Quickstart: Deploy Your First Workload with Grove

February 1, 2026 · View on GitHub

This guide will walk you through deploying a simple disaggregated AI workload using Grove in about 10 minutes.

What You'll Learn

By the end of this quickstart, you'll understand how to:

  • Deploy a multi-component workload with Grove
  • Scale components independently or as a group
  • Observe gang scheduling in action

Prerequisites

  • A Kubernetes cluster (we'll use kind for local testing)
  • kubectl installed and configured
  • Docker Desktop running (for kind)

Understanding the Example Workload

We'll deploy a simple workload that mimics a disaggregated inference setup with four components:

  • Role A (pca): Auto-scaling component (e.g., routing layer) - scales based on CPU
  • Role B (pcb) and Role C (pcc): Tightly-coupled components (e.g., prefill + decode) - must scale together as a group
  • Role D (pcd): Fixed-size component (e.g., model cache) - doesn't auto-scale

This demonstrates Grove's key capabilities: individual auto-scaling, grouped scaling, and gang scheduling.

Step 1: Set Up Your Local Environment

Install Grove Operator

Follow the installation guide to:

  1. Create a kind cluster with make kind-up
  2. Export the KUBECONFIG
  3. Deploy Grove with make deploy

Quick check: Verify Grove operator is running:

kubectl get pods -l app.kubernetes.io/name=grove-operator

You should see a pod in Running status.

Step 2: Deploy Your First PodCliqueSet

Create a PodCliqueSet that defines all four components:

cd operator
kubectl apply -f samples/simple/simple1.yaml

What just happened? Grove created:

  • 1 PodCliqueSet (the top-level resource)
  • 4 PodCliques (one for each component role)
  • 1 PodCliqueScalingGroup (grouping pcb and pcc)
  • 1 PodGang (for gang scheduling)
  • 9 Pods (3 for pca, 2 each for pcb/pcc/pcd)

Step 3: Observe the Resources

Watch as Grove creates and schedules all resources:

kubectl get pcs,pclq,pcsg,pg,pod -o wide

Expected output:

NAME                            AGE
podcliqueset.grove.io/simple1   34s

NAME                                     AGE
podclique.grove.io/simple1-0-pca         33s
podclique.grove.io/simple1-0-pcd         33s
podclique.grove.io/simple1-0-sga-0-pcb   33s
podclique.grove.io/simple1-0-sga-0-pcc   33s

NAME                                           AGE
podcliquescalinggroup.grove.io/simple1-0-sga   33s

NAME                                   AGE
podgang.scheduler.grove.io/simple1-0   33s

NAME                                  READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
pod/grove-operator-699c77979f-7x2zc   1/1     Running   0          51s
pod/simple1-0-pca-pkl2b               1/1     Running   0          33s
pod/simple1-0-pca-s7dz2               1/1     Running   0          33s
pod/simple1-0-pca-wjfqz               1/1     Running   0          33s
pod/simple1-0-pcd-l4vnk               1/1     Running   0          33s
pod/simple1-0-pcd-s7687               1/1     Running   0          33s
pod/simple1-0-sga-0-pcb-m9shj         1/1     Running   0          33s
pod/simple1-0-sga-0-pcb-vnrqw         1/1     Running   0          33s
pod/simple1-0-sga-0-pcc-g8rg8         1/1     Running   0          33s
pod/simple1-0-sga-0-pcc-hx4zn         1/1     Running   0          33s

Key observation: Notice all pods reached Running state together - that's gang scheduling! Grove ensured all pods were scheduled before starting any of them.

Step 4: Scale a PodCliqueScalingGroup

Scale the tightly-coupled components (pcb and pcc) as a group:

kubectl scale pcsg simple1-0-sga --replicas=2

Observe the new resources:

kubectl get pcs,pclq,pcsg,pg,pod -o wide

What happened?

  • Grove created a new replica of the scaling group
  • Both pcb and pcc scaled together from 2 to 4 pods each
  • A new PodGang was created for gang scheduling the new replica
  • New PodCliques appeared: simple1-0-sga-1-pcb and simple1-0-sga-1-pcc

Scale back down:

kubectl scale pcsg simple1-0-sga --replicas=1

Step 5: Scale the Entire PodCliqueSet

Scale the entire workload to create a complete second instance:

kubectl scale pcs simple1 --replicas=2

Check the resources:

kubectl get pcs,pclq,pcsg,pg,pod -o wide

What happened?

  • Grove created a complete duplicate of your workload
  • All new resources have -1- in their names (second replica)
  • A new PodGang (simple1-1) was created
  • All components (pca, pcb, pcc, pcd) were duplicated

Scale back:

kubectl scale pcs simple1 --replicas=1

Step 6: Understand the Hierarchy

Let's visualize what you just created:

PodCliqueSet (simple1)
├── Replica 0 (PodGang: simple1-0)
│   ├── PodClique: pca (3 pods)
│   ├── PodClique: pcd (2 pods)
│   └── PodCliqueScalingGroup: sga
│       ├── PodClique: pcb (2 pods)
│       └── PodClique: pcc (2 pods)
└── Replica 1 (when scaled to 2)
    └── [same structure]

Scaling behaviors:

  • kubectl scale pcs simple1: Creates/removes complete replicas
  • kubectl scale pcsg simple1-0-sga: Scales just the grouped components (pcb + pcc)
  • Auto-scaling: Grove can automatically create and manage HPA resources based on the ScaleConfig defined at PodClique and PodCliqueScalingGroup levels of a PodCliqueSet, or delegate scaling responsibility to a custom autoscaler, such as Dynamo Planer.

Step 7: Clean Up

Remove the sample workload:

kubectl delete -f samples/simple/simple1.yaml

Verify cleanup:

kubectl get pcs,pclq,pcsg,pg,pod

Only the Grove operator pod should remain.

What's Next?

Now that you understand the basics, explore:

Key Concepts Recap

ConceptWhat It DoesWhen to Use
PodCliqueSetTop-level resource defining your workloadEvery Grove deployment
PodCliqueGroup of pods with the same roleEach component type in your system
PodCliqueScalingGroupMultiple PodCliques that scale togetherTightly-coupled components (prefill+decode)
PodGangEnsures all components are co-scheduledAutomatically created by Grove

Troubleshooting

Pods stuck in Pending

  • Check PodGang status: kubectl describe pg simple1-0
  • Ensure your cluster has enough resources for gang scheduling

Auto-scaling not working

  • For kind clusters, install metrics-server (choose one of following methods):
    • Use operator/Makefile target
    make deploy-addons
    • Manual setup
    kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/metrics-server/releases/latest/download/components.yaml
  • Add --kubelet-insecure-tls to metrics-server deployment for kind

Need help?