kubectl

kubectl Skill

Execute Kubernetes cluster management operations using the kubectl command-line tool.

Overview

This skill enables agents to:

• Query Resources — List and get details about pods, deployments, services, nodes, etc.
• Deploy & Update — Create, apply, patch, and update Kubernetes resources
• Debug & Troubleshoot — View logs, execute commands in containers, inspect events
• Manage Configuration — Update kubeconfig, switch contexts, manage namespaces
• Monitor Health — Check resource usage, rollout status, events, and pod conditions
• Perform Operations — Scale deployments, drain nodes, manage taints and labels

Prerequisites

1. kubectl binary installed and accessible on PATH (v1.20+)
2. kubeconfig file configured with cluster credentials (default: ~/.kube/config)
3. Active connection to a Kubernetes cluster

Quick Setup

Install kubectl

macOS:

brew install kubernetes-cli

Linux:

apt-get install -y kubectl  # Ubuntu/Debian
yum install -y kubectl      # RHEL/CentOS

Verify:

kubectl version --client
kubectl cluster-info  # Test connection

Essential Commands

Query Resources

kubectl get pods                    # List all pods in current namespace
kubectl get pods -A                 # All namespaces
kubectl get pods -o wide            # More columns
kubectl get nodes                   # List nodes
kubectl describe pod POD_NAME        # Detailed info with events

View Logs

kubectl logs POD_NAME                # Get logs
kubectl logs -f POD_NAME             # Follow logs (tail -f)
kubectl logs POD_NAME -c CONTAINER   # Specific container
kubectl logs POD_NAME --previous     # Previous container logs

Execute Commands

kubectl exec -it POD_NAME -- /bin/bash   # Interactive shell
kubectl exec POD_NAME -- COMMAND         # Run single command

Deploy Applications

kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml         # Apply config
kubectl create -f deployment.yaml        # Create resource
kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml --dry-run=client  # Test