Install Tools
Set up Kubernetes tools on your computer.
kubectl
The Kubernetes command-line tool, kubectl, allows
you to run commands against Kubernetes clusters.
You can use kubectl to deploy applications, inspect and manage cluster resources,
and view logs. For more information including a complete list of kubectl operations, see the
kubectl reference documentation.
kubectl is installable on a variety of Linux platforms, macOS and Windows.
Find your preferred operating system below.
kind
kind lets you run Kubernetes on
your local computer. This tool requires that you have
Docker installed and configured.
The kind Quick Start page
shows you what you need to do to get up and running with kind.
View kind Quick Start Guide
minikube
Like kind, minikube is a tool that lets you run Kubernetes
locally. minikube runs an all-in-one or a multi-node local Kubernetes cluster on your personal
computer (including Windows, macOS and Linux PCs) so that you can try out
Kubernetes, or for daily development work.
You can follow the official
Get Started! guide if your focus is
on getting the tool installed.
View minikube Get Started! Guide
Once you have minikube working, you can use it to
run a sample application.
kubeadm
You can use the kubeadm tool to create and manage Kubernetes clusters.
It performs the actions necessary to get a minimum viable, secure cluster up and running in a user friendly way.
Installing kubeadm shows you how to install kubeadm.
Once installed, you can use it to create a cluster.
View kubeadm Install Guide
1 - Install and Set Up kubectl on Linux
Before you begin
You must use a kubectl version that is within one minor version difference of
your cluster. For example, a v1.26 client can communicate
with v1.25, v1.26,
and v1.27 control planes.
Using the latest compatible version of kubectl helps avoid unforeseen issues.
Install kubectl on Linux
The following methods exist for installing kubectl on Linux:
Install kubectl binary with curl on Linux
Download the latest release with the command:
curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl"
Note:To download a specific version, replace the $(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)
portion of the command with the specific version.
For example, to download version v1.26.15 on Linux, type:
curl -LO https://dl.k8s.io/release/v1.26.15/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl
Validate the binary (optional)
Download the kubectl checksum file:
curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl.sha256"
Validate the kubectl binary against the checksum file:
echo "$(cat kubectl.sha256) kubectl" | sha256sum --check
If valid, the output is:
If the check fails, sha256 exits with nonzero status and prints output similar to:
kubectl: FAILED
sha256sum: WARNING: 1 computed checksum did NOT match
Note: Download the same version of the binary and checksum.
Install kubectl
sudo install -o root -g root -m 0755 kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
Note:If you do not have root access on the target system, you can still install
kubectl to the ~/.local/bin directory:
chmod +x kubectl
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
mv ./kubectl ~/.local/bin/kubectl
# and then append (or prepend) ~/.local/bin to $PATH
Test to ensure the version you installed is up-to-date:
Note:The above command will generate a warning:
WARNING: This version information is deprecated and will be replaced with the output from kubectl version --short.
You can ignore this warning. You are only checking the version of kubectl that you
have installed.
Or use this for detailed view of version:
kubectl version --client --output=yaml
Install using native package management
Update the apt package index and install packages needed to use the Kubernetes apt repository:
sudo apt-get update
# apt-transport-https may be a dummy package; if so, you can skip that package
sudo apt-get install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl
Download the public signing key for the Kubernetes package repositories. The same signing key is used for all repositories so you can disregard the version in the URL:
curl -fsSL https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/v1.26/deb/Release.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg
Add the appropriate Kubernetes apt repository. If you want to use Kubernetes version different than v1.26,
replace v1.26 with the desired minor version in the command below:
# This overwrites any existing configuration in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kubernetes.list
echo 'deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg] https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/v1.26/deb/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kubernetes.list
Note: To upgrade kubectl to another minor release, you'll need to bump the version in
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/kubernetes.list before running
apt-get update and
apt-get upgrade. This procedure is described in more detail in
Changing The Kubernetes Package Repository.
Update apt package index, then install kubectl:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y kubectl
Note: In releases older than Debian 12 and Ubuntu 22.04, /etc/apt/keyrings does not exist by default.
You can create this directory if you need to, making it world-readable but writeable only by admins.
Add the Kubernetes yum repository. If you want to use Kubernetes version
different than v1.26, replace v1.26 with
the desired minor version in the command below.
# This overwrites any existing configuration in /etc/yum.repos.d/kubernetes.repo
cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/kubernetes.repo
[kubernetes]
name=Kubernetes
baseurl=https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/v1.26/rpm/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/v1.26/rpm/repodata/repomd.xml.key
EOF
Note: To upgrade kubectl to another minor release, you'll need to bump the version in
/etc/yum.repos.d/kubernetes.repo before running
yum update. This procedure is described in more detail in
Changing The Kubernetes Package Repository.
