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2. Your first edge instance and your first app

30-60 minutes. By the end you'll have a Kubernetes cluster registered in DT Edge Platform and one application installed on it from the marketplace.

What you need before starting​

  • A Kubernetes cluster to manage (yours or one you have a kubeconfig for)
  • The kubeconfig file for that cluster
  • An organization selected in the sidebar
  • The edge-instances:create permission in that org (default member role usually has this — if not, ask your admin)

Step 1 — Add your edge instance​

In the sidebar, click Edge Instances → click Add Edge at the top right.

Two paths show up:

  • Upload kubeconfig — paste or drag in a kubeconfig file. Use this when the cluster already exists.
  • Provision new cluster — only available when your install has the upstream Provisioner integration configured. Skip this for the tutorial.

Pick Upload kubeconfig. Fill in:

  • Name — what you'll call this cluster (e.g. staging-istanbul). Pick something you'll recognise in lists.
  • Description (optional) — a sentence about its purpose.
  • Categories (optional) — tags that help you filter the list later.
  • Kubeconfig — paste the YAML or upload the file.

Submit. DT Edge Platform encrypts the kubeconfig with its master key, attempts a probe against the cluster, and the new edge appears in the list. Status badges to expect:

  • 🟡 in_progress for a few seconds while DT Edge Platform probes
  • 🟢 active once the probe succeeds
  • 🔴 failed if the probe couldn't reach the cluster — open the edit drawer and check the error in the health section

Step 2 — Open the marketplace​

Sidebar → Marketplace.

You'll see a grid of available packages. Each card shows:

  • The package name + icon
  • Categories (you can filter by these in the top bar)
  • A Versions count

If your install hasn't published any packages yet, the grid will be empty. In that case, ask your admin to publish at least one, or skip to Tutorial 3 and come back when you have a package to install.

Step 3 — Install an app​

Click any package card → click Install.

The install drawer opens with three sections:

  1. Target — pick the edge instance you just added (Step 1). The dropdown also lets you pick a namespace and a release name. Defaults are sensible if you don't know what to put.
  2. Version — most packages have one or more versions. Pick the latest unless you have a reason not to.
  3. Values — the chart's configuration. You'll see one of two editors:
    • Form view (when the package author shipped a typed form schema) — friendly fields, validation, dropdowns
    • YAML view — the raw values.yaml the chart expects

Toggle between the two with the button at the top of this section. Form view is the default when available; switch to YAML if you want to see what the form is generating, or if you need a field the form doesn't expose.

Click Install. The drawer closes; you'll see a toast notification "Operation queued". A new row appears in the Applications sidebar entry.

Step 4 — Watch the install land​

Sidebar → Applications. Find the row whose release name you just used.

The status column moves through:

  • ⏳ pending — queued, worker hasn't picked it up
  • 🔄 running / installing — helm install is executing
  • ✅ deployed — done; the chart's resources are on the cluster

Click the row → Detail to see live progress. The detail page streams logs over WebSocket; you don't need to refresh.

If the status flips to failed, click into Detail → look at the Last error card. Most failures are one of:

  • Chart pull failed (registry unreachable / wrong creds)
  • A required value missing (form validation should catch this, but YAML edits can slip through)
  • The cluster's API server unreachable (back to Edge Instances → health)

For deeper diagnosis, see the Helm install failed runbook in the backend docs.

Step 5 — Check it on the cluster (optional)​

If you have kubectl access to the cluster, sanity-check what landed:

kubectl --kubeconfig=<your-config> -n <namespace> get all -l app.kubernetes.io/managed-by=Helm

You should see the resources the chart created. DT Edge Platform marks the release with a dtedge.io/managed=true label so it'll only show up in your Applications list (not, say, kube-system pods that were on the cluster before you registered it).

What's next​

You have a managed cluster + an app running on it. Useful follow-ups: