kubectl Skill

Manage Kubernetes clusters via the kubectl command-line tool.

Requirements

•kubectl installed (brew install kubectl or from https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/)
•Kubeconfig configured (~/.kube/config or KUBECONFIG env var)

Configuration

View current config

bash

kubectl config view                    # Show merged kubeconfig
kubectl config current-context         # Display current context
kubectl config get-contexts            # List all contexts

Switch context/namespace

bash

kubectl config use-context <context>   # Switch context
kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=<ns>  # Set default namespace

Common Operations

Get Resources

bash

kubectl get pods                       # List pods in current namespace
kubectl get pods -A                    # List pods in ALL namespaces
kubectl get pods -o wide               # More details (node, IP)
kubectl get pods -o yaml               # Full YAML output
kubectl get svc,deploy,pods            # Multiple resource types
kubectl get all                        # All common resources

Resource shortcuts

Full name	Shortcut
pods	po
services	svc
deployments	deploy
replicasets	rs
namespaces	ns
nodes	no
configmaps	cm
secrets	-
persistentvolumeclaims	pvc
persistentvolumes	pv
ingresses	ing
daemonsets	ds
statefulsets	sts
cronjobs	cj
jobs	-

Describe & Debug

bash

kubectl describe pod <pod>             # Detailed info about a pod
kubectl describe node <node>           # Node details
kubectl logs <pod>                     # Container logs
kubectl logs <pod> -c <container>      # Specific container logs
kubectl logs <pod> -f                  # Follow logs (tail -f)
kubectl logs <pod> --previous          # Previous container logs (after crash)

Execute Commands

bash

kubectl exec -it <pod> -- /bin/sh      # Interactive shell
kubectl exec <pod> -- <command>        # Run command in pod
kubectl exec -it <pod> -c <container> -- /bin/sh  # Specific container

Apply & Delete

bash

kubectl apply -f <file.yaml>           # Create/update from file
kubectl apply -f <dir>/                # Apply all files in directory
kubectl delete -f <file.yaml>          # Delete resources from file
kubectl delete pod <pod>               # Delete specific pod
kubectl delete pods --all              # Delete all pods in namespace

Create Resources

bash

kubectl create deployment <name> --image=<image>
kubectl create service clusterip <name> --tcp=80:8080
kubectl create configmap <name> --from-file=<path>
kubectl create secret generic <name> --from-literal=key=value
kubectl create namespace <name>

Scaling

bash

kubectl scale deployment <name> --replicas=3
kubectl autoscale deployment <name> --min=2 --max=10 --cpu-percent=80

Rollouts

bash

kubectl rollout status deployment/<name>    # Watch rollout progress
kubectl rollout history deployment/<name>   # Rollout history
kubectl rollout undo deployment/<name>      # Rollback to previous
kubectl rollout restart deployment/<name>   # Rolling restart

Port Forwarding

bash

kubectl port-forward pod/<pod> 8080:80     # Forward local:container
kubectl port-forward svc/<svc> 8080:80     # Forward to service
kubectl port-forward deploy/<deploy> 8080:80

Copy Files

bash

kubectl cp <pod>:/path/to/file ./local     # From pod to local
kubectl cp ./local <pod>:/path/to/file     # From local to pod

Advanced Queries

JSONPath

bash

# Get all pod names
kubectl get pods -o jsonpath='{.items[*].metadata.name}'

# Get pod IPs
kubectl get pods -o jsonpath='{.items[*].status.podIP}'

# Get node external IPs
kubectl get nodes -o jsonpath='{.items[*].status.addresses[?(@.type=="ExternalIP")].address}'

Filtering

bash

kubectl get pods -l app=nginx           # By label
kubectl get pods --field-selector=status.phase=Running
kubectl get pods --selector='!node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane'

Sorting

bash

kubectl get pods --sort-by=.metadata.creationTimestamp
kubectl get pods --sort-by='.status.containerStatuses[0].restartCount'
kubectl get pv --sort-by=.spec.capacity.storage

Custom Columns

bash

kubectl get pods -o custom-columns='NAME:.metadata.name,STATUS:.status.phase,IP:.status.podIP'

Cluster Info

bash

kubectl cluster-info                    # Cluster endpoint info
kubectl get nodes                       # List nodes
kubectl top nodes                       # Node resource usage
kubectl top pods                        # Pod resource usage
kubectl api-resources                   # All available resources
kubectl api-versions                    # API versions

Namespace Operations

bash

kubectl get namespaces                  # List namespaces
kubectl create namespace <name>         # Create namespace
kubectl delete namespace <name>         # Delete namespace (and all resources!)

Events

bash

kubectl get events                      # List events
kubectl get events --sort-by=.metadata.creationTimestamp
kubectl events --types=Warning          # Only warnings

Output Formats

•-o yaml — YAML output
•-o json — JSON output
•-o wide — Additional columns
•-o name — Only resource names
•-o jsonpath='{...}' — JSONPath extraction
•-o custom-columns='...' — Custom columns

Dry Run

bash

kubectl apply -f file.yaml --dry-run=client  # Validate locally
kubectl apply -f file.yaml --dry-run=server  # Validate on server
kubectl create deployment x --image=y --dry-run=client -o yaml  # Generate YAML

⚠️ Restrictions

•NEVER delete namespaces without explicit user approval (deletes ALL resources)
•NEVER run kubectl delete --all without confirmation
•Avoid kubectl exec with destructive commands without asking
•Use --dry-run=client when generating manifests
•Prefer kubectl apply over kubectl create for idempotency