K9s

K9s is a terminal UI that makes managing Kubernetes clusters easier.

Core features of k9s include:

Editing of resource manifests
Shell into a Pod / Container
Log viewing and port-forwarding
Managing multiple Kubernetes clusters from one tool

More information and current releases are on the GitHub repository and at k9scli.io.

Screenshots:

Installation #

On Linux #

Using Homebrew on Linux (Homebrew), snap or a release archive.

bash

brew install k9s

To use a release archive, check the release page, pick the package for your platform (for example k9s_Linux_amd64.tar.gz) and replace <VERSION>:

bash
wget https://github.com/derailed/k9s/releases/download/<VERSION>/k9s_Linux_amd64.tar.gz
tar -xvf k9s_Linux_amd64.tar.gz k9s
sudo install -o root -g root -m 0755 k9s /usr/local/bin/k9s

The archive name must match what you downloaded (the architecture part is amd64 or arm64).

On macOS #

bash

brew install k9s

On Windows #

powershell
choco install k9s

See Chocolatey.

Run #

bash
k9s                          # current context
k9s -n kube-system           # start in a namespace
k9s --context <CONTEXT>      # use another context
k9s --readonly               # disable all write actions

k9s uses your kubeconfig and KUBECONFIG variable, like Kubectl.

Commands #

Cluster selection #

Once k9s has started, you work with the cluster of your current kubeconfig context.

Switch cluster at any time by typing :context. A list of available contexts appears. Select one with the arrow keys and press enter.

General command structure #

Menu Press : to bring up the command prompt, type the resource type to switch to (for example pod, svc, deploy) and press enter. :q or ctrl+c quits.

Selection Select with the arrow keys (or j and k). Press enter to confirm or to “drill down”, for instance from a pod into its containers. esc goes back.

Filter and searches On most screens press / followed by a term to filter or search (for instance in a pod’s log output). Press enter to apply. Use /!term to invert the filter, /-l app=web to filter by label and /-f term for fuzzy. The number keys select namespace shortcuts; 0 shows all namespaces.

Useful shortcuts and commands #

Command	Comment	Comparable kubectl command
`:pod`	Switches to the pod screen, where you can see all pods on the current cluster.	`kubectl get pods --all-namespaces`
`:svc`	Switches to the service screen.	`kubectl get services --all-namespaces`
`:ns`	Switches to namespaces.	`kubectl get namespaces`
`:deploy`	Switches to deployments.	`kubectl get deploy -A`
`:node`	Switches to nodes.	`kubectl get nodes`
`:events`	Cluster events.	`kubectl get events -A`
`:xray deploy`	Tree view of a resource and what it owns.
`:pulse`	Cluster overview dashboard.	`kubectl top` and friends
`:popeye`	Cluster sanitizer report (when Popeye reports are enabled).
`?`	Show all keys for the current screen.
`d`	Describe the selected resource.	`kubectl describe <resource> <name>`
`y`	View the YAML.	`kubectl get <resource> <name> -o yaml`
`e`	Edit the resource.	`kubectl edit <resource> <name>`
`ctrl`+`d`	Delete a resource (asks for confirmation).	`kubectl delete <resource> -n <namespace>`
`ctrl`+`k`	Kill a resource (no confirmation).
`s`	On the pod screen, open a shell in the selected pod.	`kubectl exec -it -n <namespace> <pod_name> -c <container_name> -- /bin/sh`
`l`	Show the log output of a pod.	`kubectl logs -n <namespace> <pod_name>`
`p`	Previous logs of the container (in the log view).	`kubectl logs --previous`
`shift`+`f`	Port-forward the selected pod or service.	`kubectl port-forward`
`r`	Restart (deployments, statefulsets, daemonsets).	`kubectl rollout restart`
`x`	Decode a secret (on the secrets screen).	`kubectl get secret -o jsonpath=... \| base64 -d`
`ctrl`+`a`	List all available resource aliases.	`kubectl api-resources`

Key bindings can differ between versions. Press ? inside k9s for the list that applies to your version. Configuration lives in ~/.config/k9s (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/k9s), where config.yaml, aliases.yaml, hotkeys.yaml and skins can be edited.