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kubectl Quick Reference

This page contains a list of commonly used kubectl commands and flags.

Note:
These instructions are for Kubernetes v1.30. To check the version, use the kubectl version command.

Kubectl autocomplete
BASH

source <(kubectl completion bash) # set up autocomplete in bash into the current shell, bash-completion package should be inst
echo "source <(kubectl completion bash)" >> ~/.bashrc # add autocomplete permanently to your bash shell.

You can also use a shorthand alias for kubectl that also works with completion:

alias k=kubectl
complete -o default -F __start_kubectl k

ZSH

source <(kubectl completion zsh) # set up autocomplete in zsh into the current shell
echo '[[ $commands[kubectl] ]] && source <(kubectl completion zsh)' >> ~/.zshrc # add autocomplete permanently to your zsh she

FISH

Note:
Requires kubectl version 1.23 or above.

echo 'kubectl completion fish | source' > ~/.config/fish/completions/kubectl.fish && source ~/.config/fish/completions/kubectl

A note on --all-namespaces
Appending --all-namespaces happens frequently enough that you should be aware of the shorthand for --all-namespaces :

kubectl -A
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Kubectl context and configuration

Set which Kubernetes cluster kubectl communicates with and modifies configuration information. See Authenticating Across
Clusters with kubeconfig documentation for detailed config file information.

kubectl config view # Show Merged kubeconfig settings.

# use multiple kubeconfig files at the same time and view merged config
KUBECONFIG=~/.kube/config:~/.kube/kubconfig2

kubectl config view

# Show merged kubeconfig settings and raw certificate data and exposed secrets
kubectl config view --raw

# get the password for the e2e user

kubectl config view -o jsonpath='{.users[?(@.name == "e2e")].user.password}'

# get the certificate for the e2e user

kubectl config view --raw -o jsonpath='{.users[?(.name == "e2e")].user.client-certificate-data}' | base64 -d

kubectl config view -o jsonpath='{.users[].name}' # display the first user

kubectl config view -o jsonpath='{.users[*].name}' # get a list of users
kubectl config get-contexts # display list of contexts
kubectl config get-contexts -o name # get all context names
kubectl config current-context # display the current-context
kubectl config use-context my-cluster-name # set the default context to my-cluster-name

kubectl config set-cluster my-cluster-name # set a cluster entry in the kubeconfig

# configure the URL to a proxy server to use for requests made by this client in the kubeconfig
kubectl config set-cluster my-cluster-name --proxy-url=my-proxy-url

# add a new user to your kubeconf that supports basic auth

kubectl config set-credentials kubeuser/foo.kubernetes.com --username=kubeuser --password=kubepassword

# permanently save the namespace for all subsequent kubectl commands in that context.
kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=ggckad-s2

# set a context utilizing a specific username and namespace.

kubectl config set-context gce --user=cluster-admin --namespace=foo \
&& kubectl config use-context gce

kubectl config unset users.foo # delete user foo

# short alias to set/show context/namespace (only works for bash and bash-compatible shells, current context to be set before
alias kx='f() { [ "$1" ] && kubectl config use-context $1 || kubectl config current-context ; } ; f'
alias kn='f() { [ "$1" ] && kubectl config set-context --current --namespace $1 || kubectl config view --minify | grep namespa

Kubectl apply
applymanages applications through files defining Kubernetes resources. It creates and updates resources in a cluster through
running kubectl apply . This is the recommended way of managing Kubernetes applications on production. See Kubectl Book.

Creating objects
Kubernetes manifests can be defined in YAML or JSON. The file extension .yaml , .yml , and .json can be used.

