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Pastures follows a three-layer architecture. The extension is a pure UI client — it contains no backend logic, no data processing, and no proprietary algorithms.

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Three layers

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│           Rancher Manager (Browser)          │
│  ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │        Pastures Extension (Vue 3)      │  │
│  │  Sidebar pages · AI drawer · Charts    │  │
│  └──────────────┬─────────────────────────┘  │
│                 │ REST calls (engineFetch)    │
└─────────────────┼────────────────────────────┘
                  │
                  ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│            Pastures Engine (API)             │
│  Data aggregation · AI routing · Caching    │
│  /api/diagnose · /api/advisories · ...      │
└──────────────┬───────────────────────────────┘
               │
               ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│            AI Model Layer                    │
│  ┌──────────────┐  ┌─────────────────────┐  │
│  │ Rancher Oracle│  │  BYO Model          │  │
│  │ (Hosted RAG) │  │  OpenAI / Anthropic  │  │
│  │ 48K+ fixes   │  │  Ollama / Azure      │  │
│  └──────────────┘  └─────────────────────┘  │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────┘

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1. Pastures Extension

The Vue 3 extension runs inside Rancher Manager’s browser session. Built on @rancher/shell, it registers sidebar items, pages, and components. It makes REST calls to the Pastures Engine via engineFetch (a wrapper around fetch that handles auth headers and base URL resolution). The extension has zero runtime dependencies beyond what Rancher provides — no databases, no background workers, no secrets.

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2. Pastures Engine

The backend REST API handles:
  • Data aggregation from Kubernetes clusters
  • AI request routing (Oracle vs BYO)
  • Response caching and rate limiting
  • Advisory generation and scoring
The extension communicates with the Engine over HTTPS. In demo mode, engineFetch short-circuits and returns synthetic data from demoResponses.ts — no network calls are made.

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3. AI Model Layer

Two options:
  • Rancher Oracle — A hosted RAG service that searches a curated corpus of 48,000+ real issue resolutions from 13 SUSE/Rancher repositories. Returns grounded fixes with GitHub source citations.
  • BYO Model — Any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. The Engine forwards prompts to your chosen provider. No corpus search or source citations in this mode.

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Key API endpoints

EndpointPurpose
/api/diagnoseAI diagnostic requests
/api/advisoriesSecurity and operational advisories
/api/clustersCluster intelligence and health data
/api/gpu/nodesGPU node inventory and utilization
/api/monitoring/alertsActive monitoring alerts
/api/monitoring/metricsPrometheus metric correlation
/api/cis/scanCIS benchmark scan results
/api/etcd/snapshotsetcd backup snapshot listing
/api/etcd/scheduleetcd backup schedule management
/api/audit/eventsAudit log event stream

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Demo mode

When demo mode is enabled in Settings, engineFetch bypasses all network calls and returns synthetic responses from demoResponses.ts. This provides realistic data for every feature:
  • Advisories with severity ratings
  • Cluster health scores and version data
  • GPU node telemetry
  • CIS scan findings
  • Monitoring alerts and metrics
  • etcd snapshots and schedules
  • Harvester VM and infrastructure data
  • AI diagnostic responses with mock source citations
Demo mode requires no Engine deployment, no API keys, and no cluster connectivity beyond what Rancher itself provides.

Quickstart

Get running in 5 minutes

AI Model Config

Choose Oracle vs BYO