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Deploy UXP

Upbound Crossplane requires a Kubernetes cluster. You can run Upbound Crossplane in any Kubernetes environment, such as a managed Kubernetes service or in bare-metal environments. Upbound recommends using Helm to install a self-managed instance of Upbound Crossplane.

tip

Looking for a managed Crossplane experience? Read about running Upbound Crossplane in a Spaces environment

Install Upbound Crossplane​

  1. Add the upbound-stable chart repository:
helm repo add upbound-stable https://charts.upbound.io/stable && helm repo update
  1. Install Upbound Crossplane:
helm install crossplane --namespace crossplane-system --create-namespace upbound-stable/crossplane --devel
note

Helm requires the use of --devel flag for versions with suffixes, like v2.0.0-up.1. The Helm repository Upbound uses is the stable repository, so use of that flag is only a workaround. You will always get the latest stable version of Upbound Crossplane.

Upgrade from open source Crossplane​

important

Version Upgrade Rule: To meet the upstream Crossplane needs, ensure there is at most one minor version difference for Crossplane versions during upgrades.

To upgrade from upstream Crossplane, the target UXP version should match the Crossplane version until the -up.N suffix. You can increment at most one minor version between Crossplane versions to follow upstream guidelines.

Examples:

  • ✅ Allowed: Crossplane v2.0.1 → UXP v2.0.1-up.N (same Crossplane version)
  • ✅ Allowed: Crossplane v2.0.1 → UXP v2.1.0-up.N (one minor version diff in Crossplane)
  • ✅ Allowed: Crossplane v2.0.1 → UXP v2.0.5-up.N (multiple patch versions allowed)
  • ❌ Not allowed: Crossplane v2.0.1 → UXP v2.2.0-up.N (two minor version diff in Crossplane)

Required upgrade path for larger Crossplane version gaps:

If you want to upgrade from Crossplane v2.0.1 to UXP v2.2.1-up.N, follow this incremental approach to meet upstream requirements:

  1. Crossplane v2.0.1 → UXP v2.1.0-up.N
  2. UXP v2.1.0-up.N → UXP v2.2.1-up.N
helm upgrade crossplane --namespace crossplane-system upbound-stable/crossplane --devel

For more information on migration, review the migration guide

Add a license to enable commercial features​

Read license management to learn how to add a license to unlock commercial features in Upbound Crossplane.