Forem: vCluster

Reimagining Local Kubernetes: Replacing Kind with vind — A Deep Dive

vCluster — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 17:12:16 +0000

Kubernetes developers including myself have long relied on tools like KinD, aka, kind (Kubernetes in Docker) to spin up disposable clusters locally for development, testing, and CI/CD workflows. I love the product and have used it many times but there were certain limitations which were a bit annoying like not being able to use service type LoadBalancer, accessing the homelab kind clusters from the web, using the pull through cache, adding a GPU node to your local kind cluster.

Introducing vind (vCluster in Docker) - An open source alternative to kind or you can say kind on steroids. vind enables Kubernetes clusters as first-class Docker containers — offering improved performance, modern features, and a more enhanced developer experience.

In this post, we'll explore what vind is, how it compares to kind, and walk through real-world usage with examples from the vind repository.

What is vind?

At its core, vind is a way to run Kubernetes clusters directly as Docker containers. Which you can also do using kind and other tooling, so why vind and why should you try it? Well, here is the thing:

vind gives you

FREE vCluster platform UI which you can connect to your local cluster from anywhere in the world — a perfect use case is when you have to give a homelab demo at a conference
Native service type LoadBalancer support
Pull-through image cache via Docker daemon
Easy multi node Kubernetes cluster creation
Attaching external nodes from an EC2 instance or a GPU node to your local cluster via vCluster VPN and no additional tooling required
Flexible CNI choices
Sleep and wakeup your cluster — you can pause the clusters to save resources, resume instantly
Snapshot and backup your cluster is also coming in the next release

In essence, vind is "a better kind" — bringing modern features that matter for real developer workflows.

vind vs Kind

Let's see how vind stacks up against Kind:

Feature	vind	Kind
Built-in UI	✅ via vCluster Platform	❌
Sleep/Wake	✅ Native	❌ requires delete & recreate
Load Balancers	✅ Automatic	❌ Manual setup
Image Caching	✅ Via Docker cache	❌ External registries
External Nodes	✅ Supported	❌ Local only
CNI / CSI Options	✅ Flexible	Limited
Snapshots	🕐 Coming soon	❌

Kind is useful for several use cases, but vind expands these capabilities to support modern tooling like vCluster and Docker drivers providing a richer multi-cloud developer experience.

Installing and Setting Up vind

The docs that I have created are updated with the instructions needed, so we will just follow that and then attach an external node to my local cluster.

Before we dive into examples, let's get vind installed.

1. Prerequisites

Ensure you have:

Docker installed and running
vCluster CLI (v0.31.0 or later)

2. Install / Update vCluster CLI

If you have never installed vCluster CLI then you can install from here.

If you already have the CLI then:

vcluster upgrade --version v0.31.0
vcluster use driver docker

3. Start Optional UI

The vCluster Platform UI gives a nice web interface:

vcluster platform start

Once booted, you can manage clusters visually — something kind doesn't provide out of the box.

You will get login details that you can use to login to the UI and manage your clusters via the UI.

Create Your First vind Cluster

Once set up, creating your first Kubernetes cluster using vind is simple:

vcluster create my-cluster

Then, validate the cluster:

kubectl get nodes
kubectl get namespaces

You now have a Kubernetes cluster running inside Docker, ready for development.

Cluster with multiple nodes?

Let's try to create a cluster with multiple nodes.

You can use one of the examples — multi-node-cluster.yaml

experimental:
  docker:
    # Network configuration
    network: "vind-multi-node"

    # Load balancer and registry proxy are enabled by default

    # Additional worker nodes
    nodes:
      - name: worker-1
        env:
          - "CUSTOM_VAR=value1"

      - name: worker-2
        env:
          - "CUSTOM_VAR=value2"

      - name: worker-3
        env:
          - "CUSTOM_VAR=value3"
privateNodes:
  enabled: true
  vpn:
    enabled: true
    nodeToNode:
      enabled: true

And run the command:

vcluster create my-vcluster -f multi-node-cluster.yaml --upgrade

Boom!! You have a multi node Kubernetes cluster!

Adding external node

This is my favourite one!

In case you want to attach a GPU or external node to your local cluster, you can do that using vCluster VPN that comes with vCluster Free tier.

