| name | engine-manage |
| description | Manage the Kurtosis engine server. Start, stop, restart the engine, check status, and view engine logs. Covers both Docker and Kubernetes engine backends. Use when the engine won't start, needs restarting, or you need to check engine health. |
| compatibility | Requires kurtosis CLI. Docker or Kubernetes cluster access depending on backend. |
| metadata | {"author":"ethpandaops","version":"1.0"} |
Engine Manage
Manage the Kurtosis engine server lifecycle.
Status
kurtosis engine status
Shows whether the engine is running and its version.
Start
kurtosis engine start
kurtosis --debug-mode engine start
On Kubernetes, the engine runs as a pod in a kurtosis-engine-* namespace. You also need to run kurtosis gateway to access it from your local machine.
Stop
kurtosis engine stop
Restart
kurtosis engine restart
Equivalent to stop + start. Useful after changing cluster settings or upgrading.
View logs
kurtosis engine logs
Dumps engine server logs. Useful for diagnosing startup failures or API errors.
Docker vs Kubernetes
kurtosis cluster get
kurtosis cluster set docker
kurtosis engine restart
kurtosis cluster set kubernetes
kurtosis engine restart
kurtosis gateway
Engine on Kubernetes
When running on Kubernetes:
kubectl get ns | grep kurtosis-engine
kubectl get pods -n <engine-namespace>
kubectl logs <engine-pod> -n <engine-namespace>
kurtosis gateway &
Common issues
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|
No Kurtosis engine is running | Run kurtosis engine start |
Engine starts but engine status shows nothing (k8s) | Start the gateway: kurtosis gateway |
| Version mismatch warning | kurtosis engine restart to match CLI version |
| Engine start hangs (k8s) | Check pods: kubectl get pods -A | grep kurtosis |
| Old engine blocking new start | kurtosis engine stop then clean namespaces |