generated: '2026-09-12'
method: searched
source: >-
  https://www.solo.io/resources/lab , https://www.solo.io/resources/workshops ,
  https://docs.solo.io/gloo-mesh-enterprise/latest/getting_started/
note: >-
  There is no test-vs-live key mode, no test card and no hosted sandbox tenant, because there
  is no Solo-operated endpoint to call. What Solo.io provides instead — and it is the right
  equivalent for self-hosted infrastructure software — is hosted hands-on labs, workshops, and
  a documented local getting-started path that stands the whole product up on your own
  clusters. No test credential values are published, so none are recorded here.
modes: []
test_credentials: []
sandboxes:
  - kind: hosted-lab
    name: Solo Labs
    url: https://www.solo.io/resources/lab
    description: >-
      Browser-based guided labs, filterable by product (the filter carries a "Gloo Mesh"
      value alongside istio, kgateway, agentgateway, kagent and agentregistry). Each lab runs
      against provisioned clusters rather than the reader's own.
    access: free, registration-gated
  - kind: workshop
    name: Solo Workshops
    url: https://www.solo.io/resources/workshops
    description: Longer instructor-led and self-paced workshop tracks.
    access: free, registration-gated
  - kind: local-install
    name: Getting started, single cluster
    url: https://docs.solo.io/gloo-mesh-enterprise/latest/getting_started/single/gs_single/
    description: >-
      Documented path to install the management plane and an agent, deploy the Bookinfo sample
      apps, apply a policy and open the Gloo UI on a single cluster you control.
    access: public docs; requires a Solo license key for the enterprise components
  - kind: local-install
    name: Getting started, multicluster
    url: https://docs.solo.io/gloo-mesh-enterprise/latest/getting_started/multi/gs_multi/
    description: >-
      Multicluster walkthrough — set up the management plane, deploy sample apps, configure
      routing across clusters, apply a policy, then federate clusters and isolate workloads
      for multitenancy.
    access: public docs; requires a Solo license key
  - kind: sample-apps
    name: Bookinfo and other sample applications
    url: https://docs.solo.io/gloo-mesh-enterprise/latest/getting_started/single/sample-apps/
    description: The sample workloads the getting-started and policy walkthroughs route to.
  - kind: dry-run
    name: Offline configuration validation
    url: https://docs.solo.io/gloo-mesh-enterprise/latest/concepts/about/validation/
    description: >-
      `meshctl experimental validate resources` checks Gloo custom resources against the
      shipped schema and CEL rules WITHOUT applying them — the closest thing this API has to a
      sandbox request. See conventions/gloo-mesh-conventions.yml#dry_run_mode.
  - kind: open-source
    name: Upstream open-source projects
    url: https://github.com/solo-io
    description: >-
      Istio, kgateway, agentgateway and kagent can be run with no license at all; the
      enterprise Gloo Mesh CRDs cannot.
  - kind: agent-surface
    name: Docs MCP server
    url: https://search.solo.io/mcp
    description: >-
      Callable right now with no credential — the only Solo.io endpoint in this record an
      agent can exercise unauthenticated. See mcp/gloo-mesh-mcp.yml.
license_required: true
license_docs: https://docs.solo.io/gloo-mesh-enterprise/latest/setup/prepare/licensing/