This is Part 1 of a two-part series.

Part 2 (coming soon): Connecting to spoke clusters from a controller using multicluster-runtime , driven by ClusterProfile .

What this article is about

The Cluster Inventory API ( multicluster.x-k8s.io ) is driven by SIG-Multicluster and centered on the ClusterProfile resource. It only delivers value when something produces those ClusterProfile s . That something is a cluster manager . Today, the production-ready open-source option is Open Cluster Management (OCM) , whose registration controller can act as a ClusterProfile cluster manager behind a feature gate.

This article shows how to set that up end-to-end on a local kind environment:

An OCM hub-spoke setup with three kind clusters.

The ClusterProfile feature gate enabled on the hub.

cluster-proxy wired in so ClusterProfile.status.accessProviders carries real, usable connection info.

ClusterProperty from the spokes flowing into ClusterProfile.status.properties on the hub.

By the end, you'll have a working…