init CLI command reference

Detailed information on the init CLI command

Description

Install Dapr on supported hosting platforms.

Supported platforms

Usage

  1. dapr init [flags]

Flags

NameEnvironment VariableDefaultDescription
—dashboard-versionlatestThe version of the Dapr dashboard to install, for example: 1.0.0
—enable-hafalseEnable high availability (HA) mode
—enable-mtlstrueEnable mTLS in your cluster
—from-dirPath to a local directory containing a downloaded “Dapr Installer Bundle” release which is used to init the airgap environment
—help, -hPrint this help message
—image-registryPulls container images required by Dapr from the given image registry
—kubernetes, -kfalseDeploy Dapr to a Kubernetes cluster
—namespace, -ndapr-systemThe Kubernetes namespace to install Dapr in
—networkThe Docker network on which to install and deploy the Dapr runtime
—runtime-versionlatestThe version of the Dapr runtime to install, for example: 1.0.0
—image-variantThe image variant to use for the Dapr runtime, for example: mariner
—setConfigure options on the command line to be passed to the Dapr Helm chart and the Kubernetes cluster upon install. Can specify multiple values in a comma-separated list, for example: key1=val1,key2=val2
—slim, -sfalseExclude placement service, Redis and Zipkin containers from self-hosted installation
—timeout300The wait timeout for the Kubernetes installation
—waitfalseWait for Kubernetes initialization to complete
N/ADAPR_DEFAULT_IMAGE_REGISTRYIt is used to specify the default container registry to pull images from. When its value is set to GHCR or ghcr it pulls the required images from Github container registry. To default to Docker hub, unset the environment variable or leave it blank
N/ADAPR_HELM_REPO_URLSpecifies a private Dapr Helm chart url
N/ADAPR_HELM_REPO_USERNAMEA username for a private Helm chartThe username required to access the private Dapr Helm chart. If it can be accessed publicly, this env variable does not need to be set
N/ADAPR_HELM_REPO_PASSWORDA password for a private Helm chartThe password required to access the private Dapr Helm chart. If it can be accessed publicly, this env variable does not need to be set
—container-runtimedockerUsed to pass in a different container runtime other than Docker. Supported container runtimes are: docker, podman

Examples

Self hosted environment

Install Dapr by pulling container images for Placement, Redis and Zipkin. By default these images are pulled from Docker Hub. To switch to Dapr Github container registry as the default registry, set the DAPR_DEFAULT_IMAGE_REGISTRY environment variable value to be GHCR. To switch back to Docker Hub as default registry, unset this environment variable.

  1. dapr init

You can also specify a specific runtime version. Be default, the latest version is used.

  1. dapr init --runtime-version 1.4.0

You can also install Dapr with a particular image variant, for example: mariner.

  1. dapr init --image-variant mariner

Dapr can also run Slim self-hosted mode without Docker.

  1. dapr init -s

In an offline or airgap environment, you can download a Dapr Installer Bundle and use this to install Dapr instead of pulling images from the network.

  1. dapr init --from-dir <path-to-installer-bundle-directory>

Dapr can also run in slim self-hosted mode without Docker in an airgap environment.

  1. dapr init -s --from-dir <path-to-installer-bundle-directory>

You can also specify a private registry to pull container images from. These images need to be published to private registries as shown below to enable Dapr CLI to pull them successfully via the dapr init command -

  1. Dapr runtime container image(dapr) (Used to run Placement) - dapr/dapr:
  2. Redis container image(rejson) - dapr/3rdparty/rejson
  3. Zipkin container image(zipkin) - dapr/3rdparty/zipkin

All the required images used by Dapr needs to be under thedapr path.

The 3rd party images have to be published under dapr/3rdparty path.

image-registry uri follows this format - docker.io/<username>

  1. dapr init --image-registry docker.io/username

This command resolves the complete image URI as shown below -

  1. Placement container image(dapr) - docker.io/username/dapr/dapr:
  2. Redis container image(rejson) - docker.io/username/dapr/3rdparty/rejson
  3. zipkin container image(zipkin) - docker.io/username/dapr/3rdparty/zipkin

You can specify a different container runtime while setting up Dapr. If you omit the --container-runtime flag, the default container runtime is Docker.

  1. dapr init --container-runtime podman

Kubernetes environment

  1. dapr init -k

You can wait for the installation to complete its deployment with the --wait flag. The default timeout is 300s (5 min), but can be customized with the --timeout flag.

  1. dapr init -k --wait --timeout 600

You can also specify a specific runtime version.

  1. dapr init -k --runtime-version 1.4.0

Use the --set flag to configure a set of Helm Chart values during Dapr installation to help set up a Kubernetes cluster.

  1. dapr init -k --set global.tag=1.0.0 --set dapr_operator.logLevel=error

You can also specify a private registry to pull container images from. As of now dapr init -k does not use specific images for sentry, operator, placement and sidecar. It relies on only Dapr runtime container image dapr for all these images.

Scenario 1 : dapr image hosted directly under root folder in private registry -

  1. dapr init -k --image-registry docker.io/username

Scenario 2 : dapr image hosted under a new/different directory in private registry -

  1. dapr init -k --image-registry docker.io/username/<directory-name>

Last modified October 8, 2022: Support for alternative container runtimes - Podman (#2745) (54b783ad)