Install CLI Tools¶

You need five command-line tools on your workstation: oc, helm, pipx, Python 3.11+, and fips-agents.

Python 3.11+¶

macOSLinux (RHEL / Fedora)Linux (Debian / Ubuntu)

brew install python@3.11
python3.11 --version

sudo dnf install -y python3.11
python3.11 --version

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y python3.11 python3.11-venv
python3.11 --version

pipx¶

pipx installs Python CLIs into isolated environments so they don't pollute your system Python.

macOSLinux

brew install pipx
pipx ensurepath

python3.11 -m pip install --user pipx
python3.11 -m pipx ensurepath

Restart your shell (or source ~/.zshrc / ~/.bashrc) so the ~/.local/bin PATH update takes effect.

oc (OpenShift CLI)¶

macOSLinux

brew install openshift-cli
oc version --client

Download the latest oc from the Red Hat mirror, extract, and put it on your PATH:

curl -L -o /tmp/oc.tar.gz \
  https://mirror.openshift.com/pub/openshift-v4/clients/ocp/latest/openshift-client-linux.tar.gz
tar -xzf /tmp/oc.tar.gz -C /tmp
sudo mv /tmp/oc /tmp/kubectl /usr/local/bin/
oc version --client

helm¶

macOSLinux

brew install helm
helm version --short

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/main/scripts/get-helm-3 | bash
helm version --short

fips-agents¶

Install via pipx so it's globally available:

pipx install fips-agents-cli
fips-agents --version

CLI version

This tutorial was tested with fips-agents v0.15.3. Newer versions are backward-compatible but may produce slightly different scaffold output. To install the exact version: pipx install 'fips-agents-cli==0.15.3'

Log in to your cluster¶

oc login --server=https://api.<cluster-domain>:6443 -u <user>
oc whoami

Multi-cluster safety

Every oc command in this guide includes --context="$CTX" to avoid targeting the wrong cluster. Set it once per shell session:

export CTX=$(oc config current-context)

(In the OpenShift web console, click your username → Copy login command to get the exact oc login --token=... invocation.)

Verification¶

All of these should succeed:

python3.11 --version       # Python 3.11.x or newer
pipx --version
oc version --client
helm version --short
fips-agents --version
oc whoami --context="$CTX" # logged in

Next¶

Registry Setup.