Kubectl Command Cheatsheet

Pod Management

Create, view, and manage Pods.

``bash # List all Pods kubectl get pods

# List Pods in all namespaces kubectl get pods --all-namespaces

# Show more info (node, IP, etc.) kubectl get pods -o wide

# Watch Pod status changes kubectl get pods -w

# Show Pod details kubectl describe pod my-pod

# Get Pod YAML definition kubectl get pod my-pod -o yaml

# Show Pod labels kubectl get pods --show-labels

# Filter by labels kubectl get pods -l app=nginx,env=prod

# Delete a Pod kubectl delete pod my-pod

# Force delete a Pod kubectl delete pod my-pod --force --grace-period=0

# Run a Pod (one-shot) kubectl run nginx --image=nginx --restart=Never

# Run a Pod and expose a port kubectl run web --image=nginx --port=80

# Export Pod definition to file kubectl get pod my-pod -o yaml --export > pod.yaml `

Workload Management

Manage Deployments, StatefulSets, DaemonSets, etc.

`bash # Create a Deployment kubectl create deployment myapp --image=nginx

# List Deployments kubectl get deployments

# Show Deployment details kubectl describe deployment myapp

# Scale a Deployment kubectl scale deployment myapp --replicas=5

# Auto-scale a Deployment kubectl autoscale deployment myapp --min=2 --max=10 --cpu-percent=80

# Rolling update image kubectl set image deployment/myapp myapp=myapp:v2

# Check rollout status kubectl rollout status deployment/myapp

# View rollout history kubectl rollout history deployment/myapp

# Rollback to previous version kubectl rollout undo deployment/myapp

# Rollback to specific revision kubectl rollout undo deployment/myapp --to-revision=2

# Pause/resume rollout kubectl rollout pause deployment/myapp kubectl rollout resume deployment/myapp

# List DaemonSets kubectl get daemonsets --all-namespaces

# List StatefulSets kubectl get statefulsets

# Manage CronJobs kubectl get cronjobs kubectl create cronjob backup --image=busybox --schedule="0 0 * * *" -- /bin/sh -c "date" `

Networking

Manage Services, Ingress, and network policies.

`bash # List all Services kubectl get services

# List Services in all namespaces kubectl get svc --all-namespaces

# Expose a Deployment as a Service kubectl expose deployment myapp --port=80 --target-port=8080 --type=ClusterIP

# Create NodePort Service kubectl expose deployment myapp --port=80 --type=NodePort

# Create LoadBalancer Service kubectl expose deployment myapp --port=80 --type=LoadBalancer

# Port forward to a Pod kubectl port-forward pod/my-pod 8080:80

# Port forward to a Service kubectl port-forward svc/my-service 8080:80

# View Endpoints kubectl get endpoints

# View Ingress kubectl get ingress

# View Network Policies kubectl get networkpolicies

# Create a Service (using YAML shorthand) kubectl create service clusterip my-svc --tcp=80:8080 `

Configuration

Manage ConfigMaps, Secrets, quotas, and resource configs.

`bash # Create ConfigMap from literals kubectl create configmap app-config --from-literal=key1=val1 --from-literal=key2=val2

# Create ConfigMap from file kubectl create configmap app-config --from-file=config.properties

# View ConfigMaps kubectl get configmaps kubectl describe configmap app-config

# Create Secret from literals kubectl create secret generic db-secret --from-literal=password=mysecret

# Create Secret from files kubectl create secret generic tls-secret --from-file=tls.crt --from-file=tls.key

# View Secrets kubectl get secrets kubectl get secret db-secret -o yaml

# Encode/decode Secret values echo -n "mysecret" | base64 echo "bXlzZWNyZXQ=" | base64 -d

# View ResourceQuotas kubectl get resourcequotas

# View LimitRanges kubectl get limitranges

# View ServiceAccounts kubectl get serviceaccounts

# Edit a resource (default editor) kubectl edit deployment myapp

# Apply YAML configuration kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml

# Delete resources from config kubectl delete -f deployment.yaml `

Debugging

Logs, exec, events, and troubleshooting.

`bash # View Pod logs kubectl logs my-pod

# Follow logs kubectl logs -f my-pod

# View last N log lines kubectl logs --tail=100 my-pod

# View logs since a duration kubectl logs --since=1h my-pod

# View logs for a specific container in multi-container Pod kubectl logs my-pod -c sidecar-container

# Exec into a container shell kubectl exec -it my-pod -- /bin/sh

# Run a single command in a container kubectl exec my-pod -- env kubectl exec my-pod -- ls -la /app

# Copy files to a Pod kubectl cp /local/file.txt my-pod:/remote/path/

# Copy files from a Pod kubectl cp my-pod:/remote/path/file.txt /local/file.txt

# View cluster events kubectl get events kubectl get events --sort-by='.lastTimestamp' kubectl get events -w

# Filter events kubectl get events --field-selector type=Warning

# List API resources kubectl api-resources

# Explain resource fields kubectl explain pod kubectl explain pod.spec.containers

# Test API access permissions kubectl auth can-i create deployments kubectl auth can-i delete pods --as=system:serviceaccount:default:my-sa `

Cluster Management

Node management, context switching, cluster info.

`bash # List nodes kubectl get nodes

# Show node details kubectl describe node worker-1

# Show node resource usage kubectl top node kubectl top pod

# Mark node as unschedulable kubectl cordon worker-1

# Drain pods from a node kubectl drain worker-1 --ignore-daemonsets --delete-emptydir-data

# Restore node scheduling kubectl uncordon worker-1

# Add/remove taints kubectl taint nodes worker-1 key=value:NoSchedule kubectl taint nodes worker-1 key=value:NoSchedule-

# Add/remove labels kubectl label node worker-1 disktype=ssd kubectl label node worker-1 disktype-

# Add/remove annotations kubectl annotate pod my-pod description="my annotation" kubectl annotate pod my-pod description-

# View cluster info kubectl cluster-info

# View current context kubectl config current-context

# List all contexts kubectl config get-contexts

# Switch context kubectl config use-context production

# View kubeconfig kubectl config view

# Set cluster context kubectl config set-context my-context --namespace=prod --cluster=my-cluster --user=my-user

# Merge kubeconfig files export KUBECONFIG=file1:file2 kubectl config view --flatten > merged-config

# View API versions kubectl api-versions

# View all resources in cluster kubectl get all --all-namespaces ``