This is Part 1 of a two-part series. Part 2 (coming soon): Connecting to spoke clusters from a controller using multicluster-runtime , driven by ClusterProfile . What this article is about The Cluster Inventory API ( multicluster.x-k8s.io ) is driven by SIG-Multicluster and centered on the ClusterProfile resource. It only delivers value when something produces those ClusterProfile s . That something is a cluster manager . Today, the production-ready open-source option is Open Cluster Management (OCM) , whose registration controller can act as a ClusterProfile cluster manager behind a feature gate. This article shows how to set that up end-to-end on a local kind environment: An OCM hub-spoke setup with three kind clusters. The ClusterProfile feature gate enabled on the hub. cluster-proxy wired in so ClusterProfile.status.accessProviders carries real, usable connection info. ClusterProperty from the spokes flowing into ClusterProfile.status.properties on the hub.…