Tillered Docs | Installation

This guide walks you through installing the Arctic agent on your Linux hosts and the Arctic CLI on your workstation.

Agent Installation

The Arctic agent runs on Linux hosts and manages network routing. Install it on each host that will participate in your cluster.

Download and Install

Download the appropriate binary for your architecture and run the install command:

# Download (use agent_arm64 for ARM systems)
curl -sLO https://release.tillered.com/arctic/latest/agent_amd64

# Install
chmod +x ./agent_amd64
sudo ./agent_amd64 install

# Verify
curl -sk https://localhost:8080/livez

Expected response:

{"status":"ok","timestamp":"2026-01-15T10:30:00Z"}

The examples use curl because it is present on minimal installs of every supported distribution; RHEL-family minimal images (AlmaLinux, Rocky) do not ship wget. If you prefer wget, substitute wget https://release.tillered.com/arctic/latest/agent_amd64.

Changed in v1.4.2

The agent serves its API over TLS 1.3 by default, so the verify command uses https. The -k flag skips CA validation because the agent's certificate is self-signed: identity is verified by Ed25519 fingerprint pinning, not a CA chain, so there is no CA to check against. See TLS and trust for how pinning works, and the agent reference for PEER_TLS_ENABLED=false if a TLS-terminating proxy fronts the API.

The install command sets up the systemd service (unit name arctic), creates the data directory at /opt/tillered, and starts the agent automatically. This default unit runs the agent as root. To run it as an unprivileged user under a sandboxed unit instead, see Hardening (you manage the lifecycle by hand in that setup).

install and upgrade live on the agent binary

install and upgrade are subcommands of the downloaded agent binary (agent_amd64 / agent_arm64), not the arctic CLI. You will not find them in the CLI command reference. To upgrade an installed agent, download a newer agent binary and run sudo ./agent_amd64 upgrade.

Troubleshooting

If the agent fails to start, check the logs:

journalctl -u arctic -f

Common causes: port 8080 already in use, or the agent not running as root.

CLI Installation

The Arctic CLI is a command-line tool for managing Arctic clusters. Install it on your workstation or any machine where you want to manage Arctic.

Download the CLI

Download the appropriate binary for your operating system and architecture:

Platform	Binary
Linux (x86_64)	`arctic_linux_amd64`
Linux (ARM64)	`arctic_linux_arm64`
macOS (Apple Silicon)	`arctic_darwin_arm64`

# For x86_64
curl -sLO https://release.tillered.com/arctic/latest/arctic_linux_amd64
chmod +x ./arctic_linux_amd64
sudo mv ./arctic_linux_amd64 /usr/local/bin/arctic

# For ARM64
curl -sLO https://release.tillered.com/arctic/latest/arctic_linux_arm64
chmod +x ./arctic_linux_arm64
sudo mv ./arctic_linux_arm64 /usr/local/bin/arctic

# For Apple Silicon
curl -sLO https://release.tillered.com/arctic/latest/arctic_darwin_arm64
chmod +x ./arctic_darwin_arm64
sudo mv ./arctic_darwin_arm64 /usr/local/bin/arctic

Verify the CLI

Test that the CLI is installed correctly:

arctic version

You should see output showing the version, build date, and platform.

Binary Signature Verification (Optional)

Arctic binaries are signed with Ed25519 for integrity verification. This is recommended for production deployments.

# Set the download URL
URL=https://release.tillered.com

# Download verification files
curl -sLO $URL/arctic/latest/checksums.txt
curl -sLO $URL/arctic/latest/agent_amd64.sig
curl -sLO $URL/keys/release.pub

# Verify checksum
sha256sum -c checksums.txt --ignore-missing

# Verify signature
openssl pkeyutl -verify -pubin -inkey release.pub \
    -rawin -in agent_amd64 -sigfile agent_amd64.sig

Next Steps

Now that you have the agent and CLI installed, proceed to Quickstart to create your first cluster.

Installation

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