Add below to the multi-node yaml manifest and recreate the cluster:

privateNodes:
  enabled: true
  vpn:
    enabled: true
    nodeToNode:
      enabled: true

Create the token:

vcluster token createdemo ~ vcluster token create

curl -fsSLk "https://25punio.loft.host/kubernetes/project/default/virtualcluster/my-cluster/node/join?token=eerawx.dwets9a8adfw52gz" | sh -

Now you can create an instance in any cloud provider — I have created an instance in Google Cloud:

gcloud compute instances create my-vm \
  --zone=us-central1-a \
  --machine-type=e2-micro \
  --image-family=ubuntu-2204-lts \
  --image-project=ubuntu-os-cloud

Next ssh into the instance:

gcloud compute ssh my-vm --zone=us-central1-a

Run the curl command:

saiyam@my-vm:~$ sudo su 
root@my-vm:/home/saiyam# curl -fsSLk "https://25punio.loft.host/kubernetes/project/default/virtualcluster/my-cluster/node/join?token=eerawx.hdnueyd9a8myfr52gz" | sh -
Detected OS: ubuntu
Preparing node for Kubernetes installation...
Kubernetes version: v1.34.0
Installing Kubernetes binaries...
Downloading Kubernetes binaries from https://github.com/loft-sh/kubernetes/releases/download...
Loading bridge and br_netfilter modules...
insmod /lib/modules/6.8.0-1046-gcp/kernel/net/llc/llc.ko 
insmod /lib/modules/6.8.0-1046-gcp/kernel/net/802/stp.ko 
insmod /lib/modules/6.8.0-1046-gcp/kernel/net/bridge/bridge.ko 
insmod /lib/modules/6.8.0-1046-gcp/kernel/net/bridge/br_netfilter.ko 
Activating ip_forward...
net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1
net.ipv6.conf.all.forwarding = 1
Resetting node...
Ensuring kubelet is stopped...
kubelet service not found
* Applying /etc/sysctl.d/10-console-messages.conf ...
kernel.printk = 4 4 1 7
* Applying /etc/sysctl.d/10-ipv6-privacy.conf ...
net.ipv6.conf.all.use_tempaddr = 2
net.ipv6.conf.default.use_tempaddr = 2
* Applying /etc/sysctl.d/10-kernel-hardening.conf ...
kernel.kptr_restrict = 1
* Applying /etc/sysctl.d/10-magic-sysrq.conf ...
kernel.sysrq = 176
* Applying /etc/sysctl.d/10-network-security.conf ...
net.ipv4.conf.default.rp_filter = 2
net.ipv4.conf.all.rp_filter = 2
* Applying /etc/sysctl.d/10-ptrace.conf ...
kernel.yama.ptrace_scope = 1
* Applying /etc/sysctl.d/10-zeropage.conf ...
vm.mmap_min_addr = 65536
* Applying /usr/lib/sysctl.d/50-default.conf ...
kernel.core_uses_pid = 1
net.ipv4.conf.default.rp_filter = 2
net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_source_route = 0
sysctl: setting key "net.ipv4.conf.all.accept_source_route": Invalid argument
net.ipv4.conf.default.promote_secondaries = 1
sysctl: setting key "net.ipv4.conf.all.promote_secondaries": Invalid argument
net.ipv4.ping_group_range = 0 2147483647
net.core.default_qdisc = fq_codel
fs.protected_hardlinks = 1
fs.protected_symlinks = 1
fs.protected_regular = 1
fs.protected_fifos = 1
* Applying /usr/lib/sysctl.d/50-pid-max.conf ...
kernel.pid_max = 4194304
* Applying /etc/sysctl.d/60-gce-network-security.conf ...
net.ipv4.tcp_syncookies = 1
net.ipv4.conf.all.accept_source_route = 0
net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_source_route = 0
net.ipv4.conf.all.accept_redirects = 0
net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_redirects = 0
net.ipv4.conf.all.secure_redirects = 1
net.ipv4.conf.default.secure_redirects = 1
net.ipv4.ip_forward = 0
net.ipv4.conf.all.send_redirects = 0
net.ipv4.conf.default.send_redirects = 0
net.ipv4.conf.all.rp_filter = 1
net.ipv4.conf.default.rp_filter = 1
net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts = 1
net.ipv4.icmp_ignore_bogus_error_responses = 1
net.ipv4.conf.all.log_martians = 1
net.ipv4.conf.default.log_martians = 1
kernel.randomize_va_space = 2
kernel.panic = 10
* Applying /etc/sysctl.d/99-cloudimg-ipv6.conf ...
net.ipv6.conf.all.use_tempaddr = 0
net.ipv6.conf.default.use_tempaddr = 0
* Applying /etc/sysctl.d/99-gce-strict-reverse-path-filtering.conf ...
* Applying /usr/lib/sysctl.d/99-protect-links.conf ...
fs.protected_fifos = 1
fs.protected_hardlinks = 1
fs.protected_regular = 2
fs.protected_symlinks = 1
* Applying /etc/sysctl.d/99-sysctl.conf ...
* Applying /etc/sysctl.d/99-tailscale.conf ...
* Applying /etc/sysctl.conf ...
Starting vcluster-vpn...
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/vcluster-vpn.service → /etc/systemd/system/vcluster-vpn.service.
Waiting for vcluster-vpn to be ready...
Waiting for vcluster-vpn to be ready...
Configuring node to node vpn...
Waiting for a tailscale ip...
Starting containerd...
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/containerd.service → /etc/systemd/system/containerd.service.
Importing pause image...
registry.k8s.io/pause:3.10               saved 
application/vnd.oci.image.manifest.v1+json sha256:a883b8d67f5fe8ae50f857fb4c11c789913d31edff664135b9d4df44d3cb85cb
Importing elapsed: 0.2 s total:   0.0 B (0.0 B/s) 
Starting kubelet...
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/kubelet.service → /etc/systemd/system/kubelet.service.
Installation successful!
Joining node into cluster...
[preflight] Running pre-flight checks
W0209 16:03:28.474612    1993 file.go:102] [discovery] Could not access the cluster-info ConfigMap for refreshing the cluster-info information, but the TLS cert is valid so proceeding...
[preflight] Reading configuration from the "kubeadm-config" ConfigMap in namespace "kube-system"...
[preflight] Use 'kubeadm init phase upload-config kubeadm --config your-config-file' to re-upload it.
W0209 16:03:30.253845    1993 utils.go:69] The recommended value for "clusterDNS" in "KubeletConfiguration" is: [10.96.0.10]; the provided value is: [10.109.18.131]
[kubelet-start] Writing kubelet configuration to file "/var/lib/kubelet/instance-config.yaml"
[patches] Applied patch of type "application/strategic-merge-patch+json" to target "kubeletconfiguration"
[kubelet-start] Writing kubelet configuration to file "/var/lib/kubelet/config.yaml"
[kubelet-start] Writing kubelet environment file with flags to file "/var/lib/kubelet/kubeadm-flags.env"
[kubelet-start] Starting the kubelet
[kubelet-check] Waiting for a healthy kubelet at http://127.0.0.1:10248/healthz. This can take up to 4m0s
[kubelet-check] The kubelet is healthy after 1.501478601s
[kubelet-start] Waiting for the kubelet to perform the TLS Bootstrap

