vekil-reverse-proxy-deploy

name	vekil-reverse-proxy-deploy
description	Deploy or update Vekil from github.com/sozercan/vekil as a Kubernetes or local reverse proxy for Anthropic, Gemini, OpenAI Chat Completions, and OpenAI Responses-compatible clients. Use when the user asks to install, redeploy, configure provider routing for, expose, port-forward, validate, or troubleshoot Vekil reverse proxy deployments.

Vekil Reverse Proxy Deploy

Deploy Vekil as the single reverse-proxy endpoint for Claude/Anthropic, Gemini, OpenAI-compatible, and Codex clients. Prefer the bundled Kubernetes script for repeatable cluster deployments; use Docker only for quick local runs.

Standard Kubernetes Workflow

1. Confirm the target before changing anything:
   • kubectl config current-context
   • kubectl cluster-info
   • For remote/shared clusters, state the context and ask before exposing LoadBalancer or NodePort services.
2. Deploy the default zero-config Copilot-backed proxy:
   • scripts/deploy_vekil_reverse_proxy.sh --context <kubectl-context>
   • Default namespace: vekil-system; default service: ClusterIP; default image: ghcr.io/sozercan/vekil:latest; default port: 1337.
3. If explicit provider routing is required, write or locate a JSON/YAML providers file that uses secret env references, then pass it with existing Kubernetes secrets:

   scripts/deploy_vekil_reverse_proxy.sh \
     --context <kubectl-context> \
     --providers-config /path/to/providers.yaml \
     --env-secret AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY=azure-openai:key
   

4. For non-interactive Copilot auth in Kubernetes, either wire an existing Secret or let the script create/update one from an explicitly exported COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN. Prefer existing Secrets for production clusters that use a secret manager.

   # Existing Secret
   scripts/deploy_vekil_reverse_proxy.sh \
     --env-secret COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN=copilot-github-token:token
   
   # Script-created Secret; the token is not printed or embedded in the rendered workload.
   export COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN=...
   scripts/deploy_vekil_reverse_proxy.sh \
     --create-copilot-token-secret copilot-github-token:token
   

5. Wait for rollout, then verify through a port-forward:

   kubectl -n vekil-system port-forward svc/vekil 1337:1337
   curl http://127.0.0.1:1337/healthz
   curl http://127.0.0.1:1337/readyz
   curl http://127.0.0.1:1337/v1/models
   

Provider and Auth Notes

• Zero-config mode uses Vekil's built-in GitHub Copilot upstream. In Kubernetes, device-code login can work from pod logs; use --skip-wait, watch kubectl -n <namespace> logs deploy/<name>, complete the login, then verify /readyz. COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN via --env-secret or --create-copilot-token-secret is better for non-interactive deployments; --create-copilot-token-secret requires local COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN and does not fall back to GitHub CLI OAuth tokens. If the script-created Secret changes, the script restarts the Deployment so the Secret-backed env var is reloaded.
• Explicit provider configs should use api_key_env, not inline api_key, because the bundled script stores the config as a ConfigMap and refuses inline API keys by default. When the script creates or updates the providers ConfigMap, it restarts the Deployment so Vekil reloads provider routing read at startup.
• OpenAI Codex providers need auth.json from codex login. If needed, mount an existing secret with --codex-auth-secret <secret>[:auth.json] and verify whether the deployment needs a writable token source for refresh behavior.
• Vekil token cache defaults to an emptyDir; use --token-pvc <claim> if preserving Vekil-managed cached auth across pod restarts matters.

Common Commands

Render the manifest without applying:

scripts/deploy_vekil_reverse_proxy.sh --print

Create/update a Copilot token Secret from an explicit local environment token and deploy:

export COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN=...
scripts/deploy_vekil_reverse_proxy.sh \
  --create-copilot-token-secret copilot-github-token:token

Deploy to a custom namespace and expose inside the cluster:

scripts/deploy_vekil_reverse_proxy.sh --namespace ai-proxy --name vekil

Expose for a local kind/minikube workflow with an explicit context:

scripts/deploy_vekil_reverse_proxy.sh --context kind-orka --namespace vekil-system
kubectl --context kind-orka -n vekil-system port-forward svc/vekil 1337:1337

Use the local Docker quick-start instead of Kubernetes when the user only needs a workstation proxy:

docker run -p 1337:1337 \
  -v ~/.config/vekil:/home/nonroot/.config/vekil \
  ghcr.io/sozercan/vekil:latest

Client Smoke Tests

Run these only after /readyz succeeds and the requested model appears in /v1/models.

env ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:1337 \
  ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=dummy \
  claude --model claude-sonnet-4 --print --output-format text "Reply with exactly PROXY_OK"

env OPENAI_API_KEY=dummy \
  OPENAI_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:1337/v1 \
  codex exec --skip-git-repo-check -m gpt-5.5 "Reply with exactly PROXY_OK"

env GEMINI_API_KEY=dummy \
  GOOGLE_GEMINI_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:1337 \
  GOOGLE_GENAI_API_VERSION=v1beta \
  GEMINI_CLI_NO_RELAUNCH=true \
  gemini -m gemini-2.5-pro -p "Reply with exactly PROXY_OK" -o json

Troubleshooting

• If rollout fails: kubectl -n <namespace> describe deploy/<name> and kubectl -n <namespace> logs deploy/<name>.
• If an existing Secret used with --env-secret changes outside this script, restart the Deployment so env vars reload: kubectl -n <namespace> rollout restart deploy/<name>.
• If /healthz works but /readyz fails, focus on provider auth, provider config model ownership, upstream reachability, or missing secret env vars.
• If clients cannot connect, verify the base URL path: Anthropic/Gemini use http://host:1337; OpenAI/Codex use http://host:1337/v1.
• Do not paste secrets into prompts, commit provider files with inline credentials, or expose a public service without confirming the user's intended security boundary.