A quick reference to commonly used kubectl commands for viewing and managing Kubernetes resources, including Pods, Deployments, Services, storage, and access controls. Find the command you need and click to copy it to your clipboard.

Keep in Mind

Replace placeholders such as <pod-name> and <namespace> with actual values. Angle brackets are documentation placeholders, not literal shell input.
Namespaced resources use the current namespace unless -n <namespace> is supplied. Check your kubectl context and namespace before making changes.
Commands under Applying and Updating Resources and kubectl auth reconcile modify cluster state. kubectl delete is destructive.
Secret YAML may contain base64-encoded sensitive data. Avoid copying it into logs, tickets, or public channels.
Label selectors such as app=frontend and environment=production are examples; substitute labels that exist in your cluster.

Nodes

Nodes commands
Purpose	Command
List nodes	`kubectl get nodes`
Inspect a node	`kubectl describe node <node-name>`
Show node details in wide format	`kubectl get nodes -o wide`
Show node objects as YAML	`kubectl get nodes -o yaml`
Show node labels	`kubectl get nodes --show-labels`
Filter nodes by a label	`kubectl get nodes -l environment=production`

Namespaces

Namespaces commands
Purpose	Command
List namespaces	`kubectl get namespaces`
Inspect a namespace	`kubectl describe namespace <namespace>`
Show namespaces as YAML	`kubectl get namespaces -o yaml`

Pods

Pods commands
Purpose	Command
List Pods in current namespace	`kubectl get pods`
Inspect a Pod	`kubectl describe pod <pod-name>`
Show Pod details	`kubectl get pods -o wide`
Show Pods as YAML	`kubectl get pods -o yaml`
Show Pod labels	`kubectl get pods --show-labels`
Filter Pods by label	`kubectl get pods -l app=frontend`

Deployments

Deployments commands
Purpose	Command
List Deployments	`kubectl get deployments`
Inspect a Deployment	`kubectl describe deployment <deployment-name>`
Show Deployment details	`kubectl get deployments -o wide`
Show Deployments as YAML	`kubectl get deployments -o yaml`
Show Deployment labels	`kubectl get deployments --show-labels`
Filter Deployments by label	`kubectl get deployments -l app=frontend`

DaemonSets

DaemonSets commands
Purpose	Command
List DaemonSets	`kubectl get daemonsets`
Inspect a DaemonSet	`kubectl describe daemonset <daemonset-name>`
Show DaemonSet details	`kubectl get daemonsets -o wide`
Show DaemonSets as YAML	`kubectl get daemonsets -o yaml`
Show DaemonSet labels	`kubectl get daemonsets --show-labels`
Filter DaemonSets by label	`kubectl get daemonsets -l app=agent`

ReplicaSets

ReplicaSets commands
Purpose	Command
List ReplicaSets	`kubectl get replicasets`
Inspect a ReplicaSet	`kubectl describe replicaset <replicaset-name>`
Show ReplicaSets as YAML	`kubectl get replicasets -o yaml`

Services

Services commands
Purpose	Command
List Services	`kubectl get services`
Inspect a Service	`kubectl describe service <service-name>`
Show Service details	`kubectl get services -o wide`
Show Services as YAML	`kubectl get services -o yaml`
Show Service labels	`kubectl get services --show-labels`
Filter Services by label	`kubectl get services -l app=frontend`

RBAC

RBAC commands
Purpose	Command
List ServiceAccounts	`kubectl get serviceaccounts`
Show ServiceAccounts as YAML	`kubectl get serviceaccounts -o yaml`
List namespace Roles	`kubectl get roles`
Show Roles as YAML	`kubectl get roles -o yaml`
List RoleBindings	`kubectl get rolebindings`
Show RoleBindings as YAML	`kubectl get rolebindings -o yaml`
List ClusterRoles	`kubectl get clusterroles`
Show ClusterRoles as YAML	`kubectl get clusterroles -o yaml`
List ClusterRoleBindings	`kubectl get clusterrolebindings`
Show ClusterRoleBindings as YAML	`kubectl get clusterrolebindings -o yaml`
Check permission to list Pods	`kubectl auth can-i list pods`
Reconcile RBAC resources from a file [modifies cluster]	`kubectl auth reconcile -f my-rbac-rules.yaml`

Secrets

Secrets commands
Purpose	Command
List Secrets	`kubectl get secrets`
Show Secret resources as YAML [sensitive]	`kubectl get secrets -o yaml`

ConfigMaps

ConfigMaps commands
Purpose	Command
List ConfigMaps	`kubectl get configmaps`
Show ConfigMaps as YAML	`kubectl get configmaps -o yaml`

StorageClasses

StorageClasses commands
Purpose	Command
List StorageClasses	`kubectl get storageclasses`
Show StorageClasses as YAML	`kubectl get storageclasses -o yaml`

PersistentVolumes

PersistentVolumes commands
Purpose	Command
List PersistentVolumes	`kubectl get persistentvolumes`
Show PersistentVolumes as YAML	`kubectl get persistentvolumes -o yaml`

PersistentVolumeClaims

PersistentVolumeClaims commands
Purpose	Command
List PersistentVolumeClaims	`kubectl get persistentvolumeclaims`
Show claims as YAML	`kubectl get persistentvolumeclaims -o yaml`

Ingress

Ingress commands
Purpose	Command
List Ingress resources	`kubectl get ingress`
Inspect an Ingress resource	`kubectl describe ingress <ingress-name>`
Show Ingress resources as YAML	`kubectl get ingress -o yaml`

Applying and Updating Resources

Applying and Updating Resources commands
Purpose	Command
Create or update resources from a manifest [modifies cluster]	`kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml`
Delete resources defined in a manifest [destructive]	`kubectl delete -f deployment.yaml`

References

kubectl Quick Reference (Kubernetes documentation)
kubectl get (Kubernetes documentation)
kubectl describe (Kubernetes documentation)
kubectl auth can-i (Kubernetes documentation)
kubectl auth reconcile (Kubernetes documentation)

Kubernetes Commands at a Glance: kubectl Cheat Sheet