kubectl Cheatsheet - Command Reference

A kubectl command reference for app developers and cluster operators, covering resource queries, Pod diagnosis, replica scaling, and cluster context management. Unlike reading YAML directly, kubectl is the consistent window into cluster state and change control, letting you quickly localize frequent incidents such as CrashLoopBackOff, Pods stuck in Pending, and failed rollouts. By the end you can run the whole loop yourself: inspect status → check events → read logs → recover or roll back.

Containers & Orchestration·24 commands·Last updated 2026-07-21

Get Resources 5

kubectl get pods -n prod

List pods in a namespace

kubectl get pods -o wide

Show extra info: node and pod IP

kubectl get pods -A

List pods across all namespaces

kubectl get svc,ingress -n prod

Query Services and Ingresses at once

kubectl get events --sort-by=.lastTimestamp

Sort events by time, find scheduling/pull failures

Describe & Diagnose 5

kubectl describe pod <pod> -n prod

Check events, container status, probes for CrashLoop/Pending

kubectl logs <pod> -n prod

View pod logs

kubectl logs <pod> --previous

View logs from the previous crashed container, essential for CrashLoop

kubectl logs <pod> -c <container>

Logs for a specific container in a multi-container pod

kubectl exec -it <pod> -- sh

Shell into a pod container for debugging

Scale & Rollout 5

kubectl scale deploy/app --replicas=3

Adjust replica count

kubectl rollout status deploy/app

Check rolling update progress

kubectl rollout undo deploy/app

Rollback to previous version

kubectl set image deploy/app c=app:1.1

Update image to trigger rolling update

kubectl delete pod <pod>

Delete pod, controller recreates automatically

Context & Configuration 4

kubectl config get-contexts

List all cluster contexts

kubectl config use-context <ctx>

Switch current cluster context, essential for multi-cluster

kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=prod

Set default namespace, saves typing -n each time

kubectl top pod -n prod

View pod CPU/memory usage, requires metrics-server

FAQ 5

Q: How do I list pods across all namespaces?

A: kubectl get pods -A or kubectl get pods --all-namespaces lists pods in every namespace of the cluster.

Q: What is the difference between kubectl apply and kubectl create?

A: kubectl apply is declarative (recommended) and supports create and update; kubectl create is imperative and errors if the resource already exists.

Q: How do I view a pod log?

A: kubectl logs <pod> -n <namespace>; add -f to follow, or --previous to see the crashed container logs.

Q: How do I shell into a pod container?

A: kubectl exec -it <pod> -- sh (or /bin/bash); use -c <container> for multi-container pods.

Q: How do I check cluster node status?

A: kubectl get nodes lists all node statuses; kubectl describe node <name> shows detailed node info.

Tips

Troubleshooting order: get for status → describe for events → logs for app errors, add --previous for CrashLoop.
Run kubectl config get-contexts first to confirm the current cluster to avoid accidental operations on production.
kubectl top errors usually mean metrics-server is not installed, not a command syntax issue.

Official References

Each command links to its official documentation below, so you can verify the latest usage and read deeper.

Kubernetes Docs

Maintained by LaoHand

Publicly updated on Jul 21, 2026, continuously proofread against official docs.

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