Core Concepts

AstroPulse is easiest to understand as a small set of objects connected by an organization.

Object	What it means	Common command
Organization	Security, membership, API key, and billing boundary	astroctl org list
Cluster	Kubernetes runtime managed or registered through AstroPulse	astroctl infra k8s get
Application profile	Deployment target and runtime defaults for one or more apps	astroctl app profile get
Application	Workload deployed from an image, Helm chart, repository, or YAML	astroctl app get
API key	Credential used by the CLI and API for one organization	astroctl whoami

Organization Model

Organizations contain members, API keys, clusters, application profiles, applications, and integrations. When you authenticate, the CLI operates against one active organization at a time.

Use this command to check the active organization:

astroctl whoami

Use this command to list organizations you can access:

astroctl org list

Roles

AstroPulse uses global roles and organization roles.

Global roles

Global role	Permissions
admin	Can create organizations, manage API keys, add or remove members, and perform administrative tasks.
developer	Can deploy applications and manage personal API keys, but cannot manage users or create organizations.

Organization roles

Organization role	Permissions
owner	Full control of the organization, including members and settings.
admin	Can manage organization resources, API keys, and members.
editor	Can edit resources and work with deployments, with limited administrative access.
viewer	Read-only access to organization resources.

Default role

New users receive the developer global role by default. Organization permissions still depend on the role assigned inside each organization.

Cluster and Application Flow

A typical deployment uses this flow:

1. Create or join an organization.
2. Connect a cloud account or register an existing Kubernetes cluster.
3. Create an application profile that points to a cluster or cloud provider.
4. Apply an application manifest that references the profile.
5. Inspect status, events, logs, and kubeconfig when troubleshooting.

Application profiles are important because applications reference profiles, not raw cluster credentials. This keeps application manifests portable while the profile controls cluster selection, runtime defaults, and organization-level configuration.

Nova as a Management Interface

Nova is the conversational interface for AstroPulse. Use it when you want to ask questions or get guided through a workflow instead of reading reference docs first.

Open Nova, go to /nova in the console, or run:

astroctl nova

Good first prompts include:

What clusters are connected to my organization?

Help me create an application profile for my dev cluster.

Help me troubleshoot why my application is not healthy.

Pricing Plans

New organizations start on the Developer plan. The Developer plan is intended for evaluation and early development. Enterprise plans add higher limits, additional integrations, and support options.

See the AstroPulse Pricing Page for current plan limits and pricing.

Debugging Applications

Start with the AstroPulse application commands:

astroctl app get
astroctl app status <app-name>
astroctl app events <app-name>
astroctl app events <app-name> --k8s
astroctl app logs <app-name>

If you need direct Kubernetes access, find the target cluster and set your local context:

astroctl app status <app-name>
astroctl infra k8s set-context <cluster-name>
kubectl get pods

CLI help

Run astroctl app --help or open the Application CLI reference for all application commands and examples.

Next Step

Continue with Deploy a Kubernetes Cluster.