Run Kubernetes in Docker on Ubuntu for Local Development

There's a delightfully literal answer to "Kubernetes with Docker": kind — Kubernetes IN Docker. Each node is a Docker container running a full Kubernetes node image. On an Ubuntu workstation it gives you a real, throwaway, multi-node cluster in about 30 seconds. It's my default for local dev and for CI. Prerequisites on Ubuntu You need Docker Engine and kubectl . If you don't have Docker yet: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y docker.io sudo usermod -aG docker $USER && newgrp docker # run docker without sudo Install kind (single static binary): curl -fsSLo ./kind https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/dl/latest/kind-linux-amd64 chmod +x ./kind && sudo mv ./kind /usr/local/bin/kind kind version A one-command cluster kind create cluster --name dev kubectl cluster-info --context kind-dev docker ps # you'll see a dev-control-plane container — that's your node kind wrote a kubeconfig context for you. Tear the whole thing down just as fast: kind delete cluster --name dev A realistic multi-node cluster Most bugs only show up with more than one node (scheduling, affinity, PodDisruptionBudgets). Define it in a config file: # kind-cluster.yaml kind : Cluster apiVersion : kind.x-k8s.io/v1alpha4 nodes : - role : control-plane kubeadmConfigPatches : - | kind: InitConfiguration nodeRegistration: kubeletExtraArgs: node-labels: "ingress-ready=true" extraPortMappings : - containerPort : 80 hostPort : 8080 protocol : TCP - role : worker - role : worker kind create cluster --name dev --config kind-cluster.yaml kubectl get nodes The extraPortMappings bit is the trick people miss: it forwards a port from your Ubuntu host into the control-plane container, so an ingress controller inside the cluster is reachable at http://localhost:8080 . Loading a locally-built image (no registry needed) This is kind 's best feature for the Docker workflow. Build with Docker, push straight into the cluster's nodes — no registry round-trip: docker build -t myapp:dev . kind load docker-image myapp:dev --name