generate-lab

name	generate-lab
description	Generate a ContainerLab topology for lab testing. Use when the user asks to create a lab, test topology, simulate a network, or build a practice environment for BGP, OSPF, MPLS, EVPN, or any protocol.

ContainerLab Topology Generation

Generate complete ContainerLab topologies with startup configs for network lab testing.

Workflow

Step 1: Gather Requirements

Ask the user for:

• Purpose — what to test (e.g., BGP convergence, OSPF multi-area, MPLS L3VPN, EVPN-VXLAN)
• Nodes — how many and what roles (e.g., 2 spine + 4 leaf, 3 routers + 1 firewall)
• Node types — container images:
  • ceos — Arista cEOS (requires image)
  • crpd — Juniper cRPD (requires image)
  • srl — Nokia SR Linux (free, no license)
  • frr — FRRouting on Linux (free)
  • linux — Alpine Linux hosts
  • vyos — VyOS router (free)
• Connections — topology type (full mesh, leaf-spine, hub-spoke, ring)

Step 2: Generate Topology

Create a ContainerLab YAML topology file:

• Use proper topology: structure with nodes: and links:
• Set kind: and image: for each node
• Define startup-config: pointing to config files
• Set management network if needed

Step 3: Generate Startup Configs

For each node, generate a startup configuration:

• Interfaces with IP addressing matching the topology links
• Routing protocol configuration matching the lab purpose
• Loopback interfaces for router-IDs
• Use the correct syntax for each platform (FRR uses frr.conf, SR Linux uses YAML/JSON)

Step 4: Save to Workspace

Save files:

• Topology: labs/{lab-name}.yml
• Configs: labs/configs/{node-name}.cfg (one per node)
• README: labs/{lab-name}-README.md

Step 5: Provide Deploy Instructions

Include in the README:

# Deploy the lab
cd labs/
sudo clab deploy -t {lab-name}.yml

# Check status
sudo clab inspect -t {lab-name}.yml

# Connect to a node
ssh admin@clab-{lab-name}-{node-name}

# Destroy when done
sudo clab destroy -t {lab-name}.yml

Step 6: Verification Commands

Include verification commands in the README specific to the lab purpose:

• BGP lab: show ip bgp summary, show ip bgp
• OSPF lab: show ip ospf neighbor, show ip ospf database
• MPLS lab: show mpls ldp neighbor, show mpls forwarding-table