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Kubernetes Cheatsheet: Daily Commands Every Developer Actually Uses

#kubernetes #devops #cheatsheet #kubectl

What this is: The 20% of Kubernetes that covers 80% of daily work. Cluster state, pod management, debugging, deployments, secrets, logs, resource inspection — organized by task, not by resource type.

⚡ Cluster State — Is Everything OK? 

# Overall health check
kubectl get nodes
kubectl get nodes -o wide          # with IPs and OS info

# All resources across all namespaces
kubectl get all -A

# What's failing right now
kubectl get pods -A | grep -v Running | grep -v Completed

# Cluster events (recent activity, errors)
kubectl get events --sort-by='.lastTimestamp'
kubectl get events -A --sort-by='.lastTimestamp' | tail -30

# Resource usage (requires metrics-server)
kubectl top nodes
kubectl top pods -A
kubectl top pods --sort-by=cpu
kubectl top pods --sort-by=memory
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🏃 Pods — Daily Inspection 

# List pods
kubectl get pods                              # current namespace
kubectl get pods -n <namespace>               # specific namespace
kubectl get pods -A                           # all namespaces
kubectl get pods -o wide                      # with node placement

# Watch pods in real time
kubectl get pods -w
kubectl get pods -w -n <namespace>

# Pod details (why is it stuck?)
kubectl describe pod <pod-name>
kubectl describe pod <pod-name> -n <namespace>

# Get pod YAML
kubectl get pod <pod-name> -o yaml

# Delete a stuck pod
kubectl delete pod <pod-name>
kubectl delete pod <pod-name> --force --grace-period=0   # force kill
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Pod status quick reference:

Status What it means
Running All containers up
Pending Waiting for scheduling (check node resources)
CrashLoopBackOff Container keeps crashing (check logs)
OOMKilled Out of memory — increase limits
ImagePullBackOff Can't pull image (wrong name, no auth)
Terminating (stuck) Finalizer blocking — use --force
Evicted Node was under pressure

📋 Logs — What Is It Saying? 

# Basic logs
kubectl logs <pod-name>
kubectl logs <pod-name> -n <namespace>

# Follow live
kubectl logs -f <pod-name>

# Last N lines
kubectl logs <pod-name> --tail=100

# Logs since time
kubectl logs <pod-name> --since=1h
kubectl logs <pod-name> --since=30m

# Multi-container pod — specify container
kubectl logs <pod-name> -c <container-name>

# Previous container (after crash)
kubectl logs <pod-name> --previous
kubectl logs <pod-name> -c <container-name> --previous

# All pods in a deployment at once
kubectl logs -l app=<label-value> --all-containers=true
kubectl logs -l app=<label-value> -f --tail=50
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🔍 Debugging — Getting Inside 

# Shell into a running pod
kubectl exec -it <pod-name> -- /bin/bash
kubectl exec -it <pod-name> -- /bin/sh          # if bash not available
kubectl exec -it <pod-name> -c <container> -- /bin/sh

# Run a one-off command
kubectl exec <pod-name> -- env
kubectl exec <pod-name> -- cat /etc/hosts
kubectl exec <pod-name> -- ls /app

# Debug with a temporary pod (when your pod has no shell)
kubectl run debug --image=busybox -it --rm -- /bin/sh
kubectl run debug --image=nicolaka/netshoot -it --rm -- /bin/bash

# Debug a specific node
kubectl debug node/<node-name> -it --image=ubuntu

# Copy files to/from pod
kubectl cp <pod-name>:/path/to/file ./local-file
kubectl cp ./local-file <pod-name>:/path/to/file
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🚀 Deployments — Rolling Updates and Rollbacks 

# List deployments
kubectl get deployments
kubectl get deploy -n <namespace>

# Deployment status
kubectl rollout status deployment/<name>

# Rollout history
kubectl rollout history deployment/<name>

# Update image
kubectl set image deployment/<name> <container>=<image>:<tag>
kubectl set image deployment/api api=myregistry/api:v2.1.0

# Scale
kubectl scale deployment/<name> --replicas=5

# Rollback
kubectl rollout undo deployment/<name>                        # to previous
kubectl rollout undo deployment/<name> --to-revision=2        # to specific

