cli-local-build

name	cli-local-build
description	Build and test the Kurtosis CLI from source. Compile the CLI binary locally, run it against Docker or Kubernetes engines, and iterate on CLI changes without creating a release. Use when developing or debugging CLI commands.
compatibility	Requires Go 1.23+.
metadata	{"author":"ethpandaops","version":"1.0"}

CLI Local Build

Build and test the Kurtosis CLI from source for local development.

Quick build

# Build the CLI binary
go build -o /tmp/kurtosis ./cli/cli/

# Verify it works
/tmp/kurtosis version

Using the local CLI

The locally built CLI works exactly like the installed one. Use the full path to avoid conflicts with the system-installed kurtosis:

# Start engine
/tmp/kurtosis engine start

# Run a package
/tmp/kurtosis run github.com/ethpandaops/ethereum-package

# Clean up
/tmp/kurtosis clean -a

# Stop engine
/tmp/kurtosis engine stop

Switching between Docker and Kubernetes

# Check current cluster setting
/tmp/kurtosis cluster get

# Switch to Docker
/tmp/kurtosis cluster set docker

# Switch to Kubernetes (uses current kubectl context)
/tmp/kurtosis cluster set kubernetes

# Restart engine after switching
/tmp/kurtosis engine restart

# Verify engine is running on the expected backend
/tmp/kurtosis engine status
/tmp/kurtosis cluster get

Build with race detector

For debugging concurrency issues:

go build -race -o /tmp/kurtosis ./cli/cli/

Running tests

# Run CLI command tests
go test ./cli/cli/commands/...

# Run a specific test
go test -run TestName ./cli/cli/commands/...

# Run with verbose output
go test -v ./cli/cli/commands/...

Key source locations

Component	Path
CLI entry point	cli/cli/main.go
CLI commands	cli/cli/commands/
Engine launcher	engine/launcher/
API container launcher	core/launcher/
Container engine abstraction	container-engine-lib/
gRPC API definitions	api/protobuf/
Version constant	kurtosis_version/kurtosis_version.go

Module dependency order

The monorepo has multiple Go modules. If you change a dependency, rebuild in order:

container-engine-lib
  → contexts-config-store
    → grpc-file-transfer
      → name-generator
        → api
          → metrics-library
            → engine
              → core
                → cli

Most CLI-only changes just need go build ./cli/cli/.

Common issues

• go build fails with import errors: Run go mod tidy in the failing module directory
• CLI shows wrong version: The version comes from kurtosis_version/kurtosis_version.go — it's compiled into the binary
• Engine image mismatch: The CLI pulls engine images matching its compiled version. For dev testing with custom images, see the k8s-dev-deploy skill