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What is aether-ops-bootstrap?

aether-ops-bootstrap turns a freshly installed Ubuntu Server into a running aether-ops management plane on top of RKE2 — without touching the network.

It exists to solve a specific, unglamorous problem: putting a working Kubernetes-based management plane onto a machine that has no internet access, no pre-installed dependencies beyond the Ubuntu essentials, and no operator with the time to hand-install each piece.

The problem​

aether-ops manages 4G/5G network functions. Those functions run on edge hardware that is frequently:

  • Airgapped. No reachable apt mirrors, no GitHub, no container registries.
  • Regulated. No unapproved packages, no PPAs, no curl-to-bash installers.
  • Field-deployed. A technician brings a USB drive and expects "run one command, walk away" to work.

Before this project, standing up the aether-ops management plane in that environment meant a tangle of custom scripts, Ansible runbooks, and "now copy these five files into /etc/rancher/rke2/ and don't forget to …". Those approaches were brittle, inconsistent across sites, and impossible to audit.

The shape of the solution​

Two artifacts, released together:

  • A launcher binary — aether-ops-bootstrap. Statically linked Go, single file, 10–30 MB. Contains all the logic: preflight checks, .deb installation, systemd units, RKE2 install, aether-ops install, state tracking, reconciliation. Versioned with semver (e.g. v0.1.43).
  • An offline bundle — bundle.tar.zst. An opaque tarball containing every .deb, every RKE2 artifact, the Helm binary, the aether-ops binary, and every template the launcher needs. Versioned with calver (e.g. 2026.04.1).

The operator copies both files to the target host and runs:

./aether-ops-bootstrap install --bundle bundle.tar.zst

Minutes later, RKE2 is running, aether-ops is reachable, and the bootstrap writes a state file and exits. The bootstrap never runs again on that host except to upgrade (new bundle) or repair (fix drift).

Who this is for​

Reading this as someone who:

  • Operates the install — You have Ubuntu/Linux fluency, know what apt, systemd, and sudo are, but have never touched RKE2 or aether-ops. Start with Getting Started.
  • Builds the bundle — You maintain the release process, edit bundle.yaml, care about reproducibility. Go to Build Guide.
  • Extends the launcher — You want to add components, understand the state machine, or troubleshoot a failed install. Go to Bootstrap Guide.

How to read these docs​

Documentation is split into four sections that stand alone:

  1. Introduction — what it is, how it works, what the vocabulary means. (You're here.)
  2. Getting Started — the shortest path from "I have artifacts and a fresh Ubuntu box" to "aether-ops is running."
  3. Build Guide — everything about producing bundles.
  4. Bootstrap Guide — everything about the launcher, its commands, and what happens on the target host.

Use the sidebar or search — every page is reachable from anywhere.

v0.1.x Alpha

This is the first public documentation for the 0.1.x Alpha line. Behaviors marked "roadmap" are not in 0.1.x. The code and this site will move quickly; expect churn on main until a stable 0.2 / 1.0 cut.