Guided NATS install mission in KubeStellar Console

[clubanderson]

We built a guided install mission for NATS inside KubeStellar Console, a standalone Kubernetes dashboard (unrelated to legacy kubestellar/kubestellar, kubeflex, or OCM — zero shared code).

Open the NATS install mission

What the mission does

The mission runs against your live cluster via kubeconfig. Each step:

1. Pre-flight — checks prerequisites (Kubernetes cluster with Helm installed)
2. Commands — shows the exact helm install / kubectl apply with flags explained. Copy-paste or run directly from the console
3. Validation — after each step, queries the cluster to verify success (pod phase, CRD registration, service endpoints)
4. Troubleshooting — on failure, reads pod logs, events, and resource status from your cluster and suggests fixes
5. Rollback — each step includes the corresponding helm uninstall / kubectl delete to undo

Works as read-only documentation too — no cluster connection required to browse.

Architecture

graph LR
    A["KubeStellar Console"] --> B["30+ Dashboards<br/>150+ Monitoring Cards"]
    A --> M["Marketplace<br/>(console-marketplace)"]
    A --> D["AI Mission Explorer"]
    D --> E["console-kb"]
    E --> F["190+ Install Missions<br/>800+ Solution Missions"]
    A --> C["AI Recommendations"]
    A --> H["kc-agent → Codex, Copilot,<br/>Claude CLI, Kube API, MCP"]
    click A href "https://console.kubestellar.io?utm_source=github&utm_medium=issue&utm_campaign=cncf_outreach&utm_term=nats" _blank
    click M href "https://github.com/kubestellar/console-marketplace?utm_source=github&utm_medium=issue&utm_campaign=cncf_outreach&utm_term=nats" _blank
    click E href "https://github.com/kubestellar/console-kb/blob/master/solutions/cncf-install/install-nats.json?utm_source=github&utm_medium=issue&utm_campaign=cncf_outreach&utm_term=nats" _blank
    click F href "https://console.kubestellar.io/missions/install-nats?utm_source=github&utm_medium=issue&utm_campaign=cncf_outreach&utm_term=nats" _blank
    click H href "https://github.com/kubestellar/console/tree/main/cmd/kc-agent?utm_source=github&utm_medium=issue&utm_campaign=cncf_outreach&utm_term=nats" _blank

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• console-kb — YAML-based knowledge base defining each mission's steps, commands, and validation checks (NATS installer definition)
• console-marketplace — community-contributed monitoring cards per CNCF project (github.com/kubestellar/console-marketplace)
• kc-agent — bridges coding agents (Codex, Copilot, Claude CLI) to Kube API and MCP servers (kubestellar-ops, kubestellar-deploy) for automated cluster operations

Install

Local (connects to your current kubeconfig context):

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubestellar/console/main/start.sh | bash

With GitHub OAuth:

export GITHUB_CLIENT_ID=<your-client-id>
export GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET=<your-client-secret>
curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubestellar/console/main/start.sh | bash

Deploy into a cluster:

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubestellar/console/main/deploy.sh | bash

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Mission definitions are open source — PRs to improve the NATS mission welcome at install-nats.json. Feel free to close if not relevant.

[clubanderson]

Following up on this — we just got back from KubeCon EU where the guided install missions got a lot of traction, especially for projects with Helm-based installs like NATS.

A couple of things we'd be happy to do if there's interest:

1. PR to nats.docs — we could add a short reference to the guided install mission in the installation section. Nothing heavy, just a pointer for folks who prefer a step-by-step walkthrough with validation.

2. NATS in our adopters list — we're building out our ADOPTERS.md as part of our CNCF incubation journey. If the NATS team is open to being listed, we'd handle the PR on our side.

Happy to hold off on both if the timing isn't right — just wanted to put it out there. The mission definition is fully open source at install-nats.json and PRs to improve it are always welcome.