Signadot Local Development Skill

Signadot Local Development

Connect your local machine to the stage Kubernetes cluster for full bidirectional connectivity. Run services locally that can both reach cluster services and receive cluster traffic.

When to use this skill

Connecting to the stage cluster for local development
Running a service locally that needs cluster dependencies (databases, other services)
Routing cluster traffic to your local machine for debugging
Migrating from Telepresence to Bitso CLI / Signadot Local
Troubleshooting connectivity, port mappings, or DNS resolution issues
Working with multiple local services simultaneously

Skill Contents

Available Resources

bitso env commands -- Full flags reference for all bitso env commands
signadot local advanced -- Proxy, override, traffic recording via Signadot CLI
troubleshooting -- Common issues and solutions

Quick Start

# 1. Upgrade to latest Bitso CLI
brew upgrade bitso

# 2. Connect to stage (outbound: your machine can reach cluster services)
bitso env connect

# 3. Route cluster traffic to your local service (inbound)
bitso env local -s <your-service>

# 4. Source the auto-generated env file and start your service
source .env.<your-service>.stage.local
./gradlew bootRun  # or your service start command

That's it. No extra config, no YAML files, no manual port-forward setup.

Outbound Connectivity

bitso env connect establishes a connection so your local machine can reach any service inside the stage cluster by its internal hostname.

bitso env connect

This single command handles automatically:

Signadot CLI check and authentication (browser SSO if expired)
Config bootstrap (~/.signadot/config.yaml)
Admin privileges (macOS Privileges app)
Kubernetes context for the environment
AWS SSO login if session is expired
Signadot Local tunnel establishment

What you can do once connected

# HTTP services
curl http://orders.stage.svc.cluster.local:8080/actuator/health

# gRPC services
grpcurl -plaintext -d '{"service":""}' \
  stocks.stage.svc.cluster.local:8201 grpc.health.v1.Health/Check

Your local service can resolve and call any *.stage.svc.cluster.local hostname as if it were running inside the cluster.

Disconnect

bitso env disconnect

Check status

bitso env status

Inbound Connectivity

bitso env local creates a per-engineer sandbox that routes cluster traffic to your local machine. Any request carrying your routing key is forwarded to your local ports instead of the cluster service.

Add a service

bitso env local -s stocks

This command:

Connects to the environment (if not already connected)
Discovers the workload in the cluster (Rollout or Deployment)
Creates or updates your personal sandbox with local port mappings
Generates a .env file with the service's environment variables
Prints the routing key for testing

Multiple services

# All at once
bitso env local -s stocks -s orders

# Or incrementally (sandbox updates in place)
bitso env local -s stocks
bitso env local -s orders

Custom port mappings

# Format: remote[:local]
bitso env local -s stocks --port 8080 --port 9090:9091

Sandbox TTL

bitso env local -s stocks --ttl 12h   # default: 14 days

Remove services

# Remove one service (sandbox continues with remaining services)
bitso env local stop -s stocks

# Remove all services (deletes the entire sandbox)
bitso env local stop

Prefer removing services individually to avoid burning through the Signadot sandbox creation quota.

Full workflow

# 1. Set up sandbox (also handles outbound connectivity)
bitso env local -s stocks

# 2. Source env file and start your service
source .env.stocks.stage.local
./gradlew bootRun

# 3. Test with routing key
curl -H 'ot-baggage-bitso: <routing-key>' \
  http://stocks.stage.svc.cluster.local:8080/health

# 4. Clean up when done
bitso env local stop -s stocks
bitso env disconnect

Migration from Telepresence

Telepresence is retired as of April 1, 2026. Bitso CLI v1.9.1+ detects running Telepresence instances and warns about conflicts.

| Telepresence | Bitso CLI Equivalent | |---|---| | telepresence connect | bitso env connect | | telepresence intercept <svc> | bitso env local -s <svc> | | telepresence leave <svc> | bitso env local stop -s <svc> | | telepresence quit | bitso env disconnect | | telepresence status | bitso env status | | Manual port-forwards | Automatic via bitso env connect (full cluster DNS) | | One service at a time | Multiple services: bitso env local -s svc1 -s svc2 | | Manual env var export | Auto-generated .env files per service |

Key improvements over Telepresence

One command does everything -- auth, AWS SSO, kubectl context, and connectivity handled automatically
Full cluster DNS -- resolve any *.svc.cluster.local hostname without individual port-forwards
Multi-service sandboxes -- work on multiple services simultaneously, add or remove incrementally
Auto-generated .env files -- bitso env local exports env vars for each service automatically
Clean disconnect -- bitso env disconnect tears everything down cleanly

Network Caveats

Ping does not work: Signadot Local uses a Kubernetes port-forward (TCP only). ICMP/ping is not supported. Use HTTP or gRPC calls to verify connectivity.
Use service ports: Services expose specific ports (typically 8080 for HTTP, 8201 for gRPC), not port 80. Check the service's Deployment/Rollout for the correct port.
VPN interface: If your cluster is behind a VPN on a non-default interface, configure it in ~/.signadot/config.yaml:

local:
  connections:
  - cluster: stage
    outbound:
      macOSVPNInterface: utun6  # find with ifconfig

Advanced: Signadot CLI Directly

Bitso CLI wraps the Signadot CLI for convenience. For advanced use cases, use the Signadot CLI directly:

# Direct connect (requires manual config)
sudo signadot local connect --cluster stage

# Status
signadot local status

# Disconnect
signadot local disconnect

For proxy, override, and traffic recording, see signadot local advanced.

signadot-sandboxes skill -- PR sandbox lifecycle, context propagation, message isolation
signadot-mcp skill -- AI-assisted sandbox management via MCP
Bitso CLI v1.8.0 -- Outbound Connectivity
Bitso CLI v1.9.0 -- Inbound Connectivity
Signadot Local Development docs

Agent Skills: Signadot Local Development

Install this agent skill to your local

Skill Files