Kubectl Cheatsheet

Cluster Information #

kubectl version                        # Display the Kubernetes client and server versions
kubectl cluster-info                   # Display cluster information
kubectl config view                    # View and edit kubeconfig

Basic Operations #

kubectl get all                        # List all resources of all types in the current namespace
kubectl get pods                       # List all pods in the current namespace
kubectl get nodes                      # List all nodes in the cluster
kubectl get namespaces                 # List all namespaces
kubectl get deployments                # List all deployments in the current namespace
kubectl get services                   # List all services in the current namespace
kubectl get configmaps                 # List all config maps in the current namespace
kubectl get secrets                    # List all secrets in the current namespace
kubectl get events                     # List all events in the current namespace

Detailed Information #

kubectl describe pod <pod_name>        # Show detailed information about a specific pod
kubectl describe node <node_name>      # Show detailed information about a specific node
kubectl describe service <svc_name>    # Show detailed information about a specific service

Create and Apply #

kubectl create -f <file.yaml>          # Create a resource from a YAML file
kubectl apply -f <file.yaml>           # Apply changes to a resource from a YAML file
kubectl apply -f <url>                 # Apply a resource from a URL

Editing Resources #

kubectl edit <resource_type> <resource_name> # Edit a resource using the default editor

Delete Resources #

kubectl delete pod <pod_name>          # Delete a specific pod
kubectl delete deployment <dep_name>   # Delete a specific deployment
kubectl delete service <svc_name>      # Delete a specific service

Labeling Resources #

kubectl label <resource_type> <resource_name> key=value  # Add a label to a resource

Scaling #

kubectl scale deployment <dep_name> --replicas=<replica_count>  # Scale a deployment to a specific number of replicas

Taints and Tolerations #

kubectl taint nodes <node_name> key=value:taint-effect  # Add a taint to a node
kubectl taint nodes <node_name> key=value:NoSchedule    # Add a NoSchedule taint to a node

Resource Quotas #

kubectl get resourcequota                       # List resource quotas in the current namespace
kubectl describe resourcequota <quota_name>     # Describe a specific resource quota

Networking #

kubectl port-forward <pod_name> <local_port>:<pod_port>  # Forward local port to a specific pod's port

Copying Files and Directories #

kubectl cp /tmp/foo_dir my-pod:/tmp/bar_dir            # Copy /tmp/foo_dir local directory to /tmp/bar_dir in a remote pod in the current namespace
kubectl cp /tmp/foo my-pod:/tmp/bar -c my-container    # Copy /tmp/foo local file to /tmp/bar in a remote pod in a specific container
kubectl cp /tmp/foo my-namespace/my-pod:/tmp/bar       # Copy /tmp/foo local file to /tmp/bar in a remote pod in namespace my-namespace
kubectl cp my-namespace/my-pod:/tmp/foo /tmp/bar       # Copy /tmp/foo from a remote pod to /tmp/bar locally

Logs and Troubleshooting #

kubectl logs <pod_name>                # View the logs of a specific pod
kubectl logs -f <pod_name>             # Stream the logs of a specific pod
kubectl exec -it <pod_name> -- <command>  # Execute a command inside a specific pod
kubectl top node                       # Show CPU and memory usage for nodes
kubectl top pod                        # Show CPU and memory usage for pods
kubectl get events                     # List all events in the current namespace

Formatting Output #

To output details to your terminal window in a specific format, add the -o or --output flag to a supported kubectl command.