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Documentation

Installing kagent#

This guide covers ways to install and configure kagent in your Kubernetes environment. For a quick setup, check out our Quick Start Guide. For enterpise offerings, check out Solo Enterprise for kagent.

Installation Methods#

Install kagent by using the kagent CLI or Helm.

Note: As of version 0.7, the kmcp subproject is included by default with kagent. To use an existing kmcp installation that you already set up separately, set kmcp.enabled=false in your values.yaml file or --set commands for both the kagent and kagent-crds charts.

Using kagent CLI (Recommended)#

  1. Set the OpenAI API key as an environment variable.

    export OPENAI_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

  2. Download the kagent CLI.

    # Download/run the install script
    curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kagent-dev/kagent/refs/heads/main/scripts/get-kagent | bash

  3. Install kagent to the cluster by using the CLI. By default, kagent installs a demo profile with agents and MCP tools preloaded for you. If you don't want these default agents, include the --profile minimal flag.

    kagent install
    kagent installed successfully

Using Helm#

Another way to install kagent is using Helm.

  1. Install the kagent Helm chart with CRDs.

    helm install kagent-crds oci://ghcr.io/kagent-dev/kagent/helm/kagent-crds \
        --namespace kagent \
        --create-namespace

  2. Optionally prepare a Helm values file or --set flags to use for your installation. For example, you might set up your default LLM provider, or configure resource requests and limits or disable the default agents. For options, refer to the Helm reference docs.

  1. Set the OPENAI_API_KEY environment variable:

    export OPENAI_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

  2. Install the kagent Helm chart:

    helm install kagent oci://ghcr.io/kagent-dev/kagent/helm/kagent \
        --namespace kagent \
        --set providers.default=openAI \
        --set providers.openAI.apiKey=$OPENAI_API_KEY

  1. Set the ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable:

    export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

  2. Install the kagent Helm chart:

    helm install kagent oci://ghcr.io/kagent-dev/kagent/helm/kagent \
        --namespace kagent \
        --set providers.default=anthropic \
        --set providers.anthropic.apiKey=$ANTHROPIC_API_KEY

  1. Set the OPENAI_API_KEY environment variable:

    export OPENAI_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

  2. Install the kagent Helm chart:

    helm install kagent oci://ghcr.io/kagent-dev/kagent/helm/kagent \
        --namespace kagent \
        --set providers.default=azureOpenAI \
        --set providers.azureOpenAI.apiKey=$OPENAI_API_KEY

  1. Set the GEMINI_API_KEY environment variable:

    export GEMINI_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

  2. Install the kagent Helm chart:

    helm install kagent oci://ghcr.io/kagent-dev/kagent/helm/kagent \
        --namespace kagent \
        --set providers.default=gemini \
        --set providers.gemini.apiKey=$GEMINI_API_KEY

  1. Install the kagent Helm chart:

    helm install kagent oci://ghcr.io/kagent-dev/kagent/helm/kagent \
        --namespace kagent \
        --set providers.default=ollama

Uninstallation#

Refer to the Uninstall guide.

Next Steps#

Kagent Lab: Discover kagent and kmcp
Free, on‑demand lab: build custom AI agents with kagent and integrate tools via kmcp on Kubernetes.
Start the Lab