---
description: "Ankra CLI rules and best practices for managing Kubernetes clusters via the Ankra platform"
globs: **/*.sh, **/*.yaml, **/*.yml, Makefile, **/Makefile, **/*.md
alwaysApply: false
---
# Ankra CLI Best Practices

Ankra is a Kubernetes cluster management platform. Its CLI (`ankra`) lets you manage organisations, clusters, add-ons, stacks, Helm releases, credentials, and tokens from the terminal.

## Authentication & Configuration

- Authenticate first: `ankra login`
- Default config lives at `~/.ankra.yaml`; override with `--config <path>`
- Override the API base URL with `--base-url` or `ANKRA_BASE_URL`
- Supply an API token via `--token` or `ANKRA_API_TOKEN` (prefer env var in CI)
- Logout cleanly: `ankra logout`

```yaml
# ~/.ankra.yaml example
base_url: https://api.ankra.io
token: ${ANKRA_API_TOKEN}
```

## Organisation Management

```bash
ankra org list                          # List accessible organisations
ankra org switch <org-name>             # Switch active organisation
ankra org create <name>                 # Create a new organisation
ankra org invite <email>                # Invite a user to the current org
ankra org members                       # List members of the current org
```

## Cluster Lifecycle

```bash
ankra cluster list                      # List all clusters in the org
ankra cluster select <name>             # Set the active cluster context
ankra cluster info                      # Show details about the active cluster
ankra cluster provision                 # Provision a new cluster
ankra cluster deprovision               # Deprovision (destroy) the active cluster
ankra cluster reconcile                 # Reconcile cluster to desired state
ankra delete cluster <name>             # Delete a named cluster
```

- Always run `ankra cluster info` before destructive operations
- Use `ankra cluster reconcile` after config changes before assuming state is correct

## Add-ons

```bash
ankra cluster addons list               # List installed add-ons
ankra cluster addons available          # List available (installable) add-ons
ankra cluster addons settings <addon>   # Show current settings for an add-on
ankra cluster addons update <addon>     # Update add-on configuration
ankra cluster addons uninstall <addon>  # Uninstall an add-on
```

## Stacks (Application Stacks)

```bash
ankra cluster stacks list               # List stacks in the cluster
ankra cluster stacks create <name>      # Create a new stack
ankra cluster stacks delete <name>      # Delete a stack
ankra cluster stacks rename <old> <new> # Rename a stack
ankra cluster stacks clone <src> <dst>  # Clone a stack
ankra cluster stacks history <name>     # View stack change history
```

- Prefer `clone` over `create` when replicating an existing working stack
- Check `history` before rolling back to understand what changed

## Manifests & Operations

```bash
ankra cluster manifests list            # List deployed manifests
ankra cluster operations list           # List in-progress or recent operations
ankra cluster operations cancel <id>    # Cancel a running operation
```

## Cluster Agent

```bash
ankra cluster agent status              # Check agent health
ankra cluster agent token               # Retrieve agent bootstrap token
ankra cluster agent upgrade             # Upgrade the in-cluster agent
```

- Run `agent status` if cluster commands seem unresponsive
- Rotate the agent token periodically for security

## Helm

```bash
ankra cluster helm releases             # List Helm releases in the cluster
ankra cluster helm uninstall <release>  # Uninstall a Helm release
ankra helm registries                   # List configured Helm registries
ankra helm credentials                  # List Helm registry credentials
```

## Hetzner Cloud Clusters

```bash
ankra cluster hetzner create            # Create a Hetzner-backed cluster
ankra cluster hetzner scale             # Scale the cluster node count
ankra cluster hetzner upgrade           # Upgrade Kubernetes version
ankra cluster hetzner workers           # Manage worker node groups
ankra cluster hetzner node-group        # Node group management
```

## Charts

```bash
ankra charts list                       # List available charts
ankra charts search <term>              # Search charts
ankra charts info <chart>               # Detailed chart information
```

## Credentials

```bash
ankra credentials list                              # List stored credentials
ankra credentials get <name>                        # Retrieve a credential
ankra credentials validate <name>                   # Validate a credential
ankra credentials delete <name>                     # Delete a credential
ankra credentials hetzner --name <n> --token <t>   # Store Hetzner API token
ankra credentials ovh ...                           # Store OVH credentials
ankra credentials upcloud ...                       # Store UpCloud credentials
```

- Never commit credentials to source control; use `ANKRA_API_TOKEN` env var
- Validate credentials immediately after creation: `ankra credentials validate <name>`

## Tokens (API Tokens)

```bash
ankra tokens list                       # List API tokens
ankra tokens create --name <name>       # Create a new API token
ankra tokens revoke <id>                # Revoke a token (keeps record)
ankra tokens delete <id>                # Permanently delete a token
```

## AI Troubleshooting

```bash
ankra chat                              # Start AI-powered troubleshooting session
```

Use `ankra chat` when facing ambiguous errors — it provides contextual guidance.

## Global Flags

| Flag | Env Var | Description |
|------|---------|-------------|
| `--base-url <url>` | `ANKRA_BASE_URL` | Override API base URL |
| `--token <token>` | `ANKRA_API_TOKEN` | API authentication token |
| `--config <path>` | — | Path to config file (default `~/.ankra.yaml`) |

## Scripting & Automation Tips

- Export `ANKRA_API_TOKEN` in CI pipelines; never hard-code tokens
- Use `--token` for one-off scripts where env var injection is not possible
- Chain `ankra cluster select` before cluster-scoped commands in scripts
- Pipe output through `jq` for structured processing where JSON output is available
- Use `ankra cluster operations list` in CI to poll for async operation completion
- Add `set -euo pipefail` to shell scripts using the Ankra CLI

## Common Workflows

### Provision and configure a new Hetzner cluster

```bash
ankra login
ankra org switch my-org
ankra cluster hetzner create
ankra cluster select my-new-cluster
ankra cluster agent status
ankra cluster addons available
ankra cluster addons update some-addon
ankra cluster reconcile
```

### Deploy a stack from a chart

```bash
ankra cluster select my-cluster
ankra charts search my-app
ankra charts info my-app
ankra cluster stacks create my-stack
ankra cluster manifests list
```

### Rotate credentials safely

```bash
ankra tokens create --name ci-token-new
# Update CI secret with new token
ankra tokens revoke <old-token-id>
ankra credentials validate my-cloud-cred
```