Quick Start Guide

Important

The Quick Start demo environment already has the SESSIFY (@softprobe/sessify) pre-installed and enabled, so you don't need to install it again. If you want to integrate the SDK into your own frontend app, see SESSIFY Integration.

Get started with SP-Istio Agent in minutes using a local Kubernetes cluster with Kind.

Time Estimate

• Setup: 10-15 minutes
• Demo exploration: 5-10 minutes

Prerequisites

• Operating System: macOS (or Linux with Docker)
• Required Tools:
  • Docker Desktop
  • Kind - brew install kind
  • kubectl - brew install kubectl
  • Istio CLI - brew install istioctl

Install All Tools at Once

brew install kind kubectl istioctl

Step 1: Set up Kind Cluster with Istio

Create a Kind cluster and install Istio with OpenTelemetry Operator:

curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/softprobe/softprobe/main/scripts/cluster-setup.sh | sh

tip

This script will automatically:

• Create a local Kubernetes cluster using Kind
• Install Istio service mesh
• Install OpenTelemetry Operator for telemetry collection

Step 2: Install the Travel Demo

Deploy the demo application with SP-Istio Agent:

Important

Use the minimal.yaml file you downloaded from the Account Setup guide.

# Install Softprobe Istio WASM Plugin (using the minimal.yaml downloaded from Account Setup)
kubectl apply -f minimal.yaml

# Install demo app
kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/softprobe/softprobe/main/examples/travel/apps.yaml

# Expose the demo
sleep 10 && kubectl port-forward -n istio-system svc/istio-ingressgateway 8080:80

Step 3: Try the Demo

1. Open http://localhost:8080/ in your browser
2. Select a pair of cities

Demo: Search Flight.

3. Search for flights

4. Complete a booking with any test information

5. Process a payment with fake details

tip

Generate at least 5-10 bookings to see meaningful data in the dashboard.

Step 4: View Results in Softprobe Dashboard

After generating some traffic:

1. Go to Softprobe Dashboard
2. Navigate to Travel View in the left navigation menu
3. Explore the captured requests and business-level traces

Demo: Session Overview.

Demo Video

Quick Start Demo Video.

Cleanup

When you're done with the demo, clean up the Kind cluster:

kind delete cluster --name sp-demo-cluster

Congratulations!

You've successfully set up Softprobe and seen it in action! Next steps:

• Production Deployment - Deploy to your production cluster
• Configuration Guide - Customize collection rules
• Advanced Concepts - Learn how Softprobe works