The kubectl Commands You Actually Use Daily

kubectl config get-contexts
kubectl config use-context prod
kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=team-a    # stop typing -n

# kubens / kubectx (krew or standalone) are worth installing
kubectl ctx        # switch context
kubectl ns         # switch namespace

kubectl get pods -o wide                       # + node, IP
kubectl get pods -w                             # watch
kubectl get pods -A                             # all namespaces
kubectl get pods -l app=api,tier=backend        # label selector
kubectl get pods --field-selector status.phase=Running
kubectl get all -n team-a                       # pods/svc/deploy/rs (not everything, despite the name)
kubectl describe pod mypod                      # Events at the bottom
kubectl get events --sort-by=.lastTimestamp -A | tail -30

kubectl get pod mypod -o yaml
kubectl get pod mypod -o jsonpath='{.status.podIP}'
kubectl get pods -o jsonpath='{range .items[*]}{.metadata.name}{"\t"}{.status.phase}{"\n"}{end}'
kubectl get pods -o custom-columns=NAME:.metadata.name,NODE:.spec.nodeName,RESTARTS:.status.containerStatuses[0].restartCount
kubectl get nodes -o json | jq '.items[].status.capacity'

kubectl logs mypod -f
kubectl logs mypod -c sidecar --previous        # crashed container's logs
kubectl logs -l app=api --tail=100 --prefix     # aggregate across pods
kubectl logs deploy/api                         # a pod of the deployment

kubectl exec -it mypod -- sh
kubectl exec mypod -- env
kubectl debug -it mypod --image=nicolaka/netshoot --target=app   # ephemeral debug container
kubectl cp mypod:/var/log/app.log ./app.log

kubectl top nodes
kubectl top pods -A --sort-by=memory
kubectl describe node node-1 | grep -A10 'Allocated resources'

kubectl rollout status deploy/api
kubectl rollout history deploy/api
kubectl rollout undo deploy/api                 # to previous
kubectl rollout undo deploy/api --to-revision=3
kubectl rollout restart deploy/api              # re-create pods (pick up new ConfigMap, etc.)
kubectl scale deploy/api --replicas=5

kubectl apply -f manifest.yaml
kubectl apply -f manifest.yaml --dry-run=server        # validate against the API, no change
kubectl diff -f manifest.yaml                          # what would change
kubectl edit deploy/api                                # opens $EDITOR
kubectl patch deploy/api --type=merge -p '{"spec":{"replicas":3}}'
kubectl set image deploy/api api=myrepo/api:v2.1.0
kubectl label pod mypod team=a --overwrite
kubectl annotate ...

kubectl create deployment api --image=myrepo/api:v1 --dry-run=client -o yaml > deploy.yaml
kubectl create job --from=cronjob/nightly manual-run-1
kubectl run tmp --rm -it --image=busybox --restart=Never -- sh

kubectl api-resources                    # every resource type + short name + apiGroup
kubectl explain deployment.spec.strategy  # field docs, offline
kubectl auth can-i create deployments
kubectl get --raw /healthz
kubectl version --short