wiki/structured/cli.kubectl.org

kubectl

• Subcommands
• Examples
  • Basic workflow example from a beginner's perspective

The main binary when managing Kubernetes clusters.

Subcommands

• api-resource lists all of the resources it currently supports.
• cluster-info prints information of the cluster and the add-ons installed.

• create [RESOURCE] [NAME] creates the specified resource with the given name.

  • --dry-run just initiates the process and does nothing. Useful with -o yaml to create a minimal manifest.
  • -o [yaml|json|wide] prints the created resource as the specified output. Specially useful to create manifests and manage clusters declaratively.
• describe [RESOURCE] [NAME] prints a detailed description of the given resource.
• logs [RESOURCE] [NAME] shows the log printed from the given resource.
• explain [RESOURCE] prints an explaination of the given resource — e.g., kubectl explain pods, kubectl explain rs.

• get [RESOURCE] list the specified resource from the cluster.

  • -o, --output [yaml|json|wide] prints in the specified format. You can also print the columns you only need.
• apply applies a manifest, that is, a configuration file.

When referring to a specific resource with ${RESOURCE}/${NAME} — e.g., namespace/demo, deploy/hello.

Examples

As this is a massive tool, this needs massive examples.

Basic workflow example from a beginner's perspective

Say you want to deploy your application with Kubernetes akin to Docker with a single container.

# Get the description of the cluster.
kubectl cluster-info

# List all of the supported resources.
kubectl api-resources

# Create a deployment.
kubectl create deployment/hello-world --image=alpine