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kubectl apply -f ./my-manifest.yaml # create resource(s)

kubectl apply -f ./my1.yaml -f ./my2.yaml # create from multiple files
kubectl apply -f ./dir # create resource(s) in all manifest files in dir
kubectl apply -f https://example.com/manifest.yaml # create resource(s) from url (Note: this is an example domain and does no
kubectl create deployment nginx --image=nginx # start a single instance of nginx

# create a Job which prints "Hello World"

kubectl create job hello --image=busybox:1.28 -- echo "Hello World"

# create a CronJob that prints "Hello World" every minute

kubectl create cronjob hello --image=busybox:1.28 --schedule="*/1 * * * *" -- echo "Hello World"

kubectl explain pods # get the documentation for pod manifests

# Create multiple YAML objects from stdin

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: busybox-sleep
spec:
containers:
- name: busybox
image: busybox:1.28
args:
- sleep
- "1000000"
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: busybox-sleep-less
spec:
containers:
- name: busybox
image: busybox:1.28
args:
- sleep
- "1000"
EOF

# Create a secret with several keys

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
name: mysecret
type: Opaque
data:
password: $(echo -n "s33msi4" | base64 -w0)
username: $(echo -n "jane" | base64 -w0)
EOF

Viewing and finding resources

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# Get commands with basic output

kubectl get services # List all services in the namespace
kubectl get pods --all-namespaces # List all pods in all namespaces
kubectl get pods -o wide # List all pods in the current namespace, with more details
kubectl get deployment my-dep # List a particular deployment
kubectl get pods # List all pods in the namespace
kubectl get pod my-pod -o yaml # Get a pod's YAML

# Describe commands with verbose output

kubectl describe nodes my-node
kubectl describe pods my-pod

# List Services Sorted by Name

kubectl get services --sort-by=.metadata.name

# List pods Sorted by Restart Count

kubectl get pods --sort-by='.status.containerStatuses[0].restartCount'

# List PersistentVolumes sorted by capacity

kubectl get pv --sort-by=.spec.capacity.storage

# Get the version label of all pods with label app=cassandra

kubectl get pods --selector=app=cassandra -o \
jsonpath='{.items[*].metadata.labels.version}'

# Retrieve the value of a key with dots, e.g. 'ca.crt'

kubectl get configmap myconfig \
-o jsonpath='{.data.ca\.crt}'

# Retrieve a base64 encoded value with dashes instead of underscores.

kubectl get secret my-secret --template='{{index .data "key-name-with-dashes"}}'

# Get all worker nodes (use a selector to exclude results that have a label
# named 'node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane')
kubectl get node --selector='!node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane'

# Get all running pods in the namespace

kubectl get pods --field-selector=status.phase=Running

# Get ExternalIPs of all nodes

kubectl get nodes -o jsonpath='{.items[*].status.addresses[?(@.type=="ExternalIP")].address}'

# List Names of Pods that belong to Particular RC

# "jq" command useful for transformations that are too complex for jsonpath, it can be found at https://jqlang.github.io/jq/
sel=${$(kubectl get rc my-rc --output=json | jq -j '.spec.selector | to_entries | .[] | "\(.key)=\(.value),"')%?}
echo $(kubectl get pods --selector=$sel --output=jsonpath={.items..metadata.name})

# Show labels for all pods (or any other Kubernetes object that supports labelling)
kubectl get pods --show-labels

# Check which nodes are ready

JSONPATH='{range .items[*]}{@.metadata.name}:{range @.status.conditions[*]}{@.type}={@.status};{end}{end}' \
&& kubectl get nodes -o jsonpath="$JSONPATH" | grep "Ready=True"

# Check which nodes are ready with custom-columns

kubectl get node -o custom-columns='NODE_NAME:.metadata.name,STATUS:.status.conditions[?(@.type=="Ready")].status'

# Output decoded secrets without external tools

kubectl get secret my-secret -o go-template='{{range $k,$v := .data}}{{"### "}}{{$k}}{{"\n"}}{{$v|base64decode}}{{"\n\n"}}{{en

# List all Secrets currently in use by a pod

kubectl get pods -o json | jq '.items[].spec.containers[].env[]?.valueFrom.secretKeyRef.name' | grep -v null | sort | uniq

# List all containerIDs of initContainer of all pods

# Helpful when cleaning up stopped containers, while avoiding removal of initContainers.
kubectl get pods --all-namespaces -o jsonpath='{range .items[*].status.initContainerStatuses[*]}{.containerID}{"\n"}{end}' | c

# List Events sorted by timestamp

kubectl get events --sort-by=.metadata.creationTimestamp

# List all warning events

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kubectl events --types=Warning

# Compares the current state of the cluster against the state that the cluster would be in if the manifest was applied.
kubectl diff -f ./my-manifest.yaml

# Produce a period-delimited tree of all keys returned for nodes

# Helpful when locating a key within a complex nested JSON structure
kubectl get nodes -o json | jq -c 'paths|join(".")'

# Produce a period-delimited tree of all keys returned for pods, etc

kubectl get pods -o json | jq -c 'paths|join(".")'

