Argusic could not verify that calico runs. Argusic installed and launched it on a clean machine in 29 minutes, hitting 6 errors on the way, and recorded the session.

How did Argusic test calico?

On a fresh, disposable machine, with every command recorded and the repository pinned at commit 69a6d85fdba3. 2 attempts are recorded, and the full method is on the methodology page.

What did it cost to test calico?

The run that produced this verdict cost $0.15: real compute and model cost, not a list price per million tokens. It is recorded on that run's page.

How long does calico take to install?

29 minutes in the run that decided this verdict, from a clean machine to a running state. That is one measured attempt, not an average.

Does calico need a GPU?

Not to start. Argusic reached a running state on a machine with no GPU.

What goes wrong when installing calico?

6 things broke in the recorded run, and 6 were fixed without human help. Each one, and the time it cost, is listed on this page.

Where is the evidence for calico?

All 2 recorded runs are on this page, each linking to its full log and terminal recording, stored with a sha256 fingerprint so it cannot be quietly altered.

calico

Cloud native networking and network security

Could not verifysource: GitHub homepageGoApache-2.0commit 69a6d85fdba3

Go, Apache-2.0 licensed. The project labels itself: cats, cni, cni plugin, ebpf, host protection, identity aware policy, k8s and kubernetes.

Argusic could not get calico running. An Argusic agent installed it in 29 minutes and hit 6 errors and fixed every one without help on a clean machine with no GPU, and the whole session was recorded.

Go 1.27.1 installed, 38 test packages pass, 6 Calico binaries (calico-node, calicoctl, calico-ipam, kube-controllers, confd, apiserver) build and execute, libcalico-go library compiles and passes vet; felix and cni-plugin install/integration tests fail without system-level C headers or a Kubernetes cluster.
What the agent ended up with on a clean machine, in its own words. How this is measured

Measured by Argusic on a fresh machine every time. Every number links to its evidence. Argusic Score 71.1 of 100 (the mean of this project's run scores).

At a glance

verdict: Could not verify
Argusic Score: 71.1 / 100
cost of the verifying run: $0.15 (measured)
recorded runs: 2
last tested: 2026-09-28
stars: 7,374
forks: 1,611
open issues: 269
watchers: 116
size: 386 MB
created: 2016-07-21
last push: 2026-09-28

Subject data from GitHub, linked at the top of this page, refreshed 2026-09-28. Test data by Argusic (CC BY 4.0); every number links to a run page with the full log, the recording, and their sha256 hashes.

What was measured

From the run that decided this verdict. Every line is a recorded value, not an estimate.

Time lost to each failure while testing calico, drawn from the recorded run — Every bar is a failure the agent recorded, with the time it cost. Drawn from this run, not from anywhere else.

What went wrong, in the agent's own words

The agent's own words, worst first, never rewritten into advice.

libcalico-go/lib/validator/v3: 6/704 tests fail needing /kubeconfig.yaml (kubernetes backend e2e)5 minutes
Go 1.27.1 not pre-installed in container2 minutes
cni-plugin/pkg/install: 14/22 tests fail needing Docker + k8s cluster2 minutes
felix: cannot build — missing libbpf.h and pcap.h system headers2 minutes
api/pkg/apis/projectcalico/v3: 7 BGPFilter tests fail needing k8s config1 minute
typha: no standalone main.go in cmd/typha (NewCommand is integrated into calico-node binary)1 minute

Install time: 29 minutes
Cold machine to finish: 30 minutes
Errors hit and fixed: 6 hit, 6 fixed with no human help
How the result was proved: 38 test suites passed (all `ok` exit) via go test -count=1 -timeout 60s on each package. 6 binaries built and executed: calico-node prints 'Calico CNI plugin', kube-controllers prints 'Run the Calico Kubernetes controllers', confd prints usage, calicoctl prints version. go vet ./libcalico-go/... passed. go build ./libcalico-go/... passed.
Model tokens used: 165,983
Exact commit tested: 69a6d85fdba3
Container image: sha256:cdd920bce783

What was not measured

The other half, so you can see exactly how far this evidence goes. A gap is printed as a gap and never filled in.

Peak GPU memory: this ran on a CPU machine, so there was no GPU to sample
Behaviour over a long run: each attempt uses the smallest documented settings and a fixed time budget, so this measures whether it runs, not how it holds up under load
Whether it works at all: this run verified nothing, so this page makes no claim either way

The end of the recording

The last lines of the terminal session that decided this verdict, exactly as they were recorded.

# CI entry point: skips the calico image rebuild and runs the full test suite.
k8sfv-test: $(REPO_ROOT)/cmd/calico/.image.created-$(ARCH)
    FV_TYPHACMD="component typha" \
# Developer helper scripts (not used by build or test)
  $(DOCKER_RUN) $(CALICO_BUILD) ginkgo -r
  $(DOCKER_RUN) $(CALICO_BUILD) ginkgo watch -r
The typha binary is integrated into the calico-node binary (as the Makefile reference "component ty…
Here's my final report:
tokens used
165,983
The typha binary is integrated into the calico-node binary (as the Makefile reference "component ty…
Here's my final report:

Replay the whole session, every command from a clean machine to this point.

How it was tested

One agent, one container, no human help. It installs the project the way its own documentation says to, runs it, and fixes what breaks. Everything below is recorded as it happened: the terminal session, the log and the exact commit. The full method.

Strengths and limits

Measured facts, not opinions. How this is written.

What went well

Installed in 29 minutes.
Recovered from all 6 errors without a human stepping in, which says the failures are documented well enough to solve.
Licensed Apache-2.0, as reported by its host.
Measured 2 times, so the result is not a one-off.

What did not, or is not known

An agent with no time limit did not get it running.

Also tested, in the same area

Every one of these was installed and run by Argusic on a clean machine. Nothing appears here that was not tested.

Run history

tested by	attempt	outcome	score	cost USD	when
Argusic Runner	2/3	Unverified	80.00	0.15	2026-09-28 14:43 UTC
Argusic Runner	1/3	Unverified	62.22	0.20	2026-09-28 14:13 UTC

Topics (from GitHub)

cats cni cni-plugin ebpf host-protection identity-aware-policy k8s kubernetes kubernetes-networking kubernetes-windows network-policy networking observability openstack security windows xdp

Embed the badge

Markdown for the project README. It links back here; terms on the terms page.

[![Tested by Argusic](https://argusic.com/badge/calico.svg)](https://argusic.com/subject/calico)

Questions

Does calico run?: Argusic could not verify that calico runs. Argusic installed and launched it on a clean machine in 29 minutes, hitting 6 errors on the way, and recorded the session.
How did Argusic test calico?: On a fresh, disposable machine, with every command recorded and the repository pinned at commit 69a6d85fdba3. 2 attempts are recorded, and the full method is on the methodology page.
What did it cost to test calico?: The run that produced this verdict cost $0.15: real compute and model cost, not a list price per million tokens. It is recorded on that run's page.
How long does calico take to install?: 29 minutes in the run that decided this verdict, from a clean machine to a running state. That is one measured attempt, not an average.
Does calico need a GPU?: Not to start. Argusic reached a running state on a machine with no GPU.
What goes wrong when installing calico?: 6 things broke in the recorded run, and 6 were fixed without human help. Each one, and the time it cost, is listed on this page.
Where is the evidence for calico?: All 2 recorded runs are on this page, each linking to its full log and terminal recording, stored with a sha256 fingerprint so it cannot be quietly altered.