✏️ [Blog post] Kubernetes Simplified - Introducing Cyclops

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+---
+title: Kubernetes Made Simple - Introducing Cyclops
+authors: [jurajk]
+---
+
+![Modules in Cyclops](../../static/img/2024-1-3-cyclops-overview/cyclops_overview_1.png)
+
+If you are a developer, the chances are you have heard about Kubernetes. You heard that it is an amazing tool to help 
+you scale your applications and manage your micro-services. But, you probably also heard that it is **VERY** complex. 
+It is so complex that you were probably scared off. And I don’t blame you; that is the first reaction I got as well.
+
+If you search the top posts with the Kubernetes tags on this website, you will find a myriad of tutorials and people 
+explaining Kubernetes. These posts are the most trending because people **WANT** to understand Kubernetes because we 
+feel like, in today's software development world, Kubernetes is unavoidable. And this is true, to an extent…
+
+Software developers are often required to understand and work with Kubernetes; if you have ever looked for jobs in this 
+sector, you know this already. But what if there was a tool to minimize your touching points with Kubernetes? A tool 
+that simplifies the process and gives you guidance when trying to deploy applications into Kubernetes clusters. A tool 
+that is highly customizable and lets someone in your organization (who understands Kubernetes, commonly known as a 
+DevOps) create a user interface for you!
+
+Yep, you guessed it, it’s Cyclops! 😄
+
+And just to clarify, Cyclops is not used to create and manage Kubernetes clusters and other infrastructure; rather, 
+Cyclops is used for deploying and managing applications INSIDE the cluster.
+
+### Show us your support 🙏🏻
+
+We are building Cyclops to be **open-source**, and your support would mean the world to us. Consider giving us a star 
+on [GitHub](https://github.com/cyclops-ui/cyclops) and following us on [ProductHunt](https://www.producthunt.com/products/cyclops), where we scheduled our very 
+first release!
+
+## Before we start
+
+In order to test out Cyclops, you are going to need a few things. If this is not your first time using Kubernetes, the 
+chances are you already have everything ready, but we will still describe each of the components for the newcomers to 
+the Kubernetes space. These tools are not only used for Cyclops, and you can use them for anything Kubernetes-related.
+
+The main thing you are going to need to test out Cyclops is a Kubernetes cluster. If you have one that you can use to 
+play with, great; if not, we will show you how to spin up a cluster on your own computer. So, the three prerequisites 
+for doing this are:
+
+1. [**1. Docker**](https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop/)
+2. [**2. Minikube**](https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/)
+3. [**3. kubectl**](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/)
+
+Docker is the most popular containerization tool, and we will use it to download and spin up a Minikube image. 
+Downloading Docker is straightforward: go to their webpage and download the Docker Desktop application.
+
+Minikube plays the role of a Kubernetes cluster on your local machine. It is a great tool for developing and 
+testing out your Kubernetes applications, and it is perfect for this scenario. You can find a guide on how to install 
+it [here](https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/start/).
+
+The final thing missing is a way of communicating with your Kubernetes cluster, and this is done through the Kubernetes 
+command line tool called `kubectl`. It can be used to deploy applications, inspect and manage cluster resources, and 
+view logs. In this tutorial, we will use it to install Cyclops into our cluster on Minikube and expose its 
+functionality outside the cluster.
+
+## Installing Cyclops
+
+Once you have your Kubernetes cluster ready (check the *Before We Start* section), installing Cyclops is a 
+straightforward process. Using `kubectl`, run the following command in your terminal:
+
+```
+kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cyclops-ui/cyclops/v0.0.1-alpha.5/install/cyclops-install.yaml
+```
+
+It will create a new namespace called `cyclops` and deploy everything you need for your Cyclops instance to run.
+
+Now, all that is left is to expose the Cyclops server outside the cluster. You will need to expose both the backend and 
+frontend with the commands below.
+
+Expose frontend through:
+
+```
+kubectl port-forward svc/cyclops-ui 3000:3000 -n cyclops
+```
+
+And the backend through:
+
+```
+kubectl port-forward svc/cyclops-ctrl 8080:8080 -n cyclops
+```
+
+And that's it! You can now access Cyclops in your browser at [http://localhost:3000](http://localhost:3000/).
