> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.firebolt.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

> Install the firebolt-instance Helm chart on a local kind cluster with an in-cluster S3 emulator and run your first query through the gateway.

# Quickstart

This page walks through a complete local install of the `firebolt-instance` Helm chart on kind, from an empty machine to your first query.

The walkthrough uses kind for the cluster and an in-cluster S3 emulator for engine storage, so it needs no cloud resources. For the full cluster, tooling, and storage requirements, see [Prerequisites](./prerequisites).

## Before you get started

Install the following tools:

* [kind](https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/) to create a local Kubernetes cluster.
* [Docker](https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/) to run the containers that back kind.
* [kubectl](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/) to interact with the cluster.
* [Helm](https://helm.sh/docs/intro/install/) v3 to install the chart.

## Create a local cluster

Create a kind cluster on your machine:

```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"css-variables","dark":"css-variables"}}
kind create cluster --name firebolt
```

Confirm the node is ready:

```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"css-variables","dark":"css-variables"}}
kubectl get nodes
```

The node reports `Ready`:

```text theme={"theme":{"light":"css-variables","dark":"css-variables"}}
NAME                     STATUS   ROLES           AGE   VERSION
firebolt-control-plane   Ready    control-plane   30s   v1.35.0
```

## Create a namespace

Create the namespace that holds the storage emulator and the release:

```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"css-variables","dark":"css-variables"}}
kubectl create namespace firebolt
```

## Deploy object storage

Engines store managed table data in object storage and refuse to start against a local filesystem. On a real cluster, point the engine at an S3 or S3-compatible bucket and grant access through your platform's workload identity, as described in [Amazon S3 object storage](./usage/object-storage/amazon-s3). For this local cluster, deploy the [floci](https://github.com/floci-io/floci) S3 emulator, which also creates the bucket the engine uses:

```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"css-variables","dark":"css-variables"}}
kubectl apply -n firebolt -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/firebolt-db/firebolt-instance-helm/main/local-floci.yaml
```

Wait for floci and its bucket-creation job to finish:

```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"css-variables","dark":"css-variables"}}
# Wait for the floci deployment to roll out.
kubectl -n firebolt rollout status deployment/floci --timeout=120s

# Wait for the one-shot job that creates the firebolt-managed bucket.
kubectl -n firebolt wait --for=condition=complete job/floci-mkbucket --timeout=120s
```

<Note>
  floci stores data in the pod's ephemeral filesystem and validates no credentials, so it is for local development only. Production deployments use a real object store. See [Object Storage](./usage/object-storage/amazon-s3).
</Note>

## Configure the engine

Create a values file that points the engine's storage at the floci endpoint. The `type: minio` mode signs requests for an S3-compatible endpoint, and `bucket_name` matches the bucket floci created.

```yaml theme={"theme":{"light":"css-variables","dark":"css-variables"}}
# my-values.yaml
customEngineConfig:
  storage:
    type: minio
    api_scheme: "s3://"
    bucket_name: firebolt-managed
    minio:
      endpoint: http://floci.firebolt.svc.cluster.local:4566
```

This is the only value the local install needs. The chart's defaults provide one engine named `default`, the Envoy gateway, the Metadata Service, and a bundled PostgreSQL.

## Install the chart

Install the chart into the `firebolt` namespace from its published location:

```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"css-variables","dark":"css-variables"}}
helm install firebolt oci://oci.firebolt.io/firebolt-db/helm-charts/firebolt-instance \
  --namespace firebolt \
  -f my-values.yaml
```

The `oci.firebolt.io` host is Firebolt's [Scarf](https://scarf.sh) gateway, which records anonymous download analytics and redirects to GHCR. To install without it, pull from `oci://ghcr.io/firebolt-db/helm-charts/firebolt-instance` instead.

## Verify the install

List the workloads the release created:

```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"css-variables","dark":"css-variables"}}
kubectl -n firebolt get statefulset,deployment
```

Wait until `firebolt-engine-default-node-0`, `firebolt-metadata-pg`, `firebolt-gateway`, and `firebolt-metadata-service` all report `READY`. The engine pod stays `NotReady` until it can reach the bucket, so if it does not become ready, confirm the object-storage step finished.

## Run a query

Run a query through the gateway from a temporary in-cluster pod. The `X-Firebolt-Engine` header selects the engine:

```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"css-variables","dark":"css-variables"}}
kubectl run query --rm -i --image=curlimages/curl --restart=Never -n firebolt -- \
  curl --silent "http://firebolt-gateway/" \
    -H "X-Firebolt-Engine: default" \
    -H "Content-Type: text/plain" \
    --data-binary "SELECT 1"
```

You should see the query result in the output.

## Clean up

Delete the kind cluster to free all resources:

```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"css-variables","dark":"css-variables"}}
kind delete cluster --name firebolt
```

## Next steps

* [Single engine](./usage/single-engine) covers the default install in more detail.
* [Multi-engine](./usage/multi-engine) runs more than one engine in a release.
* [Object Storage](./usage/object-storage/amazon-s3) configures a real S3 or S3-compatible bucket.
* [Operator upgrade path](./operator-upgrade-path) explains when to move to the Firebolt Kubernetes Operator for day-2 automation.