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Homelab Quick start

Get your Kubernetes homelab up and running fast. This guide covers the minimum steps to launch a cluster and deploy apps with GitOps.

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For a deeper technical guide or troubleshooting steps, see Getting Started.

Prerequisites​

  • Proxmox access with your SSH key added to the hypervisor.
  • Tools installed: opentofu, talosctl, kubectl, and argocd.
  • This repository cloned locally.

Overview of steps​

  1. Configure cluster variables.
  2. Launch the cluster with OpenTofu.
  3. Retrieve access configs.

Quick Start Steps​

  1. Clone the repository and move into it:

    git clone https://github.com/theepicsaxguy/homelab.git
    cd homelab

  2. Create your cluster variable file (terraform.tfvars):

    # terraform.tfvars
    cluster_name     = "homelab"
    controlplane_ips = ["10.25.150.10", "10.25.150.11", "10.25.150.12"]
    worker_ips       = ["10.25.150.20", "10.25.150.21"]
    info

    Customize IPs and hostnames as needed for your lab environment.

  3. Initialize SSH agent and OpenTofu:

    eval $(ssh-agent)
    ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa
    tofu init

  4. Provision the cluster (this may take a few minutes):

    tofu apply

  5. Fetch your access configs:

    tofu output -raw talos_config > ~/.talos/config
    tofu output -raw kube_config > ~/.kube/config
    chmod 600 ~/.talos/config ~/.kube/config

Verify​

  1. Check that Talos nodes are healthy:

    talosctl health --talosconfig ~/.talos/config --nodes <control-plane-IP>

  2. Confirm apps are syncing (ArgoCD):

    argocd app list

    All applications should be Healthy and Synced. For any issues, see troubleshooting in the full guide.

That's it! Your cluster and GitOps stack are live.