| name | kiali-start |
| description | Start Kiali in Minikube with Istio and Bookinfo demo. Variants: kiali-start:sidecar (default), kiali-start:ambient. Use when the user says "start kiali", "kiali-start", "kiali-start:sidecar", "kiali-start:ambient", or similar. |
Start Kiali Development Environment
Set up a local Kiali development environment in Minikube with Istio and
the Bookinfo demo application.
Variants:
kiali-start:sidecar — standard Istio with sidecar injection (default)kiali-start:ambient — Istio Ambient mode (no sidecars)
If no variant is specified, use sidecar mode.
All commands below assume they are run from the parent directory where
the kiali repository is located (e.g. kiali_sources/).
Step 1: Ensure Minikube Is Running
Check if Minikube is running. If not, start it:
minikube status || minikube start
Step 2: Install Istio
sidecar (default)
cd kiali/hack/istio && ./install-istio-via-istioctl.sh -c kubectl
ambient
cd kiali/hack/istio && ./install-istio-via-istioctl.sh -c kubectl -cp ambient
Step 3: Apply the Kiali Manifest
kubectl apply -f $(ls -t kiali/_output/istio-*/samples/addons/kiali.yaml | head -1)
Step 4: Install the Bookinfo Demo
sidecar (default)
cd kiali/hack/istio && ./install-bookinfo-demo.sh -c kubectl -tg
ambient
cd kiali/hack/istio && ./install-bookinfo-demo.sh -c kubectl -ai false -tg -w true
Step 5: Start Kiali with Port-Forwarding
cd kiali/hack && ./run-kiali.sh \
-pg 13000:3000 \
-pp 19090:9090 \
-app 8080 \
-es false \
-iu http://127.0.0.1:15014 \
-ke ~/go/bin/kiali_core \
-hkc current \
-cn Kubernetes
After startup the following services are available:
In ambient mode, you can also start Kiali from your IDE outside the
cluster using these environment variables:
KUBERNETES_SERVICE_HOST=127.0.0.1
KUBERNETES_SERVICE_PORT=18080
LOG_LEVEL=info
Prerequisites
- Minikube installed and configured
- kubectl installed
- Kiali binary built at
~/go/bin/kiali_core (cd kiali && make build)
- Istio scripts available in
kiali/hack/istio/
