Installing kro

Install kro on your Kubernetes cluster using Helm.

Prerequisites

Kro can be installed via Helm or raw manifests. Pick the solution that best fits you.

• Helm 3.x installed (only for helm installation)
• kubectl configured to access your cluster

Installation

Quick Start

Install the latest version:

helm install kro oci://registry.k8s.io/kro/charts/kro \
  --namespace kro-system \
  --create-namespace

Pinned Version

Install a specific version for reproducible deployments:

# Set the version you want to install
export KRO_VERSION=0.6.2

# Install kro
helm install kro oci://registry.k8s.io/kro/charts/kro \
  --namespace kro-system \
  --create-namespace \
  --version=${KRO_VERSION}

Or automatically use the latest release:

# Fetch latest release version
export KRO_VERSION=$(curl -sL \
    https://api.github.com/repos/kubernetes-sigs/kro/releases/latest | \
    jq -r '.tag_name | ltrimstr("v")')

# Verify version
echo $KRO_VERSION

# Install kro
helm install kro oci://registry.k8s.io/kro/charts/kro \
  --namespace kro-system \
  --create-namespace \
  --version=${KRO_VERSION}

Raw manifest installation

Select which pre-built flavour you would like to install

variant	Prometheus scrape config
kro-core-install-manifests	Not installed
kro-core-install-manifests-with-prometheus	Installed

Fetch the latest release version from GitHub

export KRO_VERSION=$(curl -sL \
      https://api.github.com/repos/kubernetes-sigs/kro/releases/latest | \
      jq -r '.tag_name | ltrimstr("v")'
   )
export KRO_VARIANT=kro-core-install-manifests

echo $KRO_VERSION

kubectl create namespace kro-system
kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kro/releases/download/$KRO_VERSION/$KRO_VARIANT.yaml

Verify Installation

Helm installation

Check the Helm release:

helm list -n kro-system

Expected output:

NAME  NAMESPACE  REVISION  STATUS
kro   kro-system 1         deployed

Check the kro pod is running:

kubectl get pods -n kro-system

Expected output:

NAME                   READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
kro-7d98bc6f46-jvjl5   1/1     Running   0          30s

Raw manifest installation

Check the Helm release:

Check the kro pod is running:

```bash
kubectl get pods -n kro-system

Expected output:

NAME                   READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
kro-7d98bc6f46-jvjl5   1/1     Running   0          30s

Upgrade

Latest Version

helm upgrade kro oci://registry.k8s.io/kro/charts/kro \
  --namespace kro-system

Specific Version

export KRO_VERSION=0.6.2

helm upgrade kro oci://registry.k8s.io/kro/charts/kro \
  --namespace kro-system \
  --version=${KRO_VERSION}

info

Helm does not update CRDs automatically. If a new version includes CRD changes, you may need to manually apply them. Check the release notes for CRD updates.

Raw manifest installation

export KRO_VERSION=$(curl -sL \
      https://api.github.com/repos/kubernetes-sigs/kro/releases/latest | \
      jq -r '.tag_name | ltrimstr("v")'
   )
export KRO_VARIANT=kro-core-install-manifests

kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kro/releases/download/$KRO_VERSION/$KRO_VARIANT.yaml

Removal of dangling objects

Kubectl installation does remove old objects. You may need to manually remove any object that was removed in the new version of Kro.

Uninstall

Helm installation

helm uninstall kro -n kro-system

Raw manifest installation

kubectl delete -f https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kro/releases/download/$KRO_VERSION/$KRO_VARIANT.yaml

info

This removes the kro controller but preserves your RGDs and deployed instances. To fully clean up, manually delete instances and RGDs before uninstalling.