# Unikraft Cloud SDKs

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Everything the [CLI](/cli/overview) and the [console](https://console.unikraft.cloud) do goes through two APIs: the per-metro [platform API](/api/platform/v1) for instances, volumes, services and certificates, and the global control-plane API for accounts, metro discovery, images and self-hosted nodes.
The SDKs on this page put those same APIs in your own programs, so instances, volumes, services and certificates are things your code creates and drives directly.

## Client libraries

<FeatureTable>
  <FeatureRow title="JavaScript SDK" href="/sdks/js">
    `@unikraft/cloud` for Node.js and TypeScript.
    Fully typed, with chainable handles, multi-metro fan-out, and a [`Sandbox`](/sdks/js#sandboxes) class for running commands and moving files inside an instance.
  </FeatureRow>
  <FeatureRow title="Python SDK" href="/sdks/python">
    `unikraft-cloud` for Python 3.10 and newer.
    Async-only, with the same chainable references and multi-metro fan-out.
  </FeatureRow>
  <FeatureRow title="Go SDK" href="/sdks/go">
    `unikraft.com/cloud/sdk`, generated from the OpenAPI specification.
    The same client the `unikraft` CLI is built on.
  </FeatureRow>
</FeatureTable>

## Extending the platform

<FeatureTable>
  <FeatureRow title="Plugin SDK" href="/sdks/plugin">
    Build a [plugin](/features/plugins) in Go: the in-instance agent that adds services such as command execution and filesystem access to an instance, without hand-rolling the platform contract.
  </FeatureRow>
</FeatureTable>

## Which layer to write against

The JavaScript and Python client libraries are two layers each, and you pick per call:

| Layer | What you get | When to reach for it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Idiomatic | Envelope-free results, automatic pagination, chainable references, metro fan-out | Almost always |
| Plumbing | The OpenAPI specification as written: one method per `operationId`, raw response envelope, one metro per call | Anything the idiomatic layer does not cover yet |

The idiomatic layer holds a plumbing client rather than replacing it, so the raw API stays one property away.
The Go SDK is the plumbing layer alone: the generated OpenAPI client, with no idiomatic layer on top.

## Authentication

Every client library reads a bearer token from the `UKC_TOKEN` environment variable, and takes one explicitly as well.
The plugin SDK runs inside an instance and needs no platform token.
Create a token in the [Unikraft Cloud console](https://console.unikraft.cloud).

```bash
export UKC_TOKEN=...   # the token
export UKC_METRO=fra   # optional: pin to one metro
```

Left unset, `UKC_METRO` leaves the JavaScript and Python clients account-wide: reads ask every [metro](/platform/metros) the account can reach and merge the answers, each result tagged with the metro it came from.
The Go client targets one metro per client, and defaults to `fra`.

## Beyond the SDKs

Nothing here is a prerequisite for the others.
The [`unikraft` CLI](/cli/overview) covers the same ground from a shell, and the [REST API](/api/platform/v1) is available directly for any language without an SDK.

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