CKA Buddy (Rust TUI)

CKA Buddy is a local-first, hands-on Kubernetes coaching app for CKA prep.

It gives you:

• guided step-by-step project content,
• deterministic verification,
• persistent progress,
• and a TUI control plane while you run real shell commands in a paired terminal.

Screenshots

Splash

Learning UI

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Default workflow (new)

cargo run now defaults to external shell mode.

That means:

1. You launch CKA Buddy in one terminal.
2. CKA Buddy shows a 4-digit PIN pairing command in the log.
3. You run that pairing command in a second terminal.
4. All commands from the TUI execute in that paired terminal (no terminal spam/popups).

Start app (default external mode)

cargo run

Target a specific terminal emulator quickly

Use a positional argument:

cargo run -- ghostty

Equivalent explicit form:

cargo run -- --shell external --terminal ghostty

Pairing helper command (generated by app)

You’ll see something like:

cargo run -- --shell-connect 4821 --port 51234

Run it in your second terminal to connect.

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Shell modes

• Default: external
• Optional: embedded

Force embedded mode:

cargo run -- --shell embedded

Switch at runtime inside TUI:

• /shell → show current mode
• /shell embedded
• /shell external

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Core in-app commands

• /new — reset progress and restart from Project 00
• /next / /prev — navigate steps
• /back — jump to last completed step
• /recommended — jump to recommended next step
• /verify — run deterministic checks for current step
• /hint — get contextual coach hint
• /suggest [n] — load suggested command
• /clear — clear terminal feed
• /help — show command reference
• /quit — save and exit

You can also type normal shell/kubectl commands directly.

For guard overrides on risky commands:

! <command>

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Quit

• Ctrl+C works globally (quick quit from anywhere)
• /quit also exits cleanly

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Project purpose

CKA Buddy is designed to reduce exam prep friction:

• learn by doing,
• keep commands and verification deterministic,
• avoid context switching,
• keep progress and momentum across sessions.

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Content + progress

• Content source: docs/cka-app-content/
• Progress file: ~/.cka-coach/progress.json
• Verification source: step verify commands in content

Strict runnable blocks

Project and bug markdown files support cka-step fenced blocks for exact runnable steps.

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Optional LLM coach

Default coaching is deterministic (no API required).

Enable LLM hints:

cargo run --features llm

Set environment variables:

export CKA_COACH_LLM_API_KEY="<key>"
export CKA_COACH_LLM_ENDPOINT="https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions"
export CKA_COACH_LLM_MODEL="openai/gpt-4.1-mini"

If using another OpenAI-compatible endpoint, set CKA_COACH_LLM_ENDPOINT accordingly.