Install kubectl using yum:
sudo yum install -y kubectl
Install using other package management
If you are on Ubuntu or another Linux distribution that supports the
snap package manager, kubectl
is available as a snap application.
snap install kubectl --classic
kubectl version --client
If you are on Linux and using Homebrew
package manager, kubectl is available for installation.
brew install kubectl
kubectl version --client
Verify kubectl configuration
In order for kubectl to find and access a Kubernetes cluster, it needs a
kubeconfig file,
which is created automatically when you create a cluster using
kube-up.sh
or successfully deploy a Minikube cluster.
By default, kubectl configuration is located at ~/.kube/config.
Check that kubectl is properly configured by getting the cluster state:
If you see a URL response, kubectl is correctly configured to access your cluster.
If you see a message similar to the following, kubectl is not configured correctly or is not able to connect to a Kubernetes cluster.
The connection to the server <server-name:port> was refused - did you specify the right host or port?
For example, if you are intending to run a Kubernetes cluster on your laptop (locally), you will need a tool like Minikube to be installed first and then re-run the commands stated above.
If kubectl cluster-info returns the url response but you can't access your cluster, to check whether it is configured properly, use:
kubectl cluster-info dump
Optional kubectl configurations and plugins
Enable shell autocompletion
kubectl provides autocompletion support for Bash, Zsh, Fish, and PowerShell,
which can save you a lot of typing.
Below are the procedures to set up autocompletion for Bash, Fish, and Zsh.
Introduction
The kubectl completion script for Bash can be generated with the command kubectl completion bash.
Sourcing the completion script in your shell enables kubectl autocompletion.
However, the completion script depends on
bash-completion,
which means that you have to install this software first
(you can test if you have bash-completion already installed by running type _init_completion).
Install bash-completion
bash-completion is provided by many package managers
(see here).
You can install it with apt-get install bash-completion or yum install bash-completion, etc.
The above commands create /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion,
which is the main script of bash-completion. Depending on your package manager,
you have to manually source this file in your ~/.bashrc file.
To find out, reload your shell and run type _init_completion.
If the command succeeds, you're already set, otherwise add the following to your ~/.bashrc file:
source /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion
Reload your shell and verify that bash-completion is correctly installed by typing type _init_completion.
Enable kubectl autocompletion
Bash
You now need to ensure that the kubectl completion script gets sourced in all
your shell sessions. There are two ways in which you can do this:
echo 'source <(kubectl completion bash)' >>~/.bashrc
kubectl completion bash | sudo tee /etc/bash_completion.d/kubectl > /dev/null
sudo chmod a+r /etc/bash_completion.d/kubectl
If you have an alias for kubectl, you can extend shell completion to work with that alias:
echo 'alias k=kubectl' >>~/.bashrc
echo 'complete -o default -F __start_kubectl k' >>~/.bashrc
Note: bash-completion sources all completion scripts in /etc/bash_completion.d.
Both approaches are equivalent. After reloading your shell, kubectl autocompletion should be working.
To enable bash autocompletion in current session of shell, source the ~/.bashrc file:
Note: Autocomplete for Fish requires kubectl 1.23 or later.
The kubectl completion script for Fish can be generated with the command kubectl completion fish. Sourcing the completion script in your shell enables kubectl autocompletion.
To do so in all your shell sessions, add the following line to your ~/.config/fish/config.fish file:
kubectl completion fish | source
After reloading your shell, kubectl autocompletion should be working.
The kubectl completion script for Zsh can be generated with the command kubectl completion zsh. Sourcing the completion script in your shell enables kubectl autocompletion.
To do so in all your shell sessions, add the following to your ~/.zshrc file:
source <(kubectl completion zsh)
If you have an alias for kubectl, kubectl autocompletion will automatically work with it.
After reloading your shell, kubectl autocompletion should be working.
If you get an error like 2: command not found: compdef, then add the following to the beginning of your ~/.zshrc file:
autoload -Uz compinit
compinit
Install kubectl convert plugin
A plugin for Kubernetes command-line tool kubectl, which allows you to convert manifests between different API
versions. This can be particularly helpful to migrate manifests to a non-deprecated api version with newer Kubernetes release.