# Pause/resume rollout
kubectl rollout pause deployment/<name>
kubectl rollout resume deployment/<name>

# Restart all pods (rolling restart, zero downtime)
kubectl rollout restart deployment/<name>

# Force immediate update (re-pulls image, destroys and recreates)
kubectl rollout restart deployment/<name>
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🗂️ Namespaces — Context Switching 

# List namespaces
kubectl get namespaces

# Set default namespace for session
kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=<namespace>

# One-off in specific namespace
kubectl get pods -n kube-system

# View current context
kubectl config current-context
kubectl config get-contexts

# Switch context (cluster)
kubectl config use-context <context-name>

# Useful alias to avoid typing -n constantly
alias kns='kubectl config set-context --current --namespace'
# Usage: kns production
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🔑 Secrets and ConfigMaps 

# List
kubectl get secrets
kubectl get configmaps

# View (careful — values are base64)
kubectl describe secret <name>
kubectl get secret <name> -o yaml

# Decode a specific key
kubectl get secret <name> -o jsonpath='{.data.<key>}' | base64 -d

# Create secret from literal
kubectl create secret generic <name> \
  --from-literal=DB_PASSWORD=mysecret \
  --from-literal=API_KEY=abc123

# Create secret from file
kubectl create secret generic <name> --from-file=./secret.env

# Create docker registry secret
kubectl create secret docker-registry regcred \
  --docker-server=registry.example.com \
  --docker-username=user \
  --docker-password=pass

# Create configmap
kubectl create configmap <name> --from-literal=ENV=production
kubectl create configmap <name> --from-file=./config.properties

# Edit in place
kubectl edit secret <name>
kubectl edit configmap <name>
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📊 Resource Inspection — What Is Using What? 

# Describe a node (capacity, allocations, events)
kubectl describe node <node-name>

# Check resource requests vs limits across pods
kubectl get pods -o custom-columns=\
"NAME:.metadata.name,\
CPU_REQ:.spec.containers[*].resources.requests.cpu,\
CPU_LIM:.spec.containers[*].resources.limits.cpu,\
MEM_REQ:.spec.containers[*].resources.requests.memory,\
MEM_LIM:.spec.containers[*].resources.limits.memory"

# Find pods without resource limits (danger)
kubectl get pods -o json | \
  jq -r '.items[] | select(.spec.containers[].resources.limits == null) | .metadata.name'

# PersistentVolumes and Claims
kubectl get pv
kubectl get pvc
kubectl get pvc -A
kubectl describe pvc <name>
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🌐 Services and Networking 

# List services
kubectl get services
kubectl get svc -A

# Describe (check ports, selectors, endpoints)
kubectl describe svc <name>

# Check endpoints (actual pod IPs behind a service)
kubectl get endpoints <service-name>

# Quick port-forward to test a service locally
kubectl port-forward svc/<service-name> 8080:80
kubectl port-forward pod/<pod-name> 9000:8080

# Expose a deployment as a service
kubectl expose deployment <name> --port=80 --target-port=8080 --type=ClusterIP

# Get Ingress
kubectl get ingress -A
kubectl describe ingress <name>
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⚙️ Apply, Diff, Delete 

# Apply from file
kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml
kubectl apply -f ./k8s/                    # all files in directory
kubectl apply -f ./k8s/ -R                # recursive

# Diff before applying (see what will change)
kubectl diff -f deployment.yaml

# Delete
kubectl delete -f deployment.yaml
kubectl delete pod <name>
kubectl delete deployment <name>
kubectl delete all -l app=<label>          # by label

# Dry run (what would happen without doing it)
kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml --dry-run=client
kubectl delete pod <name> --dry-run=client
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🏷️ Labels and Selectors — Finding Things 

# Filter by label
kubectl get pods -l app=api
kubectl get pods -l env=production,tier=backend
kubectl get pods -l 'env in (staging, production)'

# Show labels
kubectl get pods --show-labels

# Add label
kubectl label pod <name> env=production

# Remove label
kubectl label pod <name> env-

# Label a node (for scheduling)
kubectl label node <node-name> disktype=ssd
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🛡️ RBAC — Quick Check 

