kubectl cheatsheet — 40 commands every Kubernetes user needs

kubectl has hundreds of commands. Only a handful get used daily. This cheatsheet covers the 40 that matter, organized by task.

Bookmark this page. Copy commands as needed.

Context and cluster info

# See current context (which cluster kubectl targets)
kubectl config current-context

# List all contexts
kubectl config get-contexts

# Switch context
kubectl config use-context <context-name>

# See cluster info
kubectl cluster-info

# List all API resources
kubectl api-resources

Getting resources

# List pods in current namespace
kubectl get pods

# List pods in specific namespace
kubectl get pods -n <namespace>

# List pods in ALL namespaces
kubectl get pods --all-namespaces
# short: kubectl get pods -A

Example output listing pods across every namespace:

# Wide output (shows node, IP)
kubectl get pods -o wide

# Watch pods in real-time
kubectl get pods -w

# List all resources in namespace
kubectl get all -n <namespace>

Describing resources (debugging)

# Full details of a resource
kubectl describe pod <pod-name>

# Same for other resources
kubectl describe deployment <name>
kubectl describe service <name>
kubectl describe node <name>

# See events (recent cluster activity)
kubectl get events --sort-by='.lastTimestamp'

# Events for specific resource
kubectl get events --field-selector involvedObject.name=<pod-name>

Example — describing a node returns pages of detail about capacity, taints, and allocated resources:

For a broader view, list every resource in the kube-system namespace:

Logs

# See logs of a pod
kubectl logs <pod-name>

# Follow logs live (like tail -f)
kubectl logs -f <pod-name>

# Logs from a specific container in multi-container pod
kubectl logs <pod-name> -c <container-name>

# Last 100 lines
kubectl logs --tail 100 <pod-name>

# Previous crashed container's logs
kubectl logs --previous <pod-name>

# Logs from all pods matching a label
kubectl logs -l app=myapp --tail=50

Executing commands in pods

# Interactive shell in a pod
kubectl exec -it <pod-name> -- bash
# If bash isn't available:
kubectl exec -it <pod-name> -- sh

# Run one-off command
kubectl exec <pod-name> -- ls /app

# Exec into specific container in multi-container pod
kubectl exec -it <pod-name> -c <container-name> -- bash

Port forwarding

# Forward local port to pod port
kubectl port-forward pod/<pod-name> 8080:80

# Forward to a service
kubectl port-forward svc/<service-name> 8080:80

# Forward on specific interface (allow external access)
kubectl port-forward --address 0.0.0.0 svc/<service-name> 8080:80

Applying and deleting resources

# Apply a YAML file
kubectl apply -f manifest.yaml

# Apply all YAMLs in a folder
kubectl apply -f ./manifests/

# Apply from URL
kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/user/repo/main/manifest.yaml

# Delete by file
kubectl delete -f manifest.yaml

# Delete by resource
kubectl delete pod <pod-name>
kubectl delete deployment <name>
kubectl delete service <name>

# Delete ALL pods matching label
kubectl delete pods -l app=myapp

# Force delete stuck pod (rarely needed)
kubectl delete pod <pod-name> --grace-period=0 --force

Editing resources live

# Open resource in editor for edit
kubectl edit deployment <name>

# Set an image (triggers rollout)
kubectl set image deployment/<name> <container>=<new-image>

# Scale a deployment
kubectl scale deployment <name> --replicas=5

# Rollout status
kubectl rollout status deployment/<name>

# Rollout history
kubectl rollout history deployment/<name>

# Undo last rollout
kubectl rollout undo deployment/<name>

# Restart deployment (triggers new pods)
kubectl rollout restart deployment/<name>

Resource usage

# Node CPU/memory usage
kubectl top nodes

# Pod CPU/memory usage
kubectl top pods

# Pods in specific namespace
kubectl top pods -n <namespace>

Note: requires metrics-server installed in cluster.

Debugging permissions (RBAC)

# Can current user do X?
kubectl auth can-i create pods
kubectl auth can-i delete deployments -n prod

# Can specific user/SA do X?
kubectl auth can-i list pods --as=<user>
kubectl auth can-i list pods --as=system:serviceaccount:default:cicd

Output is a simple yes / no — perfect for scripting RBAC checks.

