knot

Deployment Modes

Knot supports three deployment modes for different use cases.

Standalone

Single server running knot with local containers.

Standalone Architecture

Characteristics:

Simple setup
No external dependencies
Single point of failure
Limited scalability
Good for small teams

Best for:

Individual developers
Small teams (< 10 users)
Development and testing
Simple deployments

Cluster Mode

Multiple servers with gossip-based synchronization.

Cluster Architecture

Characteristics:

High availability
Geographic distribution
No single point of failure
Leaderless architecture
Each server has own database
Data syncs via gossip protocol
Scales horizontally

Best for:

Production deployments
Distributed teams
High availability requirements
Multiple geographic locations

Leaf Mode

Local server connected to cluster server with own storage.

Leaf Mode Architecture

Characteristics:

Connects to one cluster server
Own local storage (BadgerDB)
Syncs via gossip protocol
Central template management
Local execution
Reduced latency
Works offline (cached data)
Hybrid deployment

Best for:

Remote developers
Local development with central management
Bandwidth-constrained locations
Hybrid deployments

Zones and Locations

Zones organize servers geographically or logically:

Geographic zones:

us-east: Servers in US East Coast
eu-west: Servers in Western Europe
asia-pacific: Servers in Asia Pacific

Logical zones:

production: Production servers
development: Development servers
testing: Testing servers

Benefits:

Place spaces near users for low latency
Organize resources logically
Control where spaces run
Compliance with data residency

Configuration:

    
[server]
zone = "us-east"

Templates can be limited to specific zones.