Install kubectl on Linux, macOS and Windows

Which option to pick

kubectl is a single static binary, so the simplest install on any OS is to download it from the Kubernetes release server and put it on your PATH. Package managers (Homebrew, winget, the Kubernetes apt and yum repositories) are convenient for updates. Whichever you use, the version should be within one minor version of the cluster you talk to: a 1.37 client works with 1.36, 1.37 and 1.38 control planes. If you use Docker Desktop, Rancher Desktop, minikube or a cloud CLI such as gcloud or az, they can install kubectl for you; a separate install is still useful to control the version.

Step: Linux

Download the latest stable release for your architecture (replace amd64 with arm64 if needed), check it, and install it:

curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl"
curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl.sha256"
echo "$(cat kubectl.sha256)  kubectl" | sha256sum --check
sudo install -o root -g root -m 0755 kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl

Or use the Kubernetes apt repository on Debian and Ubuntu. The repository is per minor version; change v1.37 to the line you need:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl gnupg
sudo mkdir -p -m 755 /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/v1.37/deb/Release.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg
sudo chmod 644 /etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg
echo 'deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg] https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/v1.37/deb/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kubernetes.list
sudo chmod 644 /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kubernetes.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y kubectl

On distributions with Snap, sudo snap install kubectl --classic also works.

Step: macOS

brew install kubectl

Or download the binary, replacing arm64 with amd64 on Intel Macs:

curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/darwin/arm64/kubectl"
chmod +x ./kubectl
sudo mv ./kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
sudo chown root: /usr/local/bin/kubectl

Step: Windows

winget install -e --id Kubernetes.kubectl

Open a new terminal afterwards. Alternatives: choco install kubernetes-cli or scoop install kubectl, or download kubectl.exe from https://dl.k8s.io/release/<version>/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe and add its folder to PATH. If you installed Docker Desktop, it already placed a kubectl.exe on your PATH; the new one must come first, or remove Docker’s copy.

Check it works

kubectl version --client
kubectl cluster-info
kubectl get nodes

The first command works without any cluster. The other two need a kubeconfig, which kubectl reads from ~/.kube/config (or the file named in the KUBECONFIG variable). Your cluster provider gives you this file or a command that writes it, for example minikube start, kind get kubeconfig, az aks get-credentials or gcloud container clusters get-credentials. Shell completion saves a lot of typing:

echo 'source <(kubectl completion bash)' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'alias k=kubectl' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'complete -o default -F __start_kubectl k' >> ~/.bashrc

Common problems

• The connection to the server localhost:8080 was refused: there is no kubeconfig, so kubectl falls back to a local default. Obtain the kubeconfig for your cluster, or set KUBECONFIG to its path.
• WARNING: version difference between client and server is more than 1 minor: install the matching kubectl version; the download URL accepts an explicit version such as v1.35.0 in place of the stable.txt lookup.
• Windows: an old kubectl keeps running after installing a new one: Get-Command kubectl -All lists every copy on PATH; reorder PATH or delete the old one.
• error: You must be logged in to the server (Unauthorized): the credentials in the kubeconfig have expired or are for another cluster; re-run your provider’s credentials command.

Official documentation

• Install and Set Up kubectl on Linux
• Install and Set Up kubectl on macOS
• Install and Set Up kubectl on Windows