This node has joined the cluster:

Certificate signing request was sent to apiserver and a response was received.
The Kubelet was informed of the new secure connection details.

Run kubectl get nodes on the control-plane to see this node join the cluster.

How cool is this!

kubectl get po -A
NAMESPACE            NAME                                      READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
kube-flannel         kube-flannel-ds-nfb6g                     1/1     Running   0          14m
kube-flannel         kube-flannel-ds-nkxfq                     1/1     Running   0          15m
kube-flannel         kube-flannel-ds-r28k7                     1/1     Running   0          42s
kube-flannel         kube-flannel-ds-tr9cm                     1/1     Running   0          14m
kube-flannel         kube-flannel-ds-xx7p7                     1/1     Running   0          14m
kube-system          coredns-75bb76df-5tbdc                    1/1     Running   0          15m
kube-system          kube-proxy-hfgw7                          1/1     Running   0          15m
kube-system          kube-proxy-l86w5                          1/1     Running   0          42s
kube-system          kube-proxy-lqprr                          1/1     Running   0          14m
kube-system          kube-proxy-sz6f2                          1/1     Running   0          14m
kube-system          kube-proxy-wrkzl                          1/1     Running   0          14m
local-path-storage   local-path-provisioner-6f6fd5d9d9-4tpvj   1/1     Running   0          15m

There are many other features like Sleep Mode, where you can sleep and wakeup of a vind Kubernetes cluster. Accessing your clusters from the UI and attaching external nodes along with working of LoadBalancer service without any additional third party tooling is just amazing!

So I have replaced my kind setup.

For teams focused on:

Fast local spins
CI/CD pipelines
Kubernetes testing
Hybrid workflows
Efficient resource usage

…vind is worth serious consideration.

Summary

Aspect	Kind	vind
Local cluster creation	✅	✅
Ease of management	⚠️ CLI only	✅ UI available
Resource efficiency	⚠️ Must recreate	✅ Sleep/Wake
Networking & LB	⚠️ requires plugins	✅ automatic
Developer experience	Good	Great

If you're evaluating a modern replacement for kind in your tooling — especially for team and CI/Devflow use cases — vind puts a compelling stake in the ground.

