`Open edX <http://open.edx.org/>`_ is a thriving open source project, backed by a great community, for running an online learning platform at scale. Historically, it's always been :ref:`difficult <native>` to install Open edX. The goal of Tutor is to solve this issue.
Tutor simplifies the deployment of Open edX by:
1. Separating the configuration logic from the deployment platforms.
2. Running application processes in cleanly separated `docker containers <https://www.docker.com/resources/what-container>`_.
Because Docker containers are becoming an industry-wide standard, that means that with Tutor it becomes possible to run Open edX anywhere: for now, Tutor supports deploying on a local server, with `docker-compose <https://docs.docker.com/compose/overview/>`_, and in a large cluster, with `Kubernetes <http://kubernetes.io/>`_. But in the future, Tutor may support other deployment platforms.
Tutor was presented at the 2019 Open edX conference in San Diego, CA. Here's the 7-minute talk (with `slides <https://regisb.github.io/openedx2019/>`_):
1. Generate a ``config.yml`` configuration file: this file contains core :ref:`configuration parameters <configuration>` for your Open edX platforms, such as passwords and feature flags.
2. Generate an ``env/`` folder, which we call the Tutor "environment", and which contains all the files that are necessary to run an Open edX platform: these are mostly Open edX configuration files.
All these files are stored in a single folder, called the Tutor project root. On Linux, this folder is in ``~/.local/share/tutor``. On Mac OS it is ``~/Library/Application Support/tutor``.
The values from ``config.yml`` are used to generate the environment files in ``env/``. As a consequence, **every time the values from**``config.yml``**are modified, the environment must be regenerated**. This can be done with::
Another consequence is that **any manual change made to a file in**``env/``**will be overwritten by**``tutor config save``**commands**. Consider yourself warned ;-)
Running Open edX
----------------
Now that you have generated a configuration and environment, you probably want to run Open edX.
For more advanced usage of Tutor, take a look at the :ref:`configuration and customisation <configuration_customisation>`, the :ref:`existing plugins <existing_plugins>` and the :ref:`extra <extra>` sections
