kubectl Cheatsheet
A practical kubectl cheatsheet: switch contexts and namespaces, inspect resources, read logs, exec into pods, apply manifests, and drive rollouts — copy-ready with editable placeholders. Destructive commands are flagged.
Explain a command
Contexts & namespaces
- List contexts
kubectl config get-contexts - Switch context (cluster)
kubectl config use-context - Set the default namespace
kubectl config set-context --current --namespace= - List namespaces
kubectl get namespaces
Inspect resources
- List pods in a namespace
kubectl get pods -n - List pods across all namespaces
kubectl get pods --all-namespaces - List pods with node/IP (wide)
kubectl get pods -o wide - Dump a resource as YAML
kubectl get -o yaml - Describe a resource (events, state)
kubectl describe - Recent events, newest last
kubectl get events --sort-by=.lastTimestamp - Pod CPU/memory usage
kubectl top pods -n
Logs & exec
- Follow a pod’s logs
kubectl logs -f - Logs of one container in a pod
kubectl logs -c - Logs from the previous (crashed) container
kubectl logs --previous - Open a shell in a pod
kubectl exec -it -- - Port-forward to a pod/service
kubectl port-forward :
Apply & manage
- Apply a manifest
kubectl apply -f - Delete a resourcedestructive
kubectl delete - Scale a deployment
kubectl scale deployment --replicas= - Create a ConfigMap from a .env file
kubectl create configmap --from-env-file= - Create a Secret from literals
kubectl create secret generic --from-literal==
Rollouts
- Watch a rollout
kubectl rollout status deployment/ - Restart a deployment (rolling)
kubectl rollout restart deployment/ - Roll back to the previous revisiondestructive
kubectl rollout undo deployment/
24 commands. Copy-ready with editable placeholders — everything runs in your browser, nothing is sent to a server.