🚀 Quickstart

This page gets you from zero to a running Mars instance with your first application deployed.

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Mars starts with zero external dependencies by default (SQLite + in-memory queue). You can try it out right away, and connect your real cluster and Git server when you're ready.

What you need

Requirement	Needed for	Notes
A Linux / macOS machine (or WSL on Windows)	running Mars	any small server or even a laptop
A Kubernetes cluster	actually deploying apps	a test cluster (e.g. kind / minikube) is fine to start
A Git server with a token	pulling your code and charts	e.g. GitLab — you'll need an access token

Step 1 — Get Mars

Pick one:

# Option A: build from source
make build                      # produces ./bin/app

# Option B: download a binary
# grab the latest release from https://github.com/DuC-cnZj/mars/releases

Step 2 — Generate the config

./bin/app init                  # creates config.yaml (skipped if it already exists)

Step 3 — Connect your Git server and cluster

Open config.yaml and fill in two things (see Configuration for details):

git_server_plugin:
  name: gitlab
  args:
    token: "your-gitlab-token"          # from GitLab → Settings → Access Tokens
    baseurl: "https://gitlab.com/api/v4"

kubeconfig: "/home/you/.kube/config"    # point to your cluster's kubeconfig

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Skip this step for a first try — Mars runs with the default in-memory settings.

Step 4 — Start Mars

./bin/app serve -c config.yaml

Open your browser:

• Address: http://127.0.0.1:4000
• Default account: admin / 123456

Step 5 — Deploy your first app

1. Create a namespace — click the + button in the top-right corner. A namespace is just a place to group your apps. (Leave it public for now.)
2. Open the project — click your namespace, then create a project for your Git repository.
3. Set the chart directory — tell Mars where your Helm chart lives in the repo. If your chart is at the repo root, enter the folder name (e.g. charts). If it's in another project, use project-id|branch|path.
4. Fill in the values — Mars shows a ready-made values.yaml you can edit. You can use built-in variables like <.Branch> for the branch name and <.Host1> for your domain. See Deploying Apps.
5. Click Deploy — watch it roll out. Debug mode keeps going even if a step fails, which is handy while testing.
6. Verify — open the app's logs, or click the access link once the domain is ready.

That's it — your app is live. To release a new version, change the image tag in the project and deploy again.

Next steps

• Configuration — set up SSO, private image registry, storage and more
• Deploying Apps — namespaces, values variables, upgrades and rollbacks
• Containers & Logs — terminals, logs and file operations