⭐ Star the repo

Start creating issues and let's discuss to make it even better!

💬 Join our Slack

vCluster Free: Enterprise Kubernetes Features at No Cost

vCluster — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 13:01:22 +0000

We had such an amazing year 2025 and our commercial offering is gaining a ton of traction with large enterprises, neoclouds and AI factories alike. We doubled our team size and almost tripled our revenue in 2025. This success is rooted in our strong open source project and in our vCluster community, so to kick off 2026, we wanted to make sure to give back to our strongest supporters in the community and we thought hard about how to do this. The result of this are two additions to vCluster that we’ve been working on over the past few months and we’re announcing both of them today:

vind - vCluster in Docker (100% open source, no strings attached)
vCluster Free - Our New Free Tier (makes many Enterprise feature available for free)

To learn more about vind, check out our livestream today on Youtube or LinkedIn. To learn more about vCluster Free, we will run a separate livestream next week (Youtube, LinkedIn) but of course, we’ll show some of it off today. For details about vind and vCluster Free outside of these livestreams, keep reading.

What is vCluster Free?

vCluster Free gives anyone access to many of our enterprise features at no cost. The following features are included in this free tier:

CRD Sync
Sync Patches
Namespace 1:1 Syncing
Custom DNS Entries
Embedded etcd
Private Nodes
Auto Nodes
Standalone
vCluster Platform core features enabling self-service: Templates, CRDs, User Management, RBAC, etc.

It's quite a long list, isn't it? All of these features were previously part of our Enterprise plan, but now you can use them for free.

Why not open source?

We're an open source company deeply committed to ensuring that vCluster thrives as an open source project. To ensure this long-term, we need to build a successful business around it. That's the best way to make open source sustainable.

If we open sourced all of the features above, many enterprises would build around the open source project instead of purchasing our commercial offering, which would make it difficult to sustain the business and continue investing in vCluster. This is already happening today—vCluster provides significant value and enables teams to build real platforms on top of the open source project. Even commercial vendors like SpectroCloud, Rafay, Taikun Cloud, Uffizzi, and others have integrated open source vCluster into their products.

There's clearly a lot of value in vCluster open source. We're continuing to add more features, including our announcement of vind today, which allows you to run vCluster in Docker similar to KinD—entirely available in our open source project. Watch our livestream to learn more about vind. We will continue investing in our open source project and building features valuable to our open source community.

However, to make more of our enterprise features available to the community in a way that doesn't cannibalize our Enterprise offering, enable competitors, or reduce large enterprises' interest in our commercial offering, we decided to launch vCluster Free—an offering between vCluster Open Source and vCluster Enterprise. We designed this free tier to be actually useful and set the limits intentionally high so you can get significant value from it.

What are the limits of vCluster Free?

This free tier is not a trial but our attempt to make more enterprise features permanently available to the community. There is no time limit on how long you can use this free tier. Instead, it's limited by infrastructure size:

Up to 64 vCPU cores
Up to 32 GPUs

As long as you stay below these numbers, you can use any of the features above and you get:

Unlimited Users
Unlimited Host Clusters
Unlimited Virtual Clusters (max 1 HA) We wanted this free tier to be actually useful and enable anyone who loves vCluster to access more of the features we're building for our enterprise customers.

What can I do with vCluster Free?

vCluster Free lets anyone use many of our most advanced vCluster Enterprise features without speaking to our sales team or providing a credit card. We believe the limits above are high enough to cover many use cases entirely. Such use cases include:

vCluster as dev environments in startups or R&D teams within larger orgs
Ephemeral CI environments for running e2e tests (especially for operators/CRDs)
Simulating cluster changes (upgrading platform components)
Running vendor software in a more isolated way (e.g., GitLab runners, etc.)
Ephemeral clusters for demos (product demos, conference talks, etc.)
Running a small production cluster
Home labs and personal test environments

There are probably many more use cases. Many of them can already be addressed by our open source project, but with the new vCluster Free offering, you get access to even more functionality, a great UI, plus all the CRDs and controllers that come with vCluster Platform.

I hope you enjoy this new offering. You can try it today by signing up for vCluster Cloud or spinning up vCluster Platform using any of the commands below:

# Run in Docker (for local testing)
vcluster platform start --docker
# Run in Kubernetes
vcluster platform start

We’re excited to see what you build with vCluster Free.

Watch the liverstream demo here.

Originally published at https://www.vcluster.com.