# 01 — Prerequisites

Everything here targets **amd64** (standard 64-bit x86 — a spare PC, mini
PC, or an amd64 VM). If your hardware is arm64 (Raspberry Pi, Apple Silicon
VM), the tools below all publish arm64 builds too; swap the architecture in
whichever install command you use and the rest of this guide is unchanged.

## 1. A target machine

You need one machine to become your cluster node — a spare physical PC, a
mini PC, or a VM (VirtualBox, UTM, Proxmox, or any hypervisor that can boot
from an ISO). Minimum realistic spec: 2 CPU cores, 4GB RAM, 20GB disk.

It needs to be reachable over the network from your everyday machine (the
one you'll run `talosctl` and `kubectl` from), and it needs a stable IP
address — see the note about DHCP reservations in
[`talos/README.md`](../talos/README.md).

You do **not** need to install an OS on it yet. That's what the next doc
covers — Talos gets installed by booting a special ISO and sending it
configuration over the network, not through a normal installer.

Download the Talos amd64 ISO from the
[Talos releases page](https://github.com/siderolabs/talos/releases) (look
for `metal-amd64.iso` under the latest release) and boot your target machine
from it. Leave it sitting at the boot screen — you'll configure it in
[`docs/02-talos-bootstrap.md`](02-talos-bootstrap.md).

> **Ask Claude:** if you're not sure whether to use a VM or spare physical
> hardware, ask — the tradeoffs (snapshots and easy resets vs. more
> realistic networking) are worth five minutes of discussion before you
> commit.

## 2. talosctl

The CLI you use to configure and manage Talos nodes.

**macOS (Homebrew):**
```sh
brew install siderolabs/tap/talosctl
```

**Linux:**
```sh
curl -sL https://talos.dev/install | sh
```

Verify:
```sh
talosctl version --client
```

## 3. kubectl

The standard Kubernetes CLI — you'll use it constantly, for this and every
future Kubernetes cluster you touch.

**macOS (Homebrew):**
```sh
brew install kubectl
```

**Linux:** follow the
[official install instructions](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/install-kubectl-linux/)
for your distribution.

Verify:
```sh
kubectl version --client
```

## 4. argocd CLI

The command-line client for Argo CD — used mainly to log in and inspect
Applications; most day-to-day work happens through Git, not this CLI.

**macOS (Homebrew):**
```sh
brew install argocd
```

**Linux:**
Download the `argocd-linux-amd64` binary from the
[Argo CD releases page](https://github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/releases), then:
```sh
chmod +x argocd-linux-amd64
sudo mv argocd-linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/argocd
```

Verify:
```sh
argocd version --client
```

## 5. A GitHub account and a fork of this repo

This whole system works by Argo CD reading a Git repository you control.
Fork this repo (or create a new repo from it) on GitHub, and clone *your*
copy — not the original — to work from. Every command later in this guide
that references a repo URL means your fork's URL.

## Checklist

- [ ] Target machine chosen, network-reachable, IP address noted
- [ ] Talos ISO downloaded, machine booted from it and idle at the boot screen
- [ ] `talosctl version --client` works
- [ ] `kubectl version --client` works
- [ ] `argocd version --client` works
- [ ] You have your own fork of this repo cloned locally

Once all of these are true, continue to
[`docs/02-talos-bootstrap.md`](02-talos-bootstrap.md).