# Produce ENV for all pods, assuming you have a default container for the pods, default namespace and the `env` command is sup
# Helpful when running any supported command across all pods, not just `env`
for pod in $(kubectl get po --output=jsonpath={.items..metadata.name}); do echo $pod && kubectl exec -it $pod -- env; done

# Get a deployment's status subresource

kubectl get deployment nginx-deployment --subresource=status

Updating resources
kubectl set image deployment/frontend www=image:v2 # Rolling update "www" containers of "frontend" deployment, u
kubectl rollout history deployment/frontend # Check the history of deployments including the revision
kubectl rollout undo deployment/frontend # Rollback to the previous deployment
kubectl rollout undo deployment/frontend --to-revision=2 # Rollback to a specific revision
kubectl rollout status -w deployment/frontend # Watch rolling update status of "frontend" deployment until
kubectl rollout restart deployment/frontend # Rolling restart of the "frontend" deployment

cat pod.json | kubectl replace -f - # Replace a pod based on the JSON passed into stdin

# Force replace, delete and then re-create the resource. Will cause a service outage.
kubectl replace --force -f ./pod.json

# Create a service for a replicated nginx, which serves on port 80 and connects to the containers on port 8000
kubectl expose rc nginx --port=80 --target-port=8000

# Update a single-container pod's image version (tag) to v4

kubectl get pod mypod -o yaml | sed 's/\(image: myimage\):.*$/\1:v4/' | kubectl replace -f -

kubectl label pods my-pod new-label=awesome # Add a Label

kubectl label pods my-pod new-label- # Remove a label
kubectl label pods my-pod new-label=new-value --overwrite # Overwrite an existing value
kubectl annotate pods my-pod icon-url=http://goo.gl/XXBTWq # Add an annotation
kubectl annotate pods my-pod icon-url- # Remove annotation
kubectl autoscale deployment foo --min=2 --max=10 # Auto scale a deployment "foo"

Patching resources

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# Partially update a node

kubectl patch node k8s-node-1 -p '{"spec":{"unschedulable":true}}'

# Update a container's image; spec.containers[*].name is required because it's a merge key

kubectl patch pod valid-pod -p '{"spec":{"containers":[{"name":"kubernetes-serve-hostname","image":"new image"}]}}'

# Update a container's image using a json patch with positional arrays

kubectl patch pod valid-pod --type='json' -p='[{"op": "replace", "path": "/spec/containers/0/image", "value":"new image"}]'

# Disable a deployment livenessProbe using a json patch with positional arrays

kubectl patch deployment valid-deployment --type json -p='[{"op": "remove", "path": "/spec/template/spec/containers/0/liven

# Add a new element to a positional array

kubectl patch sa default --type='json' -p='[{"op": "add", "path": "/secrets/1", "value": {"name": "whatever" } }]'

# Update a deployment's replica count by patching its scale subresource

kubectl patch deployment nginx-deployment --subresource='scale' --type='merge' -p '{"spec":{"replicas":2}}'

Editing resources
Edit any API resource in your preferred editor.

kubectl edit svc/docker-registry # Edit the service named docker-registry

KUBE_EDITOR="nano" kubectl edit svc/docker-registry # Use an alternative editor

Scaling resources
kubectl scale --replicas=3 rs/foo # Scale a replicaset named 'foo' to 3
kubectl scale --replicas=3 -f foo.yaml # Scale a resource specified in "foo.yaml" to 3
kubectl scale --current-replicas=2 --replicas=3 deployment/mysql # If the deployment named mysql's current size is 2, scale m
kubectl scale --replicas=5 rc/foo rc/bar rc/baz # Scale multiple replication controllers