For more info, visit migrate to non deprecated apis
Download the latest release with the command:
curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl-convert"
Validate the binary (optional)
Download the kubectl-convert checksum file:
curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl-convert.sha256"
Validate the kubectl-convert binary against the checksum file:
echo "$(cat kubectl-convert.sha256) kubectl-convert" | sha256sum --check
If valid, the output is:
If the check fails, sha256 exits with nonzero status and prints output similar to:
kubectl-convert: FAILED
sha256sum: WARNING: 1 computed checksum did NOT match
Note: Download the same version of the binary and checksum.
Install kubectl-convert
sudo install -o root -g root -m 0755 kubectl-convert /usr/local/bin/kubectl-convert
Verify plugin is successfully installed
If you do not see an error, it means the plugin is successfully installed.
After installing the plugin, clean up the installation files:
rm kubectl-convert kubectl-convert.sha256
What's next
2 - Install and Set Up kubectl on macOS
Before you begin
You must use a kubectl version that is within one minor version difference of
your cluster. For example, a v1.26 client can communicate
with v1.25, v1.26,
and v1.27 control planes.
Using the latest compatible version of kubectl helps avoid unforeseen issues.
Install kubectl on macOS
The following methods exist for installing kubectl on macOS:
Install kubectl binary with curl on macOS
Download the latest release:
curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl"
curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/darwin/arm64/kubectl"
Note:To download a specific version, replace the $(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)
portion of the command with the specific version.
For example, to download version v1.26.15 on Intel macOS, type:
curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/v1.26.15/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl"
And for macOS on Apple Silicon, type:
curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/v1.26.15/bin/darwin/arm64/kubectl"
Validate the binary (optional)
Download the kubectl checksum file:
curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl.sha256"
curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/darwin/arm64/kubectl.sha256"
Validate the kubectl binary against the checksum file:
echo "$(cat kubectl.sha256) kubectl" | shasum -a 256 --check
If valid, the output is:
If the check fails, shasum exits with nonzero status and prints output similar to:
kubectl: FAILED
shasum: WARNING: 1 computed checksum did NOT match
Note: Download the same version of the binary and checksum.
Make the kubectl binary executable.
Move the kubectl binary to a file location on your system PATH.
sudo mv ./kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
sudo chown root: /usr/local/bin/kubectl
Note: Make sure /usr/local/bin is in your PATH environment variable.
Test to ensure the version you installed is up-to-date:
Note:The above command will generate a warning:
WARNING: This version information is deprecated and will be replaced with the output from kubectl version --short.
You can ignore this warning. You are only checking the version of kubectl that you
have installed.
Or use this for detailed view of version:
kubectl version --client --output=yaml
After installing the plugin, clean up the installation files:
rm kubectl kubectl.sha256
Install with Homebrew on macOS
If you are on macOS and using Homebrew package manager,
you can install kubectl with Homebrew.
Run the installation command:
or
brew install kubernetes-cli
Test to ensure the version you installed is up-to-date:
Install with Macports on macOS
If you are on macOS and using Macports package manager,
you can install kubectl with Macports.
Run the installation command:
sudo port selfupdate
sudo port install kubectl
Test to ensure the version you installed is up-to-date:
Verify kubectl configuration
In order for kubectl to find and access a Kubernetes cluster, it needs a
kubeconfig file,
which is created automatically when you create a cluster using
kube-up.sh
or successfully deploy a Minikube cluster.
By default, kubectl configuration is located at ~/.kube/config.
Check that kubectl is properly configured by getting the cluster state:
If you see a URL response, kubectl is correctly configured to access your cluster.
If you see a message similar to the following, kubectl is not configured correctly or is not able to connect to a Kubernetes cluster.
The connection to the server <server-name:port> was refused - did you specify the right host or port?
For example, if you are intending to run a Kubernetes cluster on your laptop (locally), you will need a tool like Minikube to be installed first and then re-run the commands stated above.
If kubectl cluster-info returns the url response but you can't access your cluster, to check whether it is configured properly, use:
kubectl cluster-info dump
Optional kubectl configurations and plugins
Enable shell autocompletion
kubectl provides autocompletion support for Bash, Zsh, Fish, and PowerShell
which can save you a lot of typing.
Below are the procedures to set up autocompletion for Bash, Fish, and Zsh.
Introduction
The kubectl completion script for Bash can be generated with kubectl completion bash.
Sourcing this script in your shell enables kubectl completion.
However, the kubectl completion script depends on
bash-completion which you thus have to previously install.
Warning: There are two versions of bash-completion, v1 and v2. V1 is for Bash 3.2
(which is the default on macOS), and v2 is for Bash 4.1+. The kubectl completion
script
doesn't work correctly with bash-completion v1 and Bash 3.2.
