kubectl Cheat Sheet for DevOps

kubectl cluster-info
kubectl get nodes
kubectl get nodes -o wide
kubectl top nodes

# List pods
kubectl get pods
kubectl get pods -A                    # All namespaces
kubectl get pods -o wide               # Show node and IP
kubectl get pods -w                    # Watch for changes

# Details
kubectl describe pod <pod>
kubectl get pod <pod> -o yaml

# Logs
kubectl logs <pod>
kubectl logs <pod> -f                  # Follow
kubectl logs <pod> --previous          # Previous crash
kubectl logs <pod> -c <container>      # Specific container

# Shell access
kubectl exec -it <pod> -- /bin/bash
kubectl exec -it <pod> -- /bin/sh      # Alpine/minimal images

# Delete
kubectl delete pod <pod>
kubectl delete pod <pod> --force       # Immediate kill

# List
kubectl get deployments
kubectl get deploy

# Create
kubectl create deployment nginx --image=nginx --replicas=3

# Scale
kubectl scale deployment nginx --replicas=5

# Update image
kubectl set image deployment/nginx nginx=nginx:1.25

# Rollout status
kubectl rollout status deployment/nginx
kubectl rollout history deployment/nginx
kubectl rollout undo deployment/nginx
kubectl rollout undo deployment/nginx --to-revision=2

# Restart all pods
kubectl rollout restart deployment/nginx

# List
kubectl get services
kubectl get svc

# Expose a deployment
kubectl expose deployment nginx --port=80 --type=ClusterIP
kubectl expose deployment nginx --port=80 --type=NodePort
kubectl expose deployment nginx --port=80 --type=LoadBalancer

# Check endpoints
kubectl get endpoints <service>

# Port forward to local machine
kubectl port-forward svc/nginx 8080:80
kubectl port-forward pod/<pod> 8080:80

# List
kubectl get namespaces

# Create
kubectl create namespace staging

# Set default namespace
kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=staging

# Run in specific namespace
kubectl get pods -n kube-system

# ConfigMap from literal
kubectl create configmap app-config \
  --from-literal=DB_HOST=db.example.com \
  --from-literal=DB_PORT=5432

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

# Secret
kubectl create secret generic db-creds \
  --from-literal=username=admin \
  --from-literal=password=secret123

# View secret (base64 decoded)
kubectl get secret db-creds -o jsonpath='{.data.password}' | base64 -d

# Run a temporary debug pod
kubectl run debug --image=busybox --rm -it -- sh
kubectl run curl --image=curlimages/curl --rm -it -- sh

# Check events
kubectl get events --sort-by='.lastTimestamp'
kubectl get events -n <namespace>

# Resource usage
kubectl top pods
kubectl top pods --sort-by=memory
kubectl top nodes

# DNS check
kubectl run dns --image=busybox --rm -it -- nslookup kubernetes.default

# Show labels
kubectl get pods --show-labels

# Filter by label
kubectl get pods -l app=nginx
kubectl get pods -l 'environment in (prod,staging)'

# Add label
kubectl label pod <pod> environment=prod

# Remove label
kubectl label pod <pod> environment-

# Apply from file
kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml
kubectl apply -f ./manifests/           # Entire directory
kubectl apply -f https://example.com/manifest.yaml

# Delete
kubectl delete -f deployment.yaml
kubectl delete deployment nginx

# Dry run
kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml --dry-run=client
kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml --dry-run=server

kubectl get pods -o json
kubectl get pods -o yaml
kubectl get pods -o wide
kubectl get pods -o name
kubectl get pods -o jsonpath='{.items[*].metadata.name}'
kubectl get pods -o custom-columns=NAME:.metadata.name,STATUS:.status.phase