CoreWeave Development Environment Setup

VerifiedCaution

Sets up the CoreWeave development environment and manages local CKS clusters. Use it to install tools like kubectl, helm, and kind, or to start/stop a local Kubernetes cluster. Helps new engineers quickly prepare their workstation.

Sby Skills Guide Bot
DevelopmentIntermediate
906/2/2026
CursorCopilot
#coreweave#development-environment#kubernetes#dev-tools

Recommended for

Our review

Sets up a CoreWeave development environment with required tools and manages local CKS clusters.

Strengths

  • Automates full development environment setup for CoreWeave.
  • Easily start/stop local CKS clusters with simple commands.
  • Selective installation of tools via flags.
  • Includes troubleshooting guidance for common issues.

Limitations

  • Requires user confirmation before installing software.
  • Specific to CoreWeave; not for generic Kubernetes setups.
  • CKS cluster requires Go and SSH access to a specific repository.
When to use it

Use this skill when setting up a CoreWeave development environment or managing local CKS clusters.

When not to use it

Do not use if you are setting up a non-CoreWeave Kubernetes environment or need a generic development setup.

Security analysis

Caution
Quality score85/100

The skill guides users through setting up development tools, which inherently involves installing software. The included example uses 'curl-pipe-bash', a common but potentially dangerous pattern. The skill does not directly execute these commands but presents them as steps for the user to run manually. It explicitly warns to get confirmation before running installations. Given the power of the tooling and the external script execution, caution is warranted.

Findings
  • Contains example of piping a remote script to bash (gh api ... | bash), which can be risky if the source is compromised.
  • Skill instructs installation of software from Homebrew/Nix/other sources, which may have supply chain risks.

Examples

Full CoreWeave environment setup
Set up my CoreWeave development environment with all tools and authentication.
Start local CKS cluster
Start a local CKS cluster for CoreWeave development.
Selective tool installation
Install only kubectl, helm, and kind for CoreWeave development.

name: cw-dev description: Set up CoreWeave development environment and manage local CKS clusters. Use when installing development tools, configuring authentication, or starting/stopping local Kubernetes clusters. allowed-tools:

  • Bash(cw dev:*)
  • Bash(cw version)

CW Development Environment

Set up a CoreWeave development environment with required tools and manage local CKS (CoreWeave Kubernetes Service) clusters.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

  • Setting up a new development machine
  • Installing CoreWeave development tools
  • Configuring authentication for BSR/GitHub
  • Starting or stopping a local CKS cluster for development
  • Troubleshooting development environment issues

Instructions

Step 1: Understand the Request

Determine what the user needs:

  • Full setup: Install all tools and configure auth
  • Auth only: Just configure authentication
  • Specific tools: Install only certain tools
  • CKS cluster: Start or stop local Kubernetes cluster

Step 2: Full Development Setup

IMPORTANT: This installs software on the user's machine. Get confirmation before running.

Complete setup (auth + apps):

cw dev init

This runs two stages:

  1. auths - Authenticate with BSR and GitHub
  2. apps - Install development tools

Available tools installed: | Tool | Purpose | |------|---------| | devspace | Kubernetes development tool | | direnv | Environment variable management | | git | Version control | | helm | Kubernetes package manager | | homebrew | macOS package manager | | kind | Kubernetes in Docker | | kubectl | Kubernetes CLI | | nix | Reproducible package manager | | orbstack | Fast container runtime (macOS) | | teleport | Secure infrastructure access |

Step 3: Selective Setup

Authentication only:

cw dev init -s auths

Apps only:

cw dev init -s apps

Specific apps:

cw dev init -s apps -i helm,kubectl,kind

Exclude certain apps:

cw dev init -e orbstack,homebrew

Step 4: Local CKS Cluster

For local Kubernetes development against CKS:

Prerequisites:

  • Go installed
  • SSH access to appenheimer repo
  • Run cw dev init first

Start cluster:

cw dev cks --start

This:

  1. Clones the appenheimer repository
  2. Configures direnv
  3. Starts the local CKS cluster

After starting:

cd appenheimer
source ~/.bashrc  # or ~/.zshrc

Stop cluster:

cw dev cks --stop

This runs make clean in the appenheimer directory.

Step 5: Verify Setup

After setup, verify tools are working:

# Check installed tools
kubectl version --client
helm version
kind version

# Check auth
gh auth status

Common Workflows

New Engineer Setup

# 1. Install cw CLI
gh api -H 'Accept: application/vnd.github.v3.raw' \
   "repos/coreweave/cw-eng-cli/contents/scripts/install.sh" | bash

# 2. Run full dev setup
cw dev init

# 3. Start local cluster (if needed)
cw dev cks --start

Minimal Setup (Just Kubernetes Tools)

cw dev init -s apps -i kubectl,helm,kind

Reset Authentication

If auth is broken:

rm -rf ~/.cw/cli/gh.json
cw dev init -s auths

Troubleshooting

Tool installation fails:

  • Check if Homebrew is working: brew doctor
  • Check permissions on install directories
  • Try installing individual tools: cw dev init -s apps -i <tool>

CKS cluster won't start:

  • Ensure Go is installed: go version
  • Check SSH access to appenheimer
  • Verify Docker/OrbStack is running

Auth issues:

rm -rf ~/.cw/cli/gh.json
cw dev init -s auths

View logs:

cat ~/.cw/cli/cli.log

Platform Notes

macOS:

  • OrbStack is recommended over Docker Desktop
  • Homebrew is used for package management

Linux:

  • Some tools may use Nix instead of Homebrew
  • OrbStack is macOS-only

CI/CD:

  • Set CI=true to disable interactive prompts
  • Use GITHUB_TOKEN env var for auth
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