portal

# Portal

Manage the Kurtosis Portal daemon for remote context access.

## What is Portal?

Kurtosis Portal is a lightweight local daemon that enables communication with Kurtosis enclaves running on a remote Kurtosis server. It's only needed when using remote contexts — not required for local Docker or direct Kubernetes access.

## Start

```bash
kurtosis portal start
```

## Check status

```bash
kurtosis portal status
```

## Stop

```bash
kurtosis portal stop
```

## When you need it

Portal is used with remote Kurtosis contexts. If you're using:
- **Local Docker**: No portal needed
- **Direct Kubernetes**: Use `kurtosis gateway` instead
- **Remote Kurtosis server**: Use portal + remote context

## Remote contexts

```bash
# List contexts
kurtosis context ls

# Add a remote context
kurtosis context add <context-name>

# Switch to remote context
kurtosis context set <context-name>

# Start portal for the remote context
kurtosis portal start
```

## Troubleshooting

| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---------|-------|-----|
| Portal won't start | Port conflict or stale process | Run `kurtosis portal stop` then `kurtosis portal start` |
| Status shows not running | Portal crashed or was killed | Restart with `kurtosis portal start` |
| Services unreachable via portal | Portal not started for current context | Run `kurtosis portal status` to check, then `kurtosis portal start` |
| Connection refused errors | Wrong context or portal not needed | Verify context with `kurtosis context ls` — local Docker doesn't need portal |