Cluster Lifecycle

Create a cluster

sind create cluster [NAME] [--config FILE] [--pull]

Argument/Flag	Default	Description
`NAME`	`default`	Cluster name (positional, optional)
`--config`	—	Path to YAML configuration file
`--pull`	`false`	Pull images before creating containers

Without --config, sind creates a minimal cluster (1 controller + 1 worker) using the default image. Configuration can also be piped via stdin instead of using --config.

When both a positional NAME and a config file with a name: field are provided, the positional argument takes precedence.

# Minimal cluster (named "default")
sind create cluster

# Named cluster
sind create cluster dev

# From config file
sind create cluster --config cluster.yaml

# Config file with name override
sind create cluster staging --config cluster.yaml

# Pipe config from stdin
sind create cluster << 'EOF'
kind: Cluster
name: dev
nodes:
  - controller
  - worker: 3
EOF

What happens during creation

Mesh infrastructure is created if not already present (network, DNS, SSH)
Cluster network and volumes are created
Munge key and Slurm configuration are generated
All node containers start in parallel
sind waits for each node to become ready (systemd, sshd, Slurm daemons)

If any node fails to become ready within the timeout, the command fails. The partial cluster is not cleaned up automatically — use sind delete cluster to remove it.

Preflight checks

Before creating resources, sind checks for conflicts — containers, networks, or volumes with matching names that already exist. If conflicts are found, creation fails with an error.

List clusters

sind get clusters

NAME      NODES (S/C/W)   SLURM    STATUS
default   4 (1/1/2)       25.11    running
dev       3 (0/1/2)       25.11    running

The NODES column shows the total count and breakdown: Submitter / Controller / Worker.

Delete a cluster

sind delete cluster [NAME]

Deleting is idempotent — deleting a non-existent cluster is not an error. sind handles partial or broken clusters (e.g., from a failed creation).

Deletion order: stops/removes containers, disconnects/removes networks, removes volumes. sind also updates ~/.sind/known_hosts to remove deleted nodes.

# Delete the default cluster
sind delete cluster

# Delete a named cluster
sind delete cluster dev

# Delete all clusters
sind delete cluster --all

When the last cluster is deleted, sind also removes the shared mesh infrastructure (DNS, SSH, mesh network).