Installation (Helm/Kubernetes)

Last updated: May 1, 2025

This guide explains how to deploy Tyk AI Studio (Tyk AI Studio), a secure and extensible AI gateway, using Helm on Kubernetes.

Prerequisites

Kubernetes 1.16+
Helm 3.0+
kubectl configured with access to your cluster
A tykAiLicense string from Tyk Technologies
A securely generated TYK_AI_SECRET_KEY string for secrets encryption
If using SSL/TLS: cert-manager installed in your cluster

Note: The following examples use placeholder values (e.g., your-domain.com, your-secret-key). Remember to replace these with your actual configuration values.

Installation Options

Tyk AI Studio can be deployed in several configurations:

Local Development
Production without TLS
Production with TLS
Production with External Database

Option 1: Local Development Setup

Create a values-local.yaml file:

midsommar:
  ingress:
    enabled: false
  service:
    type: NodePort
    ports:
      - name: http
        port: 8080
        nodePort: 32580
      - name: gateway
        port: 9090
        nodePort: 32590

config:
  allowRegistrations: "true"
  adminEmail: "admin@localhost"
  siteUrl: "http://localhost:32580"
  fromEmail: "noreply@localhost"
  devMode: "true"
  databaseType: "postgres"
  tykAiSecretKey: "your-secret-key"
  tykAiLicense: "your-license"

database:
  internal: true
  user: "postgres"
  password: "localdev123"
  name: "midsommar"

# Optional AI components
reranker:
  enabled: true
  image:
    repository: tykio/reranker_cpu
    tag: latest

transformer-server:
  enabled: true
  image:
    repository: tykio/transformer_server_cpu
    tag: latest

Install the chart:

helm install midsommar . -f values-local.yaml

Access the application:

Web Interface: http://localhost:32580
Gateway: http://localhost:32590

Option 2: Production without TLS

For a production deployment without TLS certificates:

Create values-prod-no-tls.yaml:

midsommar:
  ingress:
    enabled: true
    certificateEnabled: false
    className: nginx
    hosts:
      - host: app.yourdomain.com
        paths:
          - path: /
            pathType: Prefix
            port: 8080
      - host: gateway.yourdomain.com
        paths:
          - path: /
            pathType: Prefix
            port: 9090

config:
  allowRegistrations: "true"
  adminEmail: "[email protected]"
  siteUrl: "http://app.yourdomain.com"
  fromEmail: "[email protected]"
  devMode: "false"
  databaseType: "postgres"
  tykAiSecretKey: "your-production-key"
  tykAiLicense: "your-production-license"

database:
  internal: false
  host: "your-db-host"
  port: 5432
  name: "midsommar"
  user: "your-db-user"
  password: "your-db-password"

Install:

helm install midsommar . -f values-prod-no-tls.yaml

Option 3: Production with TLS

For a secure production deployment with TLS:

Create values-prod-tls.yaml:

midsommar:
  ingress:
    enabled: true
    certificateEnabled: true
    className: nginx
    certManager:
      issuer: letsencrypt-prod
    hosts:
      - host: app.yourdomain.com
        paths:
          - path: /
            pathType: Prefix
            port: 8080
      - host: gateway.yourdomain.com
        paths:
          - path: /
            pathType: Prefix
            port: 9090
    tls:
      - secretName: app-tls-secret
        hosts:
          - app.yourdomain.com
      - secretName: gateway-tls-secret
        hosts:
          - gateway.yourdomain.com

config:
  allowRegistrations: "true"
  adminEmail: "[email protected]"
  siteUrl: "https://app.yourdomain.com"
  fromEmail: "[email protected]"
  devMode: "false"
  databaseType: "postgres"
  tykAiSecretKey: "your-production-key"
  tykAiLicense: "your-production-license"

database:
  internal: false
  url: "postgres://user:password@your-production-db:5432/midsommar"

Install:

helm install midsommar . -f values-prod-tls.yaml

Optional Components

Reranker Service

The Reranker service improves RAG result relevance. Enable it with:

reranker:
  enabled: true
  image:
    repository: tykio/reranker_cpu
    tag: latest
  resources:
    requests:
      cpu: 500m
      memory: 1Gi

Transformer Server

The Transformer Server handles embedding generation and model inference. Enable it with:

transformer-server:
  enabled: true
  image:
    repository: tykio/transformer_server_cpu
    tag: latest
  resources:
    requests:
      cpu: 500m
      memory: 1Gi

Database Options

Using Internal PostgreSQL

For development or small deployments:

database:
  internal: true
  user: "postgres"
  password: "secure-password"
  name: "midsommar"

postgres:
  persistence:
    enabled: true
    size: 10Gi
    storageClass: "standard"

Using External Database

For production environments:

database:
  internal: false
  url: "postgres://user:password@your-db-host:5432/midsommar"

Maintenance

Upgrading

To upgrade an existing installation:

helm upgrade midsommar . -f your-values.yaml

Uninstalling

To remove the deployment:

helm uninstall midsommar

Viewing Logs

# Main application logs
kubectl logs -l app.kubernetes.io/name=midsommar

# Database logs (if using internal database)
kubectl logs -l app=postgres

# Optional component logs
kubectl logs -l app=reranker
kubectl logs -l app=transformer

Troubleshooting

Check pod status:

kubectl get pods

Check ingress configuration:

kubectl get ingress

View pod details:

kubectl describe pod <pod-name>

Common issues:

Database connection failures: Check credentials and network access
Ingress not working: Verify DNS records and TLS configuration
Resource constraints: Check pod resource limits and node capacity

Next Steps

Once deployed, proceed to the Initial Configuration guide to set up Tyk AI Studio.