Objectives & prerequisites

What Hello Pico on Kubernetes teaches and what you need before starting.

Learning objectives

Install Crossplane on a local Kubernetes cluster.
Install the Crossplane Kubernetes Provider and grant it the RBAC it needs to act on the cluster.
Declare a CompositeResourceDefinition (XRD) for a new XHelloWorldPico API.
Author a Composition (pipeline mode, using function-patch-and-transform) that turns an XR into a real Kubernetes Job.
Create a Composite Resource (XR) carrying the same greeting value you used in the Hello Pico lab and verify the composed Job prints Hello, Pico! from inside the cluster.

Prerequisites

Completion of the Hello Pico lab — the greeting value in this lab reuses the same Hello, Pico! string.
Completion of the Crossplane · Part 1 · 01 Composing Hello Pico on Kubernetes lesson (or equivalent familiarity with Provider, XRD, Composition, XR, and Managed Resource).

Environment

Supported OS: macOS (Apple Silicon or Intel), Linux, or WSL.
Required shell: bash 3.2+ or zsh 5.0+.
Required tools (all invoked directly by the walkthrough):
- docker v20.10+ (minikube’s driver, and container runtime).
- minikube v1.34+ (v1.38.1 is the reference pin used to author this lab).
- kubectl v1.31+ (or newer; minikube ships one; brew install kubectl works too).
- helm v3.14+ (v3.16+ recommended; used to install Crossplane).
- bash and standard POSIX utilities (grep, cat, mkdir, cp).
PATH expectation: docker, minikube, kubectl, and helm must all resolve on PATH after install.
Estimated time: 60–90 minutes (of which the cluster start and Crossplane install account for roughly 5–10 minutes).

Cleanup step (also repeated at the end of the walkthrough):

minikube delete --profile crossplane-lab
rm -rf build/hello-world-pico-on-kubernetes work/hello-pico-on-kubernetes

Install commands

If any tool above is missing, install it using its upstream instructions before starting the walkthrough. On macOS with Homebrew:

brew install --cask docker
brew install minikube kubectl helm

On Linux, follow the upstream install guides:

Docker Engine — https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/
minikube — https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/start/
kubectl — https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/install-kubectl-linux/
helm — https://helm.sh/docs/intro/install/

Confirm each tool resolves before you begin:

command -v docker && docker version --format 'client: {{.Client.Version}}'
command -v minikube && minikube version --short
command -v kubectl && kubectl version --client --output=yaml | head -3
command -v helm    && helm version --short

Pinned versions (reference)

The walkthrough was authored and verified against these versions. Newer versions are expected to work; older versions may not support the Pipeline composition mode or the referenced provider APIs.

Crossplane chart: v2.3.4
Provider Kubernetes: v0.18.0 (xpkg.crossplane.io/crossplane-contrib/provider-kubernetes:v0.18.0)
Function Patch and Transform: v0.9.0 (xpkg.crossplane.io/crossplane-contrib/function-patch-and-transform:v0.9.0)
Kubernetes API version in minikube: v1.31.0

One-time setup (optional)

The walkthrough uses a dedicated minikube profile named crossplane-lab so it does not interfere with other clusters. If you prefer to use your existing minikube cluster, drop --profile crossplane-lab from every command. If you use a Kubernetes distribution other than minikube (kind, k3d, docker-desktop), all kubectl, helm, and crossplane steps below still apply.