Prerequisites

Tools

Tool	Minimum	Check
AWS CLI v2	current	aws --version
eksctl	0.230.0+ (latest recommended)	eksctl version
kubectl	client near cluster version (1.29+)	kubectl version --client
jq	any recent	jq --version
helm	3.x	helm version
gh	optional	gh --version

If eksctl is missing or older than 0.230.0, install from the official GitHub release:

ARCH=$(uname -m | sed 's/x86_64/amd64/' | sed 's/aarch64/arm64/')
PLATFORM=$(uname -s)_$ARCH
curl -sLO "https://github.com/eksctl-io/eksctl/releases/latest/download/eksctl_${PLATFORM}.tar.gz"
tar -xzf "eksctl_${PLATFORM}.tar.gz" -C /tmp && rm "eksctl_${PLATFORM}.tar.gz"
sudo install -m 0755 /tmp/eksctl /usr/local/bin && rm /tmp/eksctl
eksctl version

Auth and Region

The lab uses ap-southeast-2 for the cluster and for IAM Identity CenterIAM Identity Center
AWS IAM Identity Center (formerly AWS SSO) — organization-wide workforce identity. CLI access uses `aws sso login`. For the EKS managed Argo CD capability it is the only supported UI auth (local Argo CD users are not supported). (IDC_REGION). Keep AWS_REGION / IDC_REGION on that Region for all steps.

CLI auth uses SSO via profile sandbox (aws sso login). The optional Argo CD capability page also wires that same Identity Center directory so you can SSO into the managed Argo CD UI.

export AWS_PROFILE=sandbox
aws sso login
aws sts get-caller-identity

If your local AWS config uses a different profile name, export that instead.

IAM

You need permission to create EKS clusters, IAM roles, and (for the optional Argo CD path) EKS capabilities and Identity Center mappings.

Existing cluster shortcut

If you already run EKS Auto Mode with managed Argo CD and optionally KEDA, skip to Kueue via GitOps.

Working directory

Every file you create in this walkthrough goes under demo/ at the repository root (gitignored). Relative paths like config/… and examples/… mean demo/config/… and demo/examples/…. Never create those folders at the repo root.

From the repository root:

export LAB_DIR="$(pwd)/demo"
mkdir -p "$LAB_DIR" && cd "$LAB_DIR"

Tip

Keep one shell open for the lab. Later pages reuse LAB_DIR, CLUSTER_NAME, AWS_REGION, IDC_REGION, AWS_PROFILE, and kubeconfig context. If you open a new shell: cd "$LAB_DIR" (or cd demo from the repo root).

export AWS_PROFILE=sandbox
export AWS_PAGER=""
export AWS_REGION=ap-southeast-2
export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION="$AWS_REGION"
export IDC_REGION="$AWS_REGION"
export CLUSTER_NAME=kueue-lab
export K8S_VERSION=1.36
export LAB_DIR="$(pwd)/demo"

If you are already inside demo/, set export LAB_DIR="$(pwd)" instead.

Cost awareness

While the lab runs you pay for the EKS control plane and any Auto Mode nodes your Jobs schedule. Teardown is on the last deploy page.