+If you are having trouble with the `port-forward` commands, you probably just need to wait a few of seconds after 
+installing Cyclops into your cluster, it can take a while to start all it’s resources.
+
+## It’s Demo Time 💥
+
+Now that you have your Cyclops instance up and running, it’s time to see what it’s capable of.
+
+You should be greeted with an almost empty screen with no deployed modules showing. *Module* is Cyclops’s slang for 
+application 😎. So, let’s start by creating our first module!
+
+By clicking on the *Add module* button in the top right corner, you should be taken to a new screen. Here, Cyclops asks 
+us which Helm chart do we want to deploy.
+
+Not to go too deep, but [Helm](https://helm.sh/) is a very popular open-source package manager for Kubernetes. It helps 
+you create configuration files that are needed for applications running in Kubernetes. These charts let Kubernetes know 
+how to handle your application in the cluster.
+
+Don’t worry; to showcase the basics of Cyclops, we created a simple Helm chart so that anyone can follow along. You can 
+find what it looks like in our [GitHub repository](https://github.com/cyclops-ui/templates/tree/main/demo), along with 
+a couple of more examples of Helm charts that you can use!
+
+![Loaded Chart](../../static/img/2024-1-3-cyclops-overview/cyclops_overview_2.png)
+
+As you can see, once you enter the repository of your chart, Cyclops will render a user interface.  *If you want to 
+find out the magic behind the rendering, check out our previous 
+[blog](https://dev.to/cyclops-ui/how-cyclops-utilizes-json-schema-to-deliver-dynamical-ui-49e).*
+
+You can fill out the fields as you wish, but be mindful of 
+[the Kubernetes naming conventions](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/working-with-objects/names/)!
+
+If you want to follow along, my input is as follows:
+
+```
+name: demo
+replicas: 1
+image: nginx
+version: 1.14.2
+service: true
+```
+
+We will set the module name to `demo` as well. Click save, and Cyclops will show you the details of your new module.
+
+![Single pod Deployment](../../static/img/2024-1-3-cyclops-overview/cyclops_overview_3.png)
+
+This screen shows you all the resources your application is using at the moment. It will list all the deployments, 
+services, pods, or any other resource. Here, we can see that Cyclops deployed one pod into your cluster, as we specified 
+in the replicas field. If you want to make sure that it really is running in your cluster, you can check it out by using 
+the following `kubectl` command:
+
+```
+kubectl get pods
+```
+
+But what if all of a sudden, there was a need to scale up your application or any other resource? Well, don't worry; 
+with Cyclops, it’s really easy!
+
+By clicking the *Edit* button, you can change the values of your application’s resources. Let’s try to scale our 
+application up to 3 replicas and see what happens.
+
+![Three pod Deployment](../../static/img/2024-1-3-cyclops-overview/cyclops_overview_4.png)
+
+You should now see two more pods in the *Deployment* tab; hurray! 🎉
+
+Of course, this works for any other change you might want to make to your application. Like, the service, perhaps? What 
+if we realized we don't really need it anymore? Well, with Cyclops, it's really easy to shut it down if need be.
+
+Click again on the *Edit* button, and this time, turn off the service toggle.
+
+![Service shut down](../../static/img/2024-1-3-cyclops-overview/cyclops_overview_5.png)
+
+Cyclops won't delete it automatically but will warn you (via the warning triangle sign) that you shut it down, and it is 
+not in function anymore. This means you can safely delete it!
+
+And if you are sick and tired of your application, you can delete the whole thing as well 🗑️
+
+Click on the Delete button and fill in the name of the module to safely delete it. You can, again, check if it really 
+was deleted with `kubectl`:
+
+```
+kubectl get pods
+```
+
+## Finish
+
+And that’s all there really is to it! Cyclops allows people with varying knowledge of Kubernetes to leverage its power. 
+If you followed this tutorial, you should have deployed your very first application using Cyclops; congratz! 🎉 On our 
+[webpage](https://cyclops-ui.com/), you can find one more tutorial showcasing more features and a more complicated use 
+case, as well as our contact and community info.
+
+If you have any sort of feedback or ideas on how to make Cyclops better, you can fill out our short 
+[Google form](https://forms.gle/jrwcBHRtpwmK91v47)!