It requires
bash-completion v2 and
Bash 4.1+. Thus, to be able to
correctly use kubectl completion on macOS, you have to install and use
Bash 4.1+ (
instructions).
The following instructions assume that you use Bash 4.1+
(that is, any Bash version of 4.1 or newer).
Upgrade Bash
The instructions here assume you use Bash 4.1+. You can check your Bash's version by running:
If it is too old, you can install/upgrade it using Homebrew:
Reload your shell and verify that the desired version is being used:
echo $BASH_VERSION $SHELL
Homebrew usually installs it at /usr/local/bin/bash.
Install bash-completion
Note: As mentioned, these instructions assume you use Bash 4.1+, which means you will
install bash-completion v2 (in contrast to Bash 3.2 and bash-completion v1,
in which case kubectl completion won't work).
You can test if you have bash-completion v2 already installed with type _init_completion.
If not, you can install it with Homebrew:
brew install bash-completion@2
As stated in the output of this command, add the following to your ~/.bash_profile file:
brew_etc="$(brew --prefix)/etc" && [[ -r "${brew_etc}/profile.d/bash_completion.sh" ]] && . "${brew_etc}/profile.d/bash_completion.sh"
Reload your shell and verify that bash-completion v2 is correctly installed with type _init_completion.
Enable kubectl autocompletion
You now have to ensure that the kubectl completion script gets sourced in all
your shell sessions. There are multiple ways to achieve this:
Source the completion script in your ~/.bash_profile file:
echo 'source <(kubectl completion bash)' >>~/.bash_profile
Add the completion script to the /usr/local/etc/bash_completion.d directory:
kubectl completion bash >/usr/local/etc/bash_completion.d/kubectl
If you have an alias for kubectl, you can extend shell completion to work with that alias:
echo 'alias k=kubectl' >>~/.bash_profile
echo 'complete -o default -F __start_kubectl k' >>~/.bash_profile
If you installed kubectl with Homebrew (as explained
here),
then the kubectl completion script should already be in /usr/local/etc/bash_completion.d/kubectl.
In that case, you don't need to do anything.
Note: The Homebrew installation of bash-completion v2 sources all the files in the
BASH_COMPLETION_COMPAT_DIR directory, that's why the latter two methods work.
In any case, after reloading your shell, kubectl completion should be working.
Note: Autocomplete for Fish requires kubectl 1.23 or later.
The kubectl completion script for Fish can be generated with the command kubectl completion fish. Sourcing the completion script in your shell enables kubectl autocompletion.
To do so in all your shell sessions, add the following line to your ~/.config/fish/config.fish file:
kubectl completion fish | source
After reloading your shell, kubectl autocompletion should be working.
The kubectl completion script for Zsh can be generated with the command kubectl completion zsh. Sourcing the completion script in your shell enables kubectl autocompletion.
To do so in all your shell sessions, add the following to your ~/.zshrc file:
source <(kubectl completion zsh)
If you have an alias for kubectl, kubectl autocompletion will automatically work with it.
After reloading your shell, kubectl autocompletion should be working.
If you get an error like 2: command not found: compdef, then add the following to the beginning of your ~/.zshrc file:
autoload -Uz compinit
compinit
Install kubectl convert plugin
A plugin for Kubernetes command-line tool kubectl, which allows you to convert manifests between different API
versions. This can be particularly helpful to migrate manifests to a non-deprecated api version with newer Kubernetes release.
For more info, visit migrate to non deprecated apis
Download the latest release with the command:
curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl-convert"
curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/darwin/arm64/kubectl-convert"
Validate the binary (optional)
Download the kubectl-convert checksum file:
curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl-convert.sha256"
curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/darwin/arm64/kubectl-convert.sha256"
Validate the kubectl-convert binary against the checksum file:
echo "$(cat kubectl-convert.sha256) kubectl-convert" | shasum -a 256 --check
If valid, the output is:
If the check fails, shasum exits with nonzero status and prints output similar to:
kubectl-convert: FAILED
shasum: WARNING: 1 computed checksum did NOT match
Note: Download the same version of the binary and checksum.
Make kubectl-convert binary executable
chmod +x ./kubectl-convert
Move the kubectl-convert binary to a file location on your system PATH.
sudo mv ./kubectl-convert /usr/local/bin/kubectl-convert
sudo chown root: /usr/local/bin/kubectl-convert
Note: Make sure /usr/local/bin is in your PATH environment variable.
