About kubectl Cheatsheet

Inspect, logs, apply, scale, context switching for Kubernetes. Part of the DevTools Surf developer suite. Browse more tools in the Cheatsheets collection.

Use Cases

• Quickly finding the command to tail pod logs during incident response
• Looking up context-switching syntax when managing multiple clusters
• Referencing resource scaling commands during traffic spikes
• Reviewing rollout commands when deploying new application versions

Tips

• Use the context section to switch between clusters safely
• Check the logs commands for debugging pod failures
• Review the apply and scale commands for deployment management

Fun Facts

• Kubernetes was open-sourced by Google on June 7, 2014, based on their internal Borg system that had managed containers at scale since 2003.
• The name Kubernetes comes from Greek, meaning 'helmsman' or 'pilot' — the seven-spoked wheel in its logo represents the original codename 'Project Seven.'
• kubectl (pronounced 'cube-control' or 'cube-C-T-L') processes over 5 billion API calls daily across the world's Kubernetes clusters.

FAQ

Does it cover kubectl plugins?

Core commands only. Plugins (kubectx, k9s, stern) are tools on top of kubectl; this focuses on the base CLI.

What about troubleshooting commands?

Yes — logs with follow/previous, exec into a pod, describe for events, and port-forward for local testing.

Is helm covered?

Kubectl-focused cheatsheet. For Helm you need a separate reference; the two tools serve different layers.

Does it show YAML snippets?

Common ones: Deployment, Service, ConfigMap, Secret, Ingress. Enough to get started; full specs are in the Kubernetes docs.