Deleting resources
kubectl delete -f ./pod.json # Delete a pod using the type and name specified in pod.json
kubectl delete pod unwanted --now # Delete a pod with no grace period
kubectl delete pod,service baz foo # Delete pods and services with same names "baz" and "foo"
kubectl delete pods,services -l name=myLabel # Delete pods and services with label name=myLabel
kubectl -n my-ns delete pod,svc --all # Delete all pods and services in namespace my-ns,
# Delete all pods matching the awk pattern1 or pattern2
kubectl get pods -n mynamespace --no-headers=true | awk '/pattern1|pattern2/{print $1}' | xargs kubectl delete -n mynamespac

Interacting with running Pods

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kubectl logs my-pod # dump pod logs (stdout)

kubectl logs -l name=myLabel # dump pod logs, with label name=myLabel (stdout)
kubectl logs my-pod --previous # dump pod logs (stdout) for a previous instantiation of a container
kubectl logs my-pod -c my-container # dump pod container logs (stdout, multi-container case)
kubectl logs -l name=myLabel -c my-container # dump pod container logs, with label name=myLabel (stdout)
kubectl logs my-pod -c my-container --previous # dump pod container logs (stdout, multi-container case) for a previous in
kubectl logs -f my-pod # stream pod logs (stdout)
kubectl logs -f my-pod -c my-container # stream pod container logs (stdout, multi-container case)
kubectl logs -f -l name=myLabel --all-containers # stream all pods logs with label name=myLabel (stdout)
kubectl run -i --tty busybox --image=busybox:1.28 -- sh # Run pod as interactive shell
kubectl run nginx --image=nginx -n mynamespace # Start a single instance of nginx pod in the namespace of mynamespace
kubectl run nginx --image=nginx --dry-run=client -o yaml > pod.yaml
# Generate spec for running pod nginx and write it into a file called pod.
kubectl attach my-pod -i # Attach to Running Container
kubectl port-forward my-pod 5000:6000 # Listen on port 5000 on the local machine and forward to port 6000 on my-
kubectl exec my-pod -- ls / # Run command in existing pod (1 container case)
kubectl exec --stdin --tty my-pod -- /bin/sh # Interactive shell access to a running pod (1 container case)
kubectl exec my-pod -c my-container -- ls / # Run command in existing pod (multi-container case)
kubectl debug my-pod -it --image=busybox:1.28 # Create an interactive debugging session witin existing pod and immediate
kubectl debug node/my-node -it --image=busybox:1.28 # Create an interactive debugging session on a node and immediately attach
kubectl top pod # Show metrics for all pods in the default namespace
kubectl top pod POD_NAME --containers # Show metrics for a given pod and its containers
kubectl top pod POD_NAME --sort-by=cpu # Show metrics for a given pod and sort it by 'cpu' or 'memory'

Copying files and directories to and from containers

kubectl cp /tmp/foo_dir my-pod:/tmp/bar_dir # Copy /tmp/foo_dir local directory to /tmp/bar_dir in a remote pod in
kubectl cp /tmp/foo my-pod:/tmp/bar -c my-container # Copy /tmp/foo local file to /tmp/bar in a remote pod in a specific co
kubectl cp /tmp/foo my-namespace/my-pod:/tmp/bar # Copy /tmp/foo local file to /tmp/bar in a remote pod in namespace my-
kubectl cp my-namespace/my-pod:/tmp/foo /tmp/bar # Copy /tmp/foo from a remote pod to /tmp/bar locally

Note:
kubectl cp requires that the 'tar' binary is present in your container image. If 'tar' is not present, kubectl cp will fail. For advanced
use cases, such as symlinks, wildcard expansion or file mode preservation consider using kubectl exec.

tar cf - /tmp/foo | kubectl exec -i -n my-namespace my-pod -- tar xf - -C /tmp/bar # Copy /tmp/foo local file to /tm
kubectl exec -n my-namespace my-pod -- tar cf - /tmp/foo | tar xf - -C /tmp/bar # Copy /tmp/foo from a remote pod to /tmp/b

Interacting with Deployments and Services

kubectl logs deploy/my-deployment # dump Pod logs for a Deployment (single-container case)
kubectl logs deploy/my-deployment -c my-container # dump Pod logs for a Deployment (multi-container case)

kubectl port-forward svc/my-service 5000 # listen on local port 5000 and forward to port 5000 on Service back
kubectl port-forward svc/my-service 5000:my-service-port # listen on local port 5000 and forward to Service target port with

kubectl port-forward deploy/my-deployment 5000:6000 # listen on local port 5000 and forward to port 6000 on a Pod create
kubectl exec deploy/my-deployment -- ls # run command in first Pod and first container in Deployment (single