Verify plugin is successfully installed
If you do not see an error, it means the plugin is successfully installed.
After installing the plugin, clean up the installation files:
rm kubectl-convert kubectl-convert.sha256
What's next
3 - Install and Set Up kubectl on Windows
Before you begin
You must use a kubectl version that is within one minor version difference of
your cluster. For example, a v1.26 client can communicate
with v1.25, v1.26,
and v1.27 control planes.
Using the latest compatible version of kubectl helps avoid unforeseen issues.
Install kubectl on Windows
The following methods exist for installing kubectl on Windows:
Install kubectl binary with curl on Windows
Download the latest release v1.26.15.
Or if you have curl installed, use this command:
curl.exe -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/v1.26.15/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe"
Validate the binary (optional)
Download the kubectl checksum file:
curl.exe -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/v1.26.15/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe.sha256"
Validate the kubectl binary against the checksum file:
Append or prepend the kubectl binary folder to your PATH environment variable.
Test to ensure the version of kubectl is the same as downloaded:
Note:The above command will generate a warning:
WARNING: This version information is deprecated and will be replaced with the output from kubectl version --short.
You can ignore this warning. You are only checking the version of kubectl that you
have installed.
Or use this for detailed view of version:
kubectl version --client --output=yaml
After installing the plugin, clean up the installation files:
del kubectl.exe kubectl.exe.sha256
Note: Docker Desktop for Windows
adds its own version of
kubectl to
PATH. If you have installed Docker Desktop before,
you may need to place your
PATH entry before the one added by the Docker Desktop
installer or remove the Docker Desktop's
kubectl.
To install kubectl on Windows you can use either Chocolatey
package manager, Scoop command-line installer, or
winget package manager.
choco install kubernetes-cli
winget install -e --id Kubernetes.kubectl
Test to ensure the version you installed is up-to-date:
Navigate to your home directory:
# If you're using cmd.exe, run: cd %USERPROFILE%
cd ~
Create the .kube directory:
Change to the .kube directory you just created:
Configure kubectl to use a remote Kubernetes cluster:
New-Item config -type file
Note: Edit the config file with a text editor of your choice, such as Notepad.
Verify kubectl configuration
In order for kubectl to find and access a Kubernetes cluster, it needs a
kubeconfig file,
which is created automatically when you create a cluster using
kube-up.sh
or successfully deploy a Minikube cluster.
By default, kubectl configuration is located at ~/.kube/config.
Check that kubectl is properly configured by getting the cluster state:
If you see a URL response, kubectl is correctly configured to access your cluster.
If you see a message similar to the following, kubectl is not configured correctly or is not able to connect to a Kubernetes cluster.
The connection to the server <server-name:port> was refused - did you specify the right host or port?
For example, if you are intending to run a Kubernetes cluster on your laptop (locally), you will need a tool like Minikube to be installed first and then re-run the commands stated above.
If kubectl cluster-info returns the url response but you can't access your cluster, to check whether it is configured properly, use:
kubectl cluster-info dump
Optional kubectl configurations and plugins
Enable shell autocompletion
kubectl provides autocompletion support for Bash, Zsh, Fish, and PowerShell,
which can save you a lot of typing.
Below are the procedures to set up autocompletion for PowerShell.
The kubectl completion script for PowerShell can be generated with the command kubectl completion powershell.
To do so in all your shell sessions, add the following line to your $PROFILE file:
kubectl completion powershell | Out-String | Invoke-Expression
This command will regenerate the auto-completion script on every PowerShell start up. You can also add the generated script directly to your $PROFILE file.
To add the generated script to your $PROFILE file, run the following line in your powershell prompt:
kubectl completion powershell >> $PROFILE
After reloading your shell, kubectl autocompletion should be working.
Install kubectl convert plugin
A plugin for Kubernetes command-line tool kubectl, which allows you to convert manifests between different API
versions. This can be particularly helpful to migrate manifests to a non-deprecated api version with newer Kubernetes release.
For more info, visit migrate to non deprecated apis
Download the latest release with the command:
curl.exe -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/v1.26.15/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl-convert.exe"
Validate the binary (optional).
Download the kubectl-convert checksum file:
curl.exe -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/v1.26.15/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl-convert.exe.sha256"
Validate the kubectl-convert binary against the checksum file:
Append or prepend the kubectl-convert binary folder to your PATH environment variable.
Verify the plugin is successfully installed.
If you do not see an error, it means the plugin is successfully installed.
After installing the plugin, clean up the installation files:
del kubectl-convert.exe kubectl-convert.exe.sha256
What's next