# Welcome

mirrord is a tool that lets you run your local code as if it were running inside a Kubernetes cluster, without building container images or deploying. Your code still runs locally, but mirrord proxies incoming and outgoing traffic, environment variables, and files back and forth between your local process and the cluster.

The result is that your local process behaves as if it's running in the cloud, even though it's still running on your machine. This lets you test your code against real services, real data, and real traffic without deploying anything. You no longer have to rely on local mocks or wait on CI and staging deployments.

Not just developers but AI coding tools like Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, etc. can [use mirrord](https://metalbear.com/mirrord/docs/use-cases/using-mirrord-with-ai) as well to safely test generated code against real cluster services, catching integration issues early, and iterating until the code works end-to-end.

<table data-card-size="large" data-view="cards"><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th data-hidden data-card-target data-type="content-ref"></th><th data-hidden data-card-cover data-type="files"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Quick Start</strong></td><td>Install mirrord and run your first session in minutes.</td><td><a href="getting-started/quick-start">quick-start</a></td><td><a href="https://2838204941-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FghNlSpMkqkYKZCZQsHRt%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-4b751160828149094539de39047b1a8f6ef01c8a%2Fcard-quick-start.png?alt=media">card-quick-start.png</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>What is mirrord?</strong></td><td>Understand how mirrord works and how it's different from alternatives.</td><td><a href="getting-started/what-is-mirrord">what-is-mirrord</a></td><td><a href="https://2838204941-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FghNlSpMkqkYKZCZQsHRt%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-be85f1e0ad07a59cec573d2eca8e77f6928405d3%2Fcard-what-is-mirrord.png?alt=media">card-what-is-mirrord.png</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Use Cases</strong></td><td>Remocal development, CI/CD integration, using mirrord with AI agents, and more.</td><td><a href="use-cases/local-development">local-development</a></td><td><a href="https://2838204941-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FghNlSpMkqkYKZCZQsHRt%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-bd8e1fc220f02b773889d3000bd9dd83f866cfcc%2Fcard-use-cases.png?alt=media">card-use-cases.png</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Guides</strong></td><td>Step-by-step guides for debugging microservices in Kubernetes with mirrord.</td><td><a href="https://metalbear.com/mirrord/docs/guides/">https://metalbear.com/mirrord/docs/guides/</a></td><td><a href="https://2838204941-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FghNlSpMkqkYKZCZQsHRt%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-8f617153f1969fa6a492d53efaad2e78353a630f%2Fcard-guides.png?alt=media">card-guides.png</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

### Open source vs Teams

mirrord's core functionality is free and open source. [mirrord for Teams](https://metalbear.com/mirrord/pricing) adds the mirrord Operator, enabling concurrent cluster usage, advanced traffic control, and organizational governance.