Getting output in different formats

# YAML output
kubectl get pod <name> -o yaml

# JSON output
kubectl get pod <name> -o json

# Custom columns
kubectl get pods -o custom-columns=NAME:.metadata.name,STATUS:.status.phase

# JSONPath (extract specific field)
kubectl get pods -o jsonpath='{.items[*].metadata.name}'

# Just names (space-separated)
kubectl get pods -o name

Namespaces

# List namespaces
kubectl get namespaces

# Create namespace
kubectl create namespace <name>

# Delete namespace (deletes ALL resources in it)
kubectl delete namespace <name>

# Set default namespace for current context
kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=<name>

ConfigMaps and Secrets

# Create ConfigMap from file
kubectl create configmap myconfig --from-file=config.yaml

# Create ConfigMap from literals
kubectl create configmap myconfig --from-literal=key1=value1 --from-literal=key2=value2

# Create Secret from literals
kubectl create secret generic mysecret --from-literal=password=abc123

# Create Docker registry credentials
kubectl create secret docker-registry regcred \
  --docker-server=<url> \
  --docker-username=<user> \
  --docker-password=<pass>

# View decoded secret
kubectl get secret <name> -o jsonpath='{.data.password}' | base64 -d

Labels and selectors

# Label a resource
kubectl label pod <pod-name> environment=production

# Remove a label
kubectl label pod <pod-name> environment-

# Get resources matching label
kubectl get pods -l app=myapp

# Multiple label filters
kubectl get pods -l 'app=myapp,environment=prod'

# NOT equal
kubectl get pods -l 'environment!=dev'

Node management

# Cordon a node (prevent new pods)
kubectl cordon <node-name>

# Drain node (move pods off)
kubectl drain <node-name> --ignore-daemonsets

# Uncordon (allow scheduling again)
kubectl uncordon <node-name>

Common one-liners

# Delete all pods (they'll be recreated by Deployment)
kubectl delete pods --all -n <namespace>

# Restart all deployments in namespace
kubectl rollout restart deployment -n <namespace>

# Get all pods with high restart count
kubectl get pods --all-namespaces -o json | jq '.items[] | select(.status.containerStatuses[]?.restartCount > 5) | .metadata.name'

# See what's using the most memory
kubectl top pods --all-namespaces --sort-by=memory

# Watch pod status change
watch kubectl get pods

Alias for daily productivity

Add to your shell profile (.zshrc or .bashrc):

alias k=kubectl
alias kgp='kubectl get pods'
alias kgs='kubectl get svc'
alias kgd='kubectl get deployments'
alias kgn='kubectl get nodes'
alias kdp='kubectl describe pod'
alias kaf='kubectl apply -f'
alias kdf='kubectl delete -f'
alias kl='kubectl logs -f'
alias ke='kubectl exec -it'

Reload shell: source ~/.zshrc. Now typing kgp is kubectl get pods.

Enable autocomplete

For bash:

source <(kubectl completion bash)
echo "source <(kubectl completion bash)" >> ~/.bashrc

For zsh:

source <(kubectl completion zsh)
echo "source <(kubectl completion zsh)" >> ~/.zshrc

Now tab-completion works on kubectl commands, resources, namespaces, and more.

Config file locations

# Default location
~/.kube/config

# Point kubectl to specific config
export KUBECONFIG=/path/to/config

# Combine multiple configs
export KUBECONFIG=~/.kube/config:~/.kube/config-other

Common gotchas

“connection refused” — cluster not running (minikube start) or wrong context (kubectl config current-context)

“no resources found” — check namespace (kubectl get pods -A)

“error from server: forbidden” — RBAC issue (kubectl auth can-i)

“unable to connect to the server: x509” — expired certificates, common with older kubeconfig files

Slow responses — try --server=<direct-url> to bypass load balancer, or check kubectl cluster-info

Reproduce this yourself

Free Kubernetes environment: https://killercoda.com/playgrounds/scenario/kubernetes

Try each command above in the browser terminal. No local install needed.

Bottom line

Master these 40 commands and 90% of daily Kubernetes work is easier. The other 10% is looking up specific things when needed.

Bookmark this page. Use it as reference. Kubectl fluency comes from repetition, not memorization.