demo environment:

kubectl bind dev create

Note: The dev create command sets up a mock OIDC provider for testing purposes. This is not suitable for production. For a production-ready deployment with real OIDC integration, please refer to our Installation with Helm guide.

This will:

1. Create a Provider cluster (kind-provider).
2. Create a Consumer cluster (kind-consumer).
3. Install the kube-bind-backend on the provider.
4. Configure networking and OIDC mock services.

Once it finishes, you'll see output like this:

kube-bind Development Environment Setup

EXPERIMENTAL: kube-bind dev command is in preview
Requirements: Docker must be installed and running

Warning: Could not automatically add host entry. Please run:
  echo '127.0.0.1 kube-bind.dev.local' | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts

Creating kind cluster kind-provider with network kube-bind-dev
Kind cluster kind-provider created
Helm chart installed successfully

Creating kind cluster kind-consumer with network kube-bind-dev
Kind cluster kind-consumer created
kube-bind dev environment is ready!

Configuration:
• Provider cluster kubeconfig: kind-provider.kubeconfig
• Consumer cluster kubeconfig: kind-consumer.kubeconfig
• kube-bind server URL: http://kube-bind.dev.local:8080

Next Steps:

1. Add to /etc/hosts (if not already done):
echo '127.0.0.1 kube-bind.dev.local' | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts

2. Login to authenticate to the provider cluster:
kubectl bind login http://kube-bind.dev.local:8080

3. Bind an API service from provider to consumer:
PROVIDER_IP=$(docker inspect kind-provider-control-plane | jq -r '.[0].NetworkSettings.Networks["kube-bind-dev"].IPAddress') && KUBECONFIG=kind-consumer.kubeconfig kubectl bind --konnector-host-alias ${PROVIDER_IP}:kube-bind.dev.local

Step 2: Authenticate

Copy and run the login command provided in the output:

kubectl bind login http://kube-bind.dev.local:8080

Output:

Connecting to kube-bind server http://kube-bind.dev.local:8080...
Started local callback server at http://127.0.0.1:56642/callback
Opening browser for authentication...
🔑 Successfully authenticated to kube-bind.dev.local:8080
Configuration saved to: /Users/olalekanodukoya/.kube-bind/config

This will open your browser to authenticate. Since this is a dev environment, just follow the prompts.

Step 3: Bind a Service

Now, switch to the consumer role and bind to a service. Copy the second command from the dev create output. It will look something like this:

PROVIDER_IP=$(docker inspect kind-provider-control-plane | jq -r '.[0].NetworkSettings.Networks["kube-bind-dev"].IPAddress') && KUBECONFIG=kind-consumer.kubeconfig kubectl bind --konnector-host-alias ${PROVIDER_IP}:kube-bind.dev.local

This will open a web interface where you can choose which API to bind. Select mangodb and click Bind for CLI.

Output:

🌐 Opening kube-bind UI in your browser...
Browser opened successfully
Waiting for binding completion from UI...
   (Press Ctrl+C to cancel)

Binding completed successfully!
Created kube-bind namespace.
🔒 Created secret kube-bind/kubeconfig-tjm2k for host https://kube-bind.dev.local:6443, namespace kube-bind-3iwzhtescg5o0
🚀 Deploying konnector v0.7.0 to namespace kube-bind.
   Waiting for the konnector to be ready.................
✅ Created APIServiceBinding mangodb for 1 resources
Created 1 APIServiceBinding(s):
  - mangodb
Resources bound successfully!

You can verify the new CRDs are available:

kubectl get crd

Output:

NAME                                    CREATED AT
apiservicebindingbundles.kube-bind.io   2026-02-17T18:50:02Z
apiservicebindings.kube-bind.io         2026-02-17T18:50:02Z
mangodbs.mangodb.com                    2026-02-17T18:50:13Z

Step 4: Use the Service

Once the binding is complete, you can interact with the MangoDB resource directly from your consumer cluster!

export KUBECONFIG=kind-consumer.kubeconfig

# Create a MangoDB resource
kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: mangodb.com/v1alpha1
kind: MangoDB
metadata:
  name: my-first-mangodb-instance
  namespace: default
spec:
  tier: Dedicated
EOF

# Verify it exists
kubectl get mangodb

You have successfully bound a remote API to your local cluster!

What's Next?

kube-bind is powerful when combined with other tools. Check out our integration guides to see how you can use it with:

• Crossplane: Offer cloud resources (AWS S3, GCP CloudSQL) as a service.
• Kro: Define and export custom APIs without writing controllers.
• CloudNativePG: Database-as-a-Service on Kubernetes.
• cert-manager: Certificate management as a service.

Cleanup

To clean up the environment:

kubectl bind dev delete