Mirrord Quickstart Skill

Purpose

• Check system requirements
• Install mirrord (CLI, VS Code, or IntelliJ)
• Connect to their first Kubernetes target
• Verify the connection works

Critical First Steps

• Operating system (macOS, Linux, Windows)
• Preferred workflow (CLI, VS Code, IntelliJ)
• Do they have kubectl configured?

# Check kubectl access
kubectl cluster-info
kubectl get pods -A | head -5

Installation Paths

CLI (recommended for getting started)

• macOS / Linux: Point the user to the official docs for Homebrew, apt, or pinned binary install steps — do not invent or paste one-liners that fetch and execute remote scripts.
• Windows: Point the user to the official docs for supported installers.

Security: Prefer package managers or manually verified binaries from official release artifacts. Never execute installation by piping downloaded content into a shell.

mirrord --version

VS Code Extension

1. Open VS Code Extensions (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+X)
2. Search "mirrord"
3. Install "mirrord" by MetalBear
4. Look for mirrord icon in status bar

IntelliJ Plugin

1. Open Settings → Plugins → Marketplace
2. Search "mirrord"
3. Install and restart IDE
4. Find mirrord in navigation toolbar

First Session

CLI approach

# List available targets
mirrord ls

# Run a local process with mirrord
mirrord exec --target pod/<pod-name> -- <your-command>

# Example: Node.js app
mirrord exec --target pod/api-server-7c8d9 -- node app.js

# Example: Python app
mirrord exec --target pod/backend-abc123 -- python main.py

IDE approach

1. Enable mirrord (click status bar icon / toolbar button)
2. Select target pod when prompted
3. Run/debug your application normally
4. mirrord intercepts and connects automatically

Verification

1. Check logs - You should see mirrord initialization messages
2. Test environment - Remote env vars should be available locally
3. Test network - Make a request to your remote service; it should reach your local process

# Quick test: print remote env vars
mirrord exec --target pod/<pod-name> -- env | grep -i database

Common First-Timer Issues

kubectl get pods -n <namespace>

Response Guidelines

1. Ask about their setup - OS, IDE preference, existing kubectl access
2. Go step by step - Don't overwhelm with all options at once
3. Verify each step - Confirm installation worked before moving on
4. Celebrate success - When they connect, explain what just happened

Example Interaction

1. Ask: macOS/Linux/Windows? CLI or IDE?
2. Check:

   kubectl cluster-info

   working?
3. Install: Follow the official quick-start for their OS (no remote pipe-to-shell installs)
4. Run:

   mirrord ls

   to see targets
5. Connect:

   mirrord exec --target pod/X -- <their-app>

6. Verify: Show them it's working