🚨 DevOps/SREs: Tired of kubectl describe Overload? Meet Your New Debugging BFF 🚨

Hey Kubernetes crew! 👋 Let’s talk about a daily struggle: debugging resource conditions.

You know the drill: A pod’s stuck in Pending, a node’s acting weird, or a deployment’s not rolling out. You run kubectl describe, scroll through 50 lines of events, and still can’t spot the condition issue. Sound familiar?

I’ve got a fix that’ll save you 10 mins every debug session.

Meet kubectl cond – The Condition-Specific Plugin

kubectl cond is a lightweight Kubernetes plugin that fetches and displays only resource conditions (no fluff). Conditions are the "health checks" of your cluster—things like Ready, MemoryPressure, or PodScheduled.

👉 Think of it as kubectl get… but laser-focused on what matters.

Why You’ll Love It (As a DevOps/SRE)

✅ No More Noise: Ditch describe’s wall of text. kubectl cond shows only conditions (e.g., Ready=True, Unschedulable=False).

 ✅ Familiar Workflow: Uses kubectl-style commands. If you know kubectl get, you’ll pick it up in 2 mins.

 ✅ Works Everywhere: Pods, nodes, deployments, daemonsets—check conditions for any resource type.

How to Install It (2 Mins Flat)

kubectl cond runs via Krew (Kubernetes’ plugin manager). Here’s the quick setup:

Step 1: Install Krew (if you don’t have it)

look at https://krew.sigs.k8s.io/docs/user-guide/setup/install/


Step 2: Install kubectl cond

kubectl krew install cond  

Verify: kubectl cond --help  # Should show usage docs!  

: Debug a Pod in 10 Seconds

Let’s say your pod my-app is Pending. Instead of kubectl describe pod my-app, run: kubectl cond pod my-app -n default

Examples

1. Get conditions for a specific pod in a namespace

kubectl cond pod my-pod -n default

Outputs condition summaries for pod my-pod in the default namespace.


2. Get conditions for all nodes

kubectl cond nodes

Displays the condition status (e.g., Ready, MemoryPressure) for all cluster nodes.


3. Get conditions using manifest file

kubectl cond -f deployment.yaml

Fetches conditions for resource(s) declared inside deployment.yaml.


4. Get conditions for all resource types within a namespace

kubectl cond all -n kube-system

Shows conditions from all resource kinds in the kube-system namespace.


5. Get conditions for all resource types across all namespaces

kubectl cond all --all-namespaces

Fetches conditions cluster-wide across every namespace.


Additional Resources

Official plugin GitHub repo: https://github.com/ahmetb/kubectl-cond 

Krew Plugin Index: https://krew.sigs.k8s.io/ 

Kubernetes kubectl Documentation: https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/kubectl/overview/ 

Summary

kubectl cond is a convenient and powerful Kubernetes plugin to inspect resource conditions across your cluster, aiding in debugging and monitoring by surfacing important resource status indicators in a clear way.

With familiar kubectl-style commands and versatile filtering options (file input, resource types, namespaces), it integrates neatly into kubectl workflows.


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