---
stage: Configure
group: Configure
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#designated-technical-writers
---

# Run the Kubernetes Agent locally **(PREMIUM ONLY)**

You can run `kas` and `agentk` locally to test the [Kubernetes Agent](index.md) yourself.

1. Create a `cfg.yaml` file from the contents of
    [`config_example.yaml`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cluster-integration/gitlab-agent/-/blob/master/pkg/kascfg/config_example.yaml), or this example:

    ```yaml
    agent:
      listen:
        network: tcp
        address: 127.0.0.1:8150
        websocket: false
      gitops:
        poll_period: "10s"
    gitlab:
      address: http://localhost:3000
      authentication_secret_file: /Users/tkuah/code/ee-gdk/gitlab/.gitlab_kas_secret
    ```

1. Create a `token.txt`. This is the token for
    [the agent you created](../../user/clusters/agent/index.md#create-an-agent-record-in-gitlab). This file must not contain a newline character. You can create the file with this command:

    ```shell
    echo -n "<TOKEN>" > token.txt
    ```

1. Start the binaries with the following commands:

    ```shell
    # Need GitLab to start
    gdk start
    # Stop GDK's version of kas
    gdk stop gitlab-k8s-agent
    
    # Start kas
    bazel run //cmd/kas -- --configuration-file="$(pwd)/cfg.yaml"
    ```

1. In a new terminal window, run this command to start agentk:

    ```shell
    bazel run //cmd/agentk -- --kas-address=grpc://127.0.0.1:8150 --token-file="$(pwd)/token.txt"
    ```

You can also inspect the
[Makefile](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cluster-integration/gitlab-agent/-/blob/master/Makefile)
for more targets.

<i class="fa fa-youtube-play youtube" aria-hidden="true"></i>
To learn more about how the repository is structured, see
[GitLab Kubernetes Agent repository overview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8CyaCWroUY).