Kubeblocks Engine Tidb

TiDB Engine Entry

Use this as the primary create-time entry for TiDB. Tier-1 TiDB never falls back to kubeblocks-engine-generic.

Cold-Start Contract

• Run kubeblocks-preflight whenever the environment is not already profiled.
• Treat engine-create-matrix as the create-time truth for topology, version strategy, sizing, validation, next hops, and forbidden routes.
• Use observability-capability-matrix before promising scrape readiness.
• Do not reduce TiDB to a generic SQL path or a MySQL/PostgreSQL substitute once the engine is known.

Topology Selection

• Default topology: standard
• standard: the only supported Tier-1 create shape in the current truth; it already includes the PD, TiKV, and TiDB components required for a real cluster.
• If the user asks about TiFlash or other analytical extensions, treat that as a future expansion, not as the default create path in this wave.

ServiceVersion / Version Strategy

• Strategy: use the stable addon default from current examples unless the user explicitly pins a serviceVersion
• Current addon evidence surfaces TiDB 8.4.0, 7.5.2, 7.1.5, and 6.5.10.
• If the user asks for "latest", stay on an addon-backed supported line rather than a raw upstream tag.

Preflight Interpretation

• storage_class: required before apply because PD and TiKV components both rely on PVC-backed storage.
• volume_binding_mode: confirm placement before multi-component rollout, especially for TiKV data.
• addon_readiness: TiDB addon must be installed first.
• observability_mode: TiDB has scrape evidence, so choose existing-stack vs bootstrap before rollout.

Sizing Profiles

• demo: a compact standard cluster with reduced TiKV and TiDB capacity for evaluation.
• production: standard with storage sized for TiKV, quorum-aware PD sizing, and explicit observability from day 1.
• Treat TiKV storage as the dominant capacity constraint in create-time planning.

Minimal Create Path

apiVersion: apps.kubeblocks.io/v1
kind: Cluster
metadata:
  name: <cluster>
  namespace: <ns>
spec:
  terminationPolicy: Delete

• Do not leave this skill to read raw addon examples before drafting the manifest.
• Set clusterDef: tidb for every TiDB create path in this wave.
• The agent-facing standard path maps to addon topology: cluster.
• Keep name: tidb-pd, name: tikv, and name: tidb on the same serviceVersion, with PVC-backed storage on the PD and TiKV components before apply.
• Validate with kubectl apply --dry-run=server -f <tidb-cluster.yaml>.
• Apply with kubectl apply -f <tidb-cluster.yaml>.
• Watch kubectl get cluster <name> -n <ns> -w until the phase is Running.

Connection and Validation

• Supported connection methods: in-cluster service, port-forward
• First validation step: kubectl get cluster <name> -n <ns> and wait for Running.
• Default validation: connect through the SQL entrypoint with the MySQL protocol, typically mysql -h <service> -P 4000 -u root -p.
• Validate PD and TiKV readiness before handing the SQL endpoint to application teams.

Next Hops

• Day-2 operations currently route to kubeblocks-op-lifecycle, kubeblocks-op-horizontal-scale, kubeblocks-op-vertical-scale, kubeblocks-op-volume-expansion, and kubeblocks-observability-router.
• Treat credential and TLS work as engine-specific validation rather than assuming kubeblocks-manage-accounts or kubeblocks-configure-tls are default TiDB paths.
• Do not send this path to kubeblocks-rebuild-replica; TiDB recovery should stay on troubleshoot or engine-specific repair flows instead.
• Route PD, TiKV, or SQL-plane failures to kubeblocks-troubleshoot.

Forbidden Routes

• Never route TiDB create through kubeblocks-engine-generic, kubeblocks-family-sql, kubeblocks-engine-mysql, or kubeblocks-engine-postgresql.
• If the user really wants MySQL or PostgreSQL semantics, switch engines before apply.

Evidence Anchors

• Use the evidence anchors below only as optional secondary evidence and parity checks after the manifest is already drafted here. A cold-start runtime should not need these files, but a stronger agent may inspect them when available.
• Current addon evidence: examples/tidb/cluster.yaml.