# See current context
kubectl config current-context
List all contexts
kubectl config get-contexts
Switch context
kubectl config use-context my-cluster
Set default namespace
kubectl config set-context —current —namespace=my-app
View full config
kubectl config view

# Pods
kubectl get pods
kubectl get pods -o wide          # More columns (IP, node)
kubectl get pods -A               # All namespaces
kubectl get pods -l app=nginx     # Filter by label
kubectl get pods --field-selector status.phase=Running
Common resources
kubectl get deployments
kubectl get services
kubectl get nodes
kubectl get namespaces
kubectl get ingress
kubectl get configmaps
kubectl get secrets
All resources
kubectl get all
Output formats
kubectl get pods -o json
kubectl get pods -o yaml
kubectl get pods -o name          # Just names

# Describe a pod (events, conditions, containers)
kubectl describe pod my-pod
Describe a node
kubectl describe node my-node
Describe a service
kubectl describe svc my-service

This is your go-to for debugging. The Events section at the bottom shows what went wrong.

# Apply a manifest
kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml
Apply all YAML files in a directory
kubectl apply -f ./k8s/
Apply from URL
kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/user/repo/main/deploy.yaml
Dry run (preview without applying)
kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml —dry-run=client

# Create a deployment
kubectl create deployment nginx --image=nginx
Create a service
kubectl expose deployment nginx —port=80 —type=LoadBalancer
Create a namespace
kubectl create namespace staging
Create a secret
kubectl create secret generic db-creds 

—from-literal=username=admin 

—from-literal=password=secret
Create a configmap
kubectl create configmap app-config 

—from-file=config.yaml 

—from-literal=LOG_LEVEL=info

# Scale replicas
kubectl scale deployment nginx --replicas=3
Autoscale
kubectl autoscale deployment nginx —min=2 —max=10 —cpu-percent=80
Update image (rolling update)
kubectl set image deployment/nginx nginx=nginx:1.25
Rollout status
kubectl rollout status deployment/nginx
Rollback
kubectl rollout undo deployment/nginx
kubectl rollout undo deployment/nginx —to-revision=2
Rollout history
kubectl rollout history deployment/nginx

# Pod logs
kubectl logs my-pod
Follow (stream) logs
kubectl logs -f my-pod
Last 100 lines
kubectl logs —tail=100 my-pod
Logs from specific container (multi-container pod)
kubectl logs my-pod -c my-container
Logs from previous crashed container
kubectl logs my-pod —previous
Logs from all pods with a label
kubectl logs -l app=nginx —all-containers

# Interactive shell
kubectl exec -it my-pod -- /bin/bash
kubectl exec -it my-pod -- /bin/sh    # If bash isn't available
Run a single command
kubectl exec my-pod — cat /etc/config/app.yaml
kubectl exec my-pod — env
kubectl exec my-pod — curl localhost:8080/health
Specific container
kubectl exec -it my-pod -c sidecar — /bin/sh

# Forward pod port to localhost
kubectl port-forward my-pod 8080:80
Forward service port
kubectl port-forward svc/my-service 8080:80
Background it
kubectl port-forward my-pod 8080:80 &

# Pod CPU/memory usage (requires metrics-server)
kubectl top pods
kubectl top pods --sort-by=memory
Node usage
kubectl top nodes

# Delete by name
kubectl delete pod my-pod
kubectl delete deployment nginx
kubectl delete svc my-service
Delete from YAML
kubectl delete -f deployment.yaml
Delete all pods in namespace
kubectl delete pods —all
Force delete stuck pod
kubectl delete pod my-pod —grace-period=0 —force
Delete namespace (deletes everything in it!)
kubectl delete namespace staging

# Short resource names
po    = pods
deploy = deployments
svc   = services
ns    = namespaces
no    = nodes
cm    = configmaps
ing   = ingress
pv    = persistentvolumes
pvc   = persistentvolumeclaims
Example
kubectl get po
kubectl get deploy
kubectl get svc
Recommended alias
alias k=kubectl

# Get pod IPs
kubectl get pods -o jsonpath='{.items[*].status.podIP}'
Get node names
kubectl get nodes -o jsonpath=‘{.items[*].metadata.name}‘
Get image for each pod
kubectl get pods -o jsonpath=‘{range .items[*]}{.metadata.name}{“\t”}{.spec.containers[0].image}{“\n”}{end}’