Interacting with Nodes and cluster

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kubectl cordon my-node # Mark my-node as unschedulable

kubectl drain my-node # Drain my-node in preparation for maintenance
kubectl uncordon my-node # Mark my-node as schedulable
kubectl top node # Show metrics for all nodes
kubectl top node my-node # Show metrics for a given node
kubectl cluster-info # Display addresses of the master and services
kubectl cluster-info dump # Dump current cluster state to stdout
kubectl cluster-info dump --output-directory=/path/to/cluster-state # Dump current cluster state to /path/to/cluster-state

# View existing taints on which exist on current nodes.

kubectl get nodes -o='custom-columns=NodeName:.metadata.name,TaintKey:.spec.taints[*].key,TaintValue:.spec.taints[*].value,Tai

# If a taint with that key and effect already exists, its value is replaced as specified.
kubectl taint nodes foo dedicated=special-user:NoSchedule

Resource types
List all supported resource types along with their shortnames, API group, whether they are namespaced, and kind:

kubectl api-resources

Other operations for exploring API resources:

kubectl api-resources --namespaced=true # All namespaced resources

kubectl api-resources --namespaced=false # All non-namespaced resources
kubectl api-resources -o name # All resources with simple output (only the resource name)
kubectl api-resources -o wide # All resources with expanded (aka "wide") output
kubectl api-resources --verbs=list,get # All resources that support the "list" and "get" request verbs
kubectl api-resources --api-group=extensions # All resources in the "extensions" API group

Formatting output
To output details to your terminal window in a specific format, add the -o (or --output ) flag to a supported kubectl command.

Output format Description

-o=custom-columns=<spec> Print a table using a comma separated list of custom columns

-o=custom-columns-file= Print a table using the custom columns template in the <filename> file
<filename>

-o=go-template=<template> Print the fields defined in a golang template

-o=go-template-file= Print the fields defined by the golang template in the <filename> file
<filename>

-o=json Output a JSON formatted API object

-o=jsonpath=<template> Print the fields defined in a jsonpath expression

-o=jsonpath-file=<filename> Print the fields defined by the jsonpath expression in the <filename> file

-o=name Print only the resource name and nothing else

-o=wide Output in the plain-text format with any additional information, and for pods, the node
name is included

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Output format Description

-o=yaml Output a YAML formatted API object

Examples using -o=custom-columns :

# All images running in a cluster

kubectl get pods -A -o=custom-columns='DATA:spec.containers[*].image'

# All images running in namespace: default, grouped by Pod

kubectl get pods --namespace default --output=custom-columns="NAME:.metadata.name,IMAGE:.spec.containers[*].image"

# All images excluding "registry.k8s.io/coredns:1.6.2"

kubectl get pods -A -o=custom-columns='DATA:spec.containers[?(@.image!="registry.k8s.io/coredns:1.6.2")].image'

# All fields under metadata regardless of name

kubectl get pods -A -o=custom-columns='DATA:metadata.*'

More examples in the kubectl reference documentation.

Kubectl output verbosity and debugging

Kubectl verbosity is controlled with the -v or --v flags followed by an integer representing the log level. General Kubernetes
logging conventions and the associated log levels are described here.

Verbosity Description

--v=0 Generally useful for this to always be visible to a cluster operator.

--v=1 A reasonable default log level if you don't want verbosity.

--v=2 Useful steady state information about the service and important log messages that may correlate to significant
changes in the system. This is the recommended default log level for most systems.

--v=3 Extended information about changes.

--v=4 Debug level verbosity.

--v=5 Trace level verbosity.

--v=6 Display requested resources.

--v=7 Display HTTP request headers.

--v=8 Display HTTP request contents.

--v=9 Display HTTP request contents without truncation of contents.

What's next
Read the kubectl overview and learn about JsonPath.

See kubectl options.

Also read kubectl Usage Conventions to understand how to use kubectl in reusable scripts.

See more community kubectl cheatsheets.

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Last modified April 22, 2024 at 7:03 AM PST: Space (aff7105b12)

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