(Legacy) Configure a Runtime

This documentation is for the legacy Konnect environment at konnect.konghq.com. For the cloud.konghq.com environment, see the current Konnect documentation.

Set up your first runtime through the Konnect Runtime Manager.

At this time, the only runtime type available is a Kong Gateway data plane.

Kong Gateway data planes proxy service traffic. With Konnect Cloud working as the control plane, a runtime doesn’t need a database to store configuration data. Instead, configuration is stored in-memory on each node, and you can easily update multiple runtimes from one Konnect account with a few clicks.

Note: Kong does not host runtimes. You must install and host your own runtime instances.

Prerequisites

You have Runtime Admin or Organization Admin permissions in Konnect Cloud. If you created this account, the account has organization admin permissions by default.
The quick setup script requires Docker and a Unix shell (for example, bash or zsh). Platform-specific tools and permissions:
- All platforms: Docker and jq installed
- Linux: User added to the docker group
- Windows: Docker Desktop installed and integrated with a WSL 2 backend.

Set up a New Runtime Instance

From the left navigation menu, open Runtimes.

For the first runtime, the page opens to a Configure New Runtime form.

Once configured, this page lists all runtimes associated with the Konnect Cloud account.
Click Copy Script.

You can expand the code block by clicking Show to see the entire script.
Replace the placeholder for <your-password> with your own Konnect Cloud password.
Run the script on any host you choose.

This script creates a Docker container running a simple Kong Gateway instance and connects it to your Konnect Cloud account.
Click Done to go to the Runtime Manager page.

Once the script has finished running, the Runtime Manager will include a new entry for your instance.

The default proxy URL for this runtime is http://localhost:8000. Take note of this URL, as you’ll need it later to access a Service implementation.

Important: Konnect Cloud provisions certificates for the data plane. These certificates expire after six months and must be renewed. See Renew Certificates.

Summary and Next Steps

In this step, you ran a script which set up a Docker container with a Kong Gateway instance, adding your first runtime to the Runtime Manager.

Next, set up a your first Service through Konnect Cloud.