kubectl reference

kubectl annotate Update the annotations on a resource

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kubectl api-resources Print the supported API resources on the server

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kubectl api-versions Print the supported API versions on the server, in the form of "group/version"

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kubectl apply Apply a configuration to a resource by file name or stdin

kubectl apply edit-last-applied — Edit latest last-applied-configuration annotations of a resource/object
kubectl apply set-last-applied — Set the last-applied-configuration annotation on a live object to match the contents of a file
kubectl apply view-last-applied — View the latest last-applied-configuration annotations of a resource/object

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kubectl attach Attach to a running container

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kubectl auth Inspect authorization

kubectl auth can-i — Check whether an action is allowed
kubectl auth reconcile — Reconciles rules for RBAC role, role binding, cluster role, and cluster role binding objects
kubectl auth whoami — Experimental: Check self subject attributes

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kubectl autoscale Auto-scale a deployment, replica set, stateful set, or replication controller

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kubectl certificate Modify certificate resources

kubectl certificate approve — Approve a certificate signing request
kubectl certificate deny — Deny a certificate signing request

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kubectl cluster-info Display cluster information

kubectl cluster-info dump — Dump relevant information for debugging and diagnosis

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kubectl completion Output shell completion code for the specified shell (bash, zsh, fish, or powershell)

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kubectl config Modify kubeconfig files

kubectl config current-context — Display the current-context
kubectl config delete-cluster — Delete the specified cluster from the kubeconfig
kubectl config delete-context — Delete the specified context from the kubeconfig
kubectl config delete-user — Delete the specified user from the kubeconfig
kubectl config get-clusters — Display clusters defined in the kubeconfig
kubectl config get-contexts — Describe one or many contexts
kubectl config get-users — Display users defined in the kubeconfig
kubectl config rename-context — Rename a context from the kubeconfig file
kubectl config set — Set an individual value in a kubeconfig file
kubectl config set-cluster — Set a cluster entry in kubeconfig
kubectl config set-context — Set a context entry in kubeconfig
kubectl config set-credentials — Set a user entry in kubeconfig
kubectl config unset — Unset an individual value in a kubeconfig file
kubectl config use-context — Set the current-context in a kubeconfig file
kubectl config view — Display merged kubeconfig settings or a specified kubeconfig file

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kubectl cordon Mark node as unschedulable

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kubectl cp Copy files and directories to and from containers

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kubectl create Create a resource from a file or from stdin

kubectl create clusterrole — Create a cluster role
kubectl create clusterrolebinding — Create a cluster role binding for a particular cluster role
kubectl create configmap — Create a config map from a local file, directory or literal value
kubectl create cronjob — Create a cron job with the specified name
kubectl create deployment — Create a deployment with the specified name
kubectl create ingress — Create an ingress with the specified name
kubectl create job — Create a job with the specified name
kubectl create namespace — Create a namespace with the specified name
kubectl create poddisruptionbudget — Create a pod disruption budget with the specified name
kubectl create priorityclass — Create a priority class with the specified name
kubectl create quota — Create a quota with the specified name
kubectl create role — Create a role with single rule
kubectl create rolebinding — Create a role binding for a particular role or cluster role
kubectl create secret — Create a secret using a specified subcommand
kubectl create secret docker-registry — Create a secret for use with a Docker registry
kubectl create secret generic — Create a secret from a local file, directory, or literal value
kubectl create secret tls — Create a TLS secret
kubectl create service — Create a service using a specified subcommand
kubectl create service clusterip — Create a ClusterIP service
kubectl create service externalname — Create an ExternalName service
kubectl create service loadbalancer — Create a LoadBalancer service
kubectl create service nodeport — Create a NodePort service
kubectl create serviceaccount — Create a service account with the specified name
kubectl create token — Request a service account token

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kubectl debug Create debugging sessions for troubleshooting workloads and nodes

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kubectl delete Delete resources by file names, stdin, resources and names, or by resources and label selector

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kubectl describe Show details of a specific resource or group of resources

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kubectl diff Diff the live version against a would-be applied version

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kubectl drain Drain node in preparation for maintenance

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kubectl edit Edit a resource on the server

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kubectl events List events

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kubectl exec Execute a command in a container

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kubectl explain Get documentation for a resource

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kubectl expose Take a replication controller, service, deployment or pod and expose it as a new Kubernetes service

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kubectl get Display one or many resources

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kubectl kuberc Manage kuberc configuration files

kubectl kuberc set — Set values in the kuberc configuration
kubectl kuberc view — Display the current kuberc configuration

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kubectl kustomize Build a kustomization target from a directory or URL

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kubectl label Update the labels on a resource

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kubectl logs Print the logs for a container in a pod

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kubectl options Print the list of flags inherited by all commands

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kubectl patch Update fields of a resource

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kubectl plugin Provides utilities for interacting with plugins

kubectl plugin list — List all visible plugin executables on a user's PATH

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kubectl port-forward Forward one or more local ports to a pod

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kubectl proxy Run a proxy to the Kubernetes API server

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kubectl replace Replace a resource by file name or stdin

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kubectl rollout Manage the rollout of a resource

kubectl rollout history — View rollout history
kubectl rollout pause — Mark the provided resource as paused
kubectl rollout restart — Restart a resource
kubectl rollout resume — Resume a paused resource
kubectl rollout status — Show the status of the rollout
kubectl rollout undo — Undo a previous rollout

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kubectl run Run a particular image on the cluster

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kubectl scale Set a new size for a deployment, replica set, or replication controller

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kubectl set Set specific features on objects

kubectl set env — Update environment variables on a pod template
kubectl set image — Update the image of a pod template
kubectl set resources — Update resource requests/limits on objects with pod templates
kubectl set selector — Set the selector on a resource
kubectl set serviceaccount — Update the service account of a resource
kubectl set subject — Update the user, group, or service account in a role binding or cluster role binding

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kubectl taint Update the taints on one or more nodes

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kubectl top Display resource (CPU/memory) usage

kubectl top node — Display resource (CPU/memory) usage of nodes
kubectl top pod — Display resource (CPU/memory) usage of pods

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kubectl uncordon Mark node as schedulable

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kubectl version Print the client and server version information

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kubectl wait Wait for a specific condition on one or many resources

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Last modified March 22, 2026 at 3:35 PM PST: Switch to Hugo page discovery and add description field to kubectl command front matter (83100f9a0d)