Kubernetes Commands Cheatsheet

Setup Alias

alias k=kubectl

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Get Objects

# Get pods in a namespace
k get pods -n <namespace>

# Get deployments
k get deployments -n <namespace>

# Get services
k get services -n <namespace>

# Generic syntax
k get <object> -n <namespace>

# Get in ALL namespaces
k get <object> --all-namespaces

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Edit Objects

k edit <object> <name> -n <namespace>

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Describe Objects

k describe <object> <name> -n <namespace>

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Delete Objects

k delete <object> <name> -n <namespace>

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Execute Inside a Container

k exec -it <pod_name> -n <namespace> /bin/sh

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Scale Deployments

# Scale a single deployment
kubectl scale deployment <deployment_name> --replicas=<number>

# Scale ALL deployments in a namespace
kubectl get deploy -n <namespace> -o name | xargs -I % kubectl scale % --replicas=1 -n <namespace>

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Get Pods on a Specific Node

kubectl get pods --all-namespaces -o wide --field-selector spec.nodeName=<node-name>

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Secrets Management

# List secrets in namespace
k get secrets -n <namespace>

# Get a particular secret as YAML
k get secret <secret-name> -n <namespace> -o yaml

# Decode secret value
echo "encoded-value" | base64 -D    # macOS
echo "encoded-value" | base64 -d    # Linux

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Quick Reference

Task	Command
Get pods	k get pods -n <ns>
Get all pods	k get pods --all-namespaces
Describe pod	k describe pod <name> -n <ns>
Exec into pod	k exec -it <pod> -n <ns> /bin/sh
View logs	k logs <pod> -n <ns>
Follow logs	k logs -f <pod> -n <ns>
Scale deployment	k scale deploy <name> --replicas=3
Get secrets	k get secrets -n <ns>
Delete pod	k delete pod <name> -n <ns>

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Useful Tools

# Install with Homebrew (macOS)
brew install kubectx    # Switch contexts/namespaces easily
brew install stern      # Multi-pod log tailing