tiup

TiUP is an open-source cluster management tool for deploying and operating TiDB and related components. Developed by PingCAP, it provides a unified command-line interface (CLI) for installing, configuring, upgrading and monitoring TiDB clusters as well as local development environments. TiUP was introduced to replace earlier tooling in the TiDB ecosystem and has become the standard tool for many production deployments and test setups.

TiUP operates with a modular component system. The primary user-facing tool is the tiup CLI, which can manage a cluster through the tiup-cluster component, as well as a local playground via tiup-playground. Other components cover tasks such as monitoring, data migration, and maintenance, enabling operators to deploy and observe services including PD, TiKV, TiDB, and TiDB Dashboard. Clusters are described by a YAML topology file (cluster.yaml), which defines the topology, roles, and configuration. TiUP uses SSH to provision servers and automates binary distribution, configuration, and service management.

Typical workflows include creating a topology, deploying a cluster, and performing upgrades or scaling. For example, a cluster.yaml specifies the desired number of PD leaders, TiKV stores, and TiDB servers; a deployment is initiated with a single tiup command. TiUP supports rolling upgrades and component isolation, allowing operators to upgrade specific parts of a cluster with minimal downtime.

History and reception: TiUP was released by PingCAP as part of modernizing TiDB deployment tooling, replacing some older methods. It is used in both evaluation and production contexts and has helped standardize cluster operations across the TiDB ecosystem.