# kubectl Quick Reference

kubectl Quick ReferenceThis page contains a list of commonly used kubectl commands and flags.Note:These instructions are for Kubernetes v1.34. To check the version, use the kubectl version command.Kubectl autocompleteBASHsource <(kubectl completion bash) # set up autocomplete in bash into the current shell, bash-completion package should be installed first. 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 ZSHsource <(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 shell FISHNote:Requires kubectl version 1.23 or above.echo 'kubectl completion fish | source' > ~/.config/fish/completions/kubectl.fish && source ~/.config/fish/completions/kubectl.fish A note on --all-namespacesAppending --all-namespaces happens frequently enough that you should be aware of the shorthand for --all-namespaces:kubectl -AKubectl context and configurationSet 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 using kn to set namespace) 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 namespace | cut -d" " -f6 ; } ; f' Kubectl applyapply manages 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 objectsKubernetes manifests can be defined in YAML or JSON. The file extension .yaml, .yml, and .json can be used.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 not contain a valid manifest) 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: $(echo -n "jane" | base64 -w0) EOF Viewing and finding resources# Get commands with basic output kubectl get services # List all services in the namespace kubectl get pods --all-namespaces # List all pods in all namespaces kubectl get pods -o wide # List all pods in the current namespace, with more details kubectl get deployment my-dep # List a particular deployment kubectl get pods # List all pods in the namespace kubectl get pod my-pod -o yaml # Get a pod's YAML # Describe commands with verbose output kubectl describe nodes my-node kubectl describe pods my-pod # List Services Sorted by Name kubectl get services --sort-by=.metadata.name # List pods Sorted by Restart Count kubectl get pods --sort-by='.status.containerStatuses[0].restartCount' # List PersistentVolumes sorted by capacity kubectl get pv --sort-by=.spec.capacity.storage # Get the version label of all pods with label app=cassandra kubectl get pods --selector=app=cassandra -o \ jsonpath='{.items[*].metadata.labels.version}' # Retrieve the value of a key with dots, e.g. 'ca.crt' kubectl get configmap myconfig \ -o jsonpath='{.data.ca\.crt}' # Retrieve a base64 encoded value with dashes instead of underscores. kubectl get secret my-secret --template='{{index .data "key-name-with-dashes"}}' # Get all worker nodes (use a selector to exclude results that have a label # named 'node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane') kubectl get node --selector='!node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane' # Get all running pods in the namespace kubectl get pods --field-selector=status.phase=Running # Get ExternalIPs of all nodes kubectl get nodes -o jsonpath='{.items[*].status.addresses[?(@.type=="ExternalIP")].address}' # List Names of Pods that belong to Particular RC # "jq" command useful for transformations that are too complex for jsonpath, it can be found at https://jqlang.github.io/jq/ sel=${$(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"}}{{end}}' # 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}' | cut -d/ -f3 # List Events sorted by timestamp kubectl get events --sort-by=.metadata.creationTimestamp # List all warning events 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 supported. # 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 resourceskubectl set image deployment/frontend www=image:v2 # Rolling update "www" containers of "frontend" deployment, updating the image 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 completion 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# 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/livenessProbe"}]' # 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 resourcesEdit 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 resourceskubectl 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 mysql to 3 kubectl scale --replicas=5 rc/foo rc/bar rc/baz # Scale multiple replication controllers Deleting resourceskubectl 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 mynamespace pod Interacting with running Podskubectl 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 instantiation of a container 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.yaml 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-pod 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 within existing pod and immediately attach to it kubectl debug node/my-node -it --image=busybox:1.28 # Create an interactive debugging session on a node and immediately attach to it 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 containerskubectl cp /tmp/foo_dir my-pod:/tmp/bar_dir # Copy /tmp/foo_dir local directory to /tmp/bar_dir in a remote pod in the current namespace 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 container 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-namespace 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 /tmp/bar in a remote pod in namespace my-namespace 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/bar locally Interacting with Deployments and Serviceskubectl 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 backend kubectl port-forward svc/my-service 5000:my-service-port # listen on local port 5000 and forward to Service target port with name <my-service-port> kubectl port-forward deploy/my-deployment 5000:6000 # listen on local port 5000 and forward to port 6000 on a Pod created by <my-deployment> kubectl exec deploy/my-deployment -- ls # run command in first Pod and first container in Deployment (single- or multi-container cases) Interacting with Nodes and clusterkubectl 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,TaintEffect:.spec.taints[*].effect' # 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 typesList 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 outputTo output details to your terminal window in a specific format, add the -o (or --output) flag to a supported kubectl command.Output formatDescription-o=custom-columns=<spec>Print a table using a comma separated list of custom columns-o=custom-columns-file=<filename>Print a table using the custom columns template in the <filename> file-o=go-template=<template>Print the fields defined in a golang template-o=go-template-file=<filename>Print the fields defined by the golang template in the <filename> file-o=jsonOutput 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=kyamlOutput a KYAML formatted API object (alpha, requires environment variable KUBECTL_KYAML="true"). KYAML is an experimental Kubernetes-specific dialect of YAML, and can be parsed as YAML.-o=namePrint only the resource name and nothing else-o=wideOutput in the plain-text format with any additional information, and for pods, the node name is included-o=yamlOutput a YAML formatted API objectExamples 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 debuggingKubectl 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.VerbosityDescription--v=0Generally useful for this to always be visible to a cluster operator.--v=1A reasonable default log level if you don't want verbosity.--v=2Useful 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=3Extended information about changes.--v=4Debug level verbosity.--v=5Trace level verbosity.--v=6Display requested resources.--v=7Display HTTP request headers.--v=8Display HTTP request contents.--v=9Display HTTP request contents without truncation of contents.What's nextRead the kubectl overview and learn about JsonPath.See kubectl options.See kuberc options.Also read kubectl Usage Conventions to understand how to use kubectl in reusable scripts.See more community kubectl cheatsheets.