Logging in with oc and working with OpenShift projects
Install the oc client, log in with a password, browser or token, then create, switch and inspect projects. Covers where oc stores its login and how to tell who and where you are.
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oc is the OpenShift command line client. It includes everything kubectl does plus OpenShift-specific commands. You can download a build that matches your cluster from the web console’s command line tools page or, on macOS, install it with Homebrew.
brew install openshift-cli
oc versionLog in
There are three common ways to log in. The API server usually listens on port 6443.
- User name and password: run
oc login -u USERand answer the prompts for the server URL and password. - Browser:
oc login SERVER --webopens the cluster’s login page, which is handy with single sign-on. It runs a small HTTP server on localhost, so be careful on shared machines. - Token: in the web console, open your user name menu and choose Copy login command. It gives you a ready-made
oc logincommand that includes a token.
oc login -u developer https://api.cluster.example.com:6443
oc login https://api.cluster.example.com:6443 --web
oc login https://api.cluster.example.com:6443 --token=CHANGE_MEIf the cluster uses a certificate your machine does not trust, oc asks whether to use an insecure connection. In a lab that is acceptable; on real clusters, get the CA certificate and pass it with --certificate-authority instead.
After the first login, oc writes the server, user and token to ~/.kube/config, or to the file named in the KUBECONFIG environment variable. Treat this file like a password.
Check who and where you are
oc whoami # current user
oc project # current project and server
oc config get-contexts # saved logins
oc logout # end the session and drop the tokenWork with projects
A project is a Kubernetes namespace with extra annotations, and it is the unit of access control: users get roles such as admin, edit or view per project. Whether ordinary users may create their own projects depends on the cluster’s configuration.
oc new-project shop-dev --display-name="Shop (dev)" --description="Development project"
oc projects # list projects you can see
oc project shop-dev # switch to a project
oc get pods -n shop-prod # run one command in another project
oc status # overview of the current projectEvery command uses the current project unless you add -n PROJECT. Most surprises such as “my pod disappeared” come from being in the wrong project, so check oc project first.
Give a teammate access
Project admins can add other users to their project.
oc adm policy add-role-to-user edit alice -n shop-dev
oc adm policy add-role-to-user view bob -n shop-dev
oc get rolebindings -n shop-devDelete a project
Warning: deleting a project deletes everything in it, including persistent volume claims and their data when the storage class reclaims volumes on delete. Check what is inside first with oc get all,pvc -n PROJECT and make sure you are pointing at the right cluster and project with oc project, which prints both.
oc get all,pvc -n shop-dev
oc delete project shop-devOfficial documentation
See also
- 0149 OpenShift vs Kubernetes vs OKD: what OpenShift adds OpenShift is Red Hat's Kubernetes platform and OKD is its community distribution. Both add projects, routes, builds, image streams, Operators and stricter… Beginner · Concept · Linux Article Concepts · Concepts 15 Oct 2026
- 0151 Tutorial: deploy a small web app on OpenShift and expose it with a Route A step-by-step first deployment: create a project, build a static website from Git with Source-to-Image, publish it on an HTTPS Route, then… Beginner · How-to · Any system Article Deploying applications 15 Oct 2026
- 0152 Build and deploy from source with oc new-app and Source-to-Image How oc new-app turns a Git repository or an image into a running app, how Source-to-Image and Docker builds are chosen, and… Intermediate · How-to · Any system Article Deploying applications 15 Oct 2026
- 0153 Expose apps with OpenShift Routes: edge, passthrough and re-encrypt TLS A Route publishes a service on a host name through the OpenShift router. Learn when to use plain HTTP, edge, passthrough or… Intermediate · How-to · Any system Article Deploying applications · Ingress & networking 15 Oct 2026
- 0154 OpenShift app configuration: environment, ConfigMaps, Secrets and persistent storage Set environment variables, load ConfigMaps and Secrets into a Deployment as variables or files, and give it persistent storage with a PersistentVolumeClaim,… Intermediate · How-to · Any system Article Config, secrets & storage · Deploying applications 15 Oct 2026
- 0155 Security Context Constraints (SCC) and why root containers fail on OpenShift SCCs decide which user ID, capabilities and volumes a pod may use. Learn how restricted-v2 assigns random UIDs, how to see which… Advanced · Concept · Linux Article Cluster administration · Concepts 15 Oct 2026
Repos in the wild
- okd-project/okd: the OKD community distribution okd-project/okd Home of OKD, the community distribution of Kubernetes that powers Red Hat OpenShift. Releases of the installer and client, issue tracking and community information live here. GitHub
- openshift/oc: the OpenShift command line client openshift/oc Source code of oc, the OpenShift CLI. It is built on top of kubectl, so it can do everything kubectl does, and adds commands for projects, builds, routes, image streams and cluster administration. GitHub
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