kubectl cheat sheet: the commands you use every day

kubectl is the command-line client for the Kubernetes API. Most commands follow the pattern kubectl <verb> <type> [name] [flags]. Add -n NAMESPACE to work in a namespace, or -A (--all-namespaces) to see all of them.

Contexts and namespaces

kubectl config get-contexts
kubectl config current-context
kubectl config use-context lab-cluster
kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=shop
kubectl cluster-info

A context is a cluster + user + default namespace from your kubeconfig file (~/.kube/config by default). Always check the current context before running commands that change anything.

Listing and inspecting

kubectl get pods
kubectl get pods -o wide
kubectl get pods -A
kubectl get pods -l app=web
kubectl get pods --field-selector=status.phase=Running
kubectl get pods --sort-by='.status.containerStatuses[0].restartCount'
kubectl get deploy,svc,ingress -n shop
kubectl get pod web-0 -o yaml
kubectl describe pod web-0
kubectl explain deployment.spec.strategy
kubectl api-resources

describe shows a human-readable summary including recent events; -o yaml shows the full object as stored. kubectl explain documents any field without leaving the terminal.

Logs, exec and port-forward

kubectl logs web-0
kubectl logs -f web-0 -c app
kubectl logs web-0 --previous
kubectl logs -l app=web --all-containers --tail=100
kubectl exec -it web-0 -- /bin/sh
kubectl port-forward service/web 8080:80
kubectl cp shop/web-0:/tmp/report.txt ./report.txt

Creating and changing objects

kubectl apply -f app.yaml
kubectl apply -f k8s/
kubectl diff -f app.yaml
kubectl create deployment web --image=nginx:1.27 --dry-run=client -o yaml > web.yaml
kubectl edit deployment web
kubectl label pod web-0 tier=frontend
kubectl annotate deployment web owner=team-a

--dry-run=client -o yaml is the quickest way to get a correct starting manifest. kubectl diff shows what apply would change.

Deployments: scale, update, roll back

kubectl scale deployment/web --replicas=5
kubectl set image deployment/web web=nginx:1.28
kubectl rollout status deployment/web
kubectl rollout history deployment/web
kubectl rollout undo deployment/web
kubectl rollout undo deployment/web --to-revision=2
kubectl rollout restart deployment/web

Events, resources and debugging

kubectl get events --sort-by=.metadata.creationTimestamp
kubectl events --types=Warning
kubectl top nodes
kubectl top pod --containers
kubectl debug -it web-0 --image=busybox:1.36 --target=web
kubectl auth can-i create deployments -n shop

kubectl top needs the metrics-server add-on. kubectl debug adds an ephemeral debugging container to a running Pod, which helps with minimal images that have no shell.

Deleting

Warning: deletes take effect immediately and there is no undo. Run the same selector with kubectl get first to see exactly what matches.

kubectl get pods -l app=old-web
kubectl delete pods -l app=old-web
kubectl delete -f app.yaml

Output formats

• -o wide: extra columns such as node and Pod IP.
• -o yaml / -o json: the full object.
• -o name: just type/name, handy in loops.
• -o jsonpath='{.items[*].metadata.name}': extract specific fields.
• -o custom-columns=NAME:.metadata.name,NODE:.spec.nodeName: your own table.

Official documentation

• kubectl Quick Reference