kubectl Command Reference

kubectl Command Reference

kubectl is the CLI for interacting with Kubernetes clusters. This page covers the commands used most often in day-to-day operations.

Context and Cluster

# View current context (which cluster you're connected to)
kubectl config current-context

# List all contexts
kubectl config get-contexts

# Switch context
kubectl config use-context my-cluster

# Set default namespace for current context
kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=my-namespace

Namespaces

kubectl get namespaces
kubectl create namespace staging
kubectl delete namespace staging

# All commands accept -n to target a namespace
kubectl get pods -n staging
kubectl get pods --all-namespaces    # or -A

Pods

kubectl get pods
kubectl get pods -o wide            # include node and IP
kubectl describe pod my-pod
kubectl logs my-pod
kubectl logs my-pod -c my-container  # specific container in multi-container pod
kubectl logs my-pod --previous       # logs from last crash
kubectl logs my-pod -f               # follow (tail -f equivalent)
kubectl exec -it my-pod -- /bin/sh
kubectl delete pod my-pod
kubectl get pods -w                  # watch for changes

Deployments

kubectl get deployments
kubectl describe deployment my-app
kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml
kubectl delete deployment my-app
kubectl scale deployment my-app --replicas=5
kubectl set image deployment/my-app my-app=myrepo/my-app:2.0
kubectl rollout status deployment/my-app
kubectl rollout history deployment/my-app
kubectl rollout undo deployment/my-app
kubectl rollout undo deployment/my-app --to-revision=2
kubectl rollout pause deployment/my-app
kubectl rollout resume deployment/my-app

Services and Ingress

kubectl get services
kubectl describe service my-service
kubectl get endpoints my-service
kubectl get ingress
kubectl describe ingress my-ingress

ConfigMaps and Secrets

kubectl get configmaps
kubectl describe configmap my-config
kubectl get secrets
kubectl describe secret my-secret

# Decode a secret value
kubectl get secret my-secret -o jsonpath='{.data.password}' | base64 --decode

Applying and Deleting Resources

# Apply a manifest
kubectl apply -f manifest.yaml

# Apply everything in a directory
kubectl apply -f ./k8s/

# Delete from manifest
kubectl delete -f manifest.yaml

# Dry run (preview what would be applied)
kubectl apply -f manifest.yaml --dry-run=client

# Generate YAML for a resource
kubectl get deployment my-app -o yaml

Debugging

# Open a shell in a running pod
kubectl exec -it my-pod -- /bin/bash

# Copy files to/from a pod
kubectl cp my-pod:/etc/config/app.conf ./app.conf
kubectl cp ./local-file.txt my-pod:/tmp/

# Forward a local port to a pod or service
kubectl port-forward pod/my-pod 8080:8080
kubectl port-forward service/my-service 8080:80

# Get events (useful for diagnosing failures)
kubectl get events --sort-by='.lastTimestamp'
kubectl get events -n my-namespace

Resource Usage

kubectl top nodes
kubectl top pods
kubectl top pods --sort-by=memory

Output Formats

kubectl get pods -o json
kubectl get pods -o yaml
kubectl get pods -o wide
kubectl get pods -o jsonpath='{.items[*].metadata.name}'

# Custom columns
kubectl get pods -o custom-columns='NAME:.metadata.name,STATUS:.status.phase'

Labels and Selectors

# Filter by label
kubectl get pods -l app=my-app
kubectl get pods -l 'env in (prod, staging)'

# Add a label
kubectl label pod my-pod version=v2

# Remove a label
kubectl label pod my-pod version-

Quick Reference

Action	Command
Apply manifest	kubectl apply -f file.yaml
Get all resources	kubectl get all
Shell into pod	kubectl exec -it pod -- sh
View logs	kubectl logs pod
Port forward	kubectl port-forward svc/svc 8080:80
Rollback deployment	kubectl rollout undo deployment/app
Scale deployment	kubectl scale deployment app --replicas=3