CuteOS Operations
Installation support and local runtime bootstrap
Local Install Support

Install CuteOS on a Mac with Docker Desktop

This page is the public support surface for running CuteOS locally with Docker Desktop Kubernetes. It covers the small host requirements, the exact install commands, and the first checks to run once the dashboard comes up.

Start the macOS install Download the installer wrapper Open the shell installer

macOS Quickstart

CuteOS uses Docker Desktop's built-in Kubernetes cluster on macOS. Before you run the installer, make sure Docker Desktop itself is installed, running, and has Kubernetes enabled.

1. Install the local prerequisites 
brew install --cask docker
brew install helm kubernetes-cli
2. Start Docker Desktop and enable Kubernetes

Open Docker Desktop, then go to Settings -> Kubernetes and turn on Enable Kubernetes. Wait until the cluster reports running. 

open -a Docker
docker desktop kubernetes status
kubectl config get-contexts docker-desktop
3. Run the hosted CuteOS installer 
curl -fsSL https://install.cuteos.io/install.sh | bash -s -- \
  --tag vX.Y.Z \
  --admin-password 'ChangeMe123!'
The installer will stop early if Docker Desktop Kubernetes is disabled. It now checks for the local docker-desktop cluster before it tries to install CuteOS.

First Checks After Install

  1. Open the printed dashboard URL and sign in as admin.
  2. Confirm the installer's password works and change it if prompted.
  3. Check /api/health through the local API port-forward.
  4. Upload a reference pack before enabling domain workflows.
curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1:18080/api/health
kubectl --context docker-desktop -n cuteos get pods

Support and Follow-up

The installer is intentionally thin. If you want the chart, values profile, or bootstrap helper directly, use the download links below. For repo-backed guidance, the quickstart and chart docs stay in sync with this page.

install.sh The small wrapper used by the public curl command install-docker-desktop-k8s.sh The full shell installer for macOS and Linux environments with Docker Desktop install-docker-desktop-k8s.ps1 The Windows PowerShell installer for Docker Desktop Kubernetes charts/cuteos.tgz The packaged Helm chart used by the hosted installer profiles/values-docker-desktop.yaml The Docker Desktop values profile used for local cluster installs scripts/bootstrap-k8s.sh The bootstrap helper that seeds the fresh cluster after Helm install