# What can I do?
kubectl auth can-i --list
kubectl auth can-i create pods
kubectl auth can-i delete deployments -n production

# What can a service account do?
kubectl auth can-i list pods \
  --as=system:serviceaccount:<namespace>:<sa-name>

# List roles and bindings
kubectl get roles -A
kubectl get rolebindings -A
kubectl get clusterroles | grep -v system:
kubectl get clusterrolebindings | grep -v system:
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🔄 Jobs and CronJobs 

# List
kubectl get jobs
kubectl get cronjobs

# Watch job progress
kubectl get jobs -w

# Trigger a CronJob manually
kubectl create job --from=cronjob/<name> <job-name>

# Check job logs
kubectl logs job/<job-name>

# Delete completed jobs
kubectl delete jobs --field-selector status.successful=1
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🧹 Cleanup — Housekeeping 

# Delete completed pods
kubectl delete pods --field-selector=status.phase=Succeeded -A
kubectl delete pods --field-selector=status.phase=Failed -A

# Delete evicted pods
kubectl get pods -A | grep Evicted | \
  awk '{print $2 " -n " $1}' | xargs -L1 kubectl delete pod

# Remove all in a namespace
kubectl delete all --all -n <namespace>

# Force delete stuck terminating namespace
kubectl get namespace <name> -o json | \
  jq '.spec.finalizers = []' | \
  kubectl replace --raw /api/v1/namespaces/<name>/finalize -f -
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⚡ Essential Aliases

Add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc:

alias k='kubectl'
alias kgp='kubectl get pods'
alias kgpa='kubectl get pods -A'
alias kgpw='kubectl get pods -w'
alias kgs='kubectl get services'
alias kgd='kubectl get deployments'
alias kgn='kubectl get nodes'
alias kd='kubectl describe'
alias kdp='kubectl describe pod'
alias kl='kubectl logs'
alias klf='kubectl logs -f'
alias ke='kubectl exec -it'
alias kaf='kubectl apply -f'
alias kdf='kubectl delete -f'
alias kns='kubectl config set-context --current --namespace'
alias kctx='kubectl config use-context'
alias kctxs='kubectl config get-contexts'
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After adding: source ~/.bashrc

🔧 kubectl Plugins Worth Installing

Install krew (plugin manager) first:

(
  set -x; cd "$(mktemp -d)" &&
  OS="$(uname | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')" &&
  ARCH="$(uname -m | sed -e 's/x86_64/amd64/' -e 's/\(arm\)\(64\)\?.*/\1\2/' -e 's/aarch64$/arm64/')" &&
  KREW="krew-${OS}_${ARCH}" &&
  curl -fsSLO "https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/krew/releases/latest/download/${KREW}.tar.gz" &&
  tar zxvf "${KREW}.tar.gz" &&
  ./"${KREW}" install krew
)
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Then install plugins:

Plugin Install What it does
ctx kubectl krew install ctx Fast context switching
ns kubectl krew install ns Fast namespace switching
neat kubectl krew install neat Clean YAML output (removes noise)
tree kubectl krew install tree Show ownership tree of resources
stern kubectl krew install stern Multi-pod log tailing with regex
top built-in Resource usage (requires metrics-server)

🆘 The 5-Minute Debugging Checklist

Pod not starting or crashing? Go in order:

# 1. What state is it in?
kubectl get pod <name> -o wide

# 2. Why? (look at Events section at the bottom)
kubectl describe pod <name>

# 3. What is it saying?
kubectl logs <name>
kubectl logs <name> --previous   # if already crashed

# 4. Can it reach its dependencies?
kubectl exec -it <name> -- curl http://<service-name>:<port>/health

# 5. What are its resource limits?
kubectl describe pod <name> | grep -A3 Limits

# 6. Check node pressure
kubectl describe node $(kubectl get pod <name> -o jsonpath='{.spec.nodeName}')
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If describe shows OOMKilled → increase memory limits.
If ImagePullBackOff → check image name and registry credentials.
If Pending → check node capacity with kubectl describe node.
If CrashLoopBackOff → check logs with --previous flag.

April 2026. Tested against Kubernetes 1.32. Commands work on any managed cluster (EKS, GKE, AKS) and local setups (minikube, k3s, kind).

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