Kubernetes Cheat Sheet: Essential kubectl Commands for 2026

I keep this cheat sheet updated as I work with Kubernetes daily across bare metal GPU clusters and cloud deployments. Bookmark it.

Cluster Information

# Cluster info
kubectl cluster-info
kubectl version --short
kubectl get nodes -o wide

# View all resources in a namespace
kubectl get all -n my-namespace

# View API resources available
kubectl api-resources

# Check component status
kubectl get componentstatuses

Pods

# List pods
kubectl get pods
kubectl get pods -A                    # All namespaces
kubectl get pods -o wide               # Show node assignment
kubectl get pods --show-labels
kubectl get pods -l app=nginx          # Filter by label
kubectl get pods --field-selector status.phase=Running

# Create a pod
kubectl run nginx --image=nginx:latest
kubectl run debug --image=busybox -it --rm -- sh  # Temporary debug pod

# Pod details
kubectl describe pod my-pod
kubectl get pod my-pod -o yaml
kubectl get pod my-pod -o jsonpath='{.status.podIP}'

# Delete pods
kubectl delete pod my-pod
kubectl delete pods --all -n default
kubectl delete pod my-pod --grace-period=0 --force  # Force delete

Deployments

# Create deployment
kubectl create deployment nginx --image=nginx --replicas=3

# Scale
kubectl scale deployment nginx --replicas=5

# Update image (rolling update)
kubectl set image deployment/nginx nginx=nginx:1.27

# Rollout management
kubectl rollout status deployment/nginx
kubectl rollout history deployment/nginx
kubectl rollout undo deployment/nginx              # Rollback
kubectl rollout undo deployment/nginx --to-revision=2

# Restart all pods (rolling)
kubectl rollout restart deployment/nginx

# Pause/resume rollout
kubectl rollout pause deployment/nginx
kubectl rollout resume deployment/nginx

Services

# Expose deployment
kubectl expose deployment nginx --port=80 --type=ClusterIP
kubectl expose deployment nginx --port=80 --type=LoadBalancer
kubectl expose deployment nginx --port=80 --type=NodePort

# List services
kubectl get svc
kubectl get endpoints

# Port forward (local development)
kubectl port-forward svc/nginx 8080:80
kubectl port-forward pod/my-pod 8080:80

Namespaces

# Manage namespaces
kubectl get namespaces
kubectl create namespace staging
kubectl delete namespace staging

# Set default namespace
kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=staging

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

ConfigMaps and Secrets

# ConfigMaps
kubectl create configmap app-config --from-literal=key=value
kubectl create configmap app-config --from-file=config.yaml
kubectl get configmap app-config -o yaml

# Secrets
kubectl create secret generic db-creds --from-literal=password=s3cr3t
kubectl get secret db-creds -o jsonpath='{.data.password}' | base64 -d

# TLS Secret
kubectl create secret tls my-tls --cert=cert.pem --key=key.pem

Debugging and Logs

# Logs
kubectl logs my-pod
kubectl logs my-pod -c my-container    # Specific container
kubectl logs my-pod --previous         # Previous crashed container
kubectl logs -f my-pod                 # Follow/stream
kubectl logs -l app=nginx --all-containers  # All pods with label
kubectl logs my-pod --since=1h         # Last hour
kubectl logs my-pod --tail=100         # Last 100 lines

# Execute into pod
kubectl exec -it my-pod -- /bin/bash
kubectl exec -it my-pod -c my-container -- sh

# Debug
kubectl describe pod my-pod            # Events and status
kubectl get events --sort-by='.lastTimestamp'
kubectl top pods                       # Resource usage
kubectl top nodes

# Network debugging
kubectl run debug --image=nicolaka/netshoot -it --rm -- bash

Resource Management

# View resource usage
kubectl top pods --sort-by=memory
kubectl top nodes

# Resource quotas
kubectl get resourcequotas -A
kubectl describe resourcequota -n my-namespace

# Limits and requests
kubectl set resources deployment/nginx --limits=cpu=200m,memory=512Mi
kubectl set resources deployment/nginx --requests=cpu=100m,memory=256Mi

GPU Workloads

# Check GPU nodes
kubectl get nodes -l nvidia.com/gpu.present=true
kubectl describe node gpu-node | grep -A5 "Allocatable"

# View GPU resources
kubectl get nodes -o custom-columns="NAME:.metadata.name,GPU:.status.allocatable.nvidia\.com/gpu"

# Run GPU pod
kubectl run gpu-test --image=nvidia/cuda:12.8.0-base-ubuntu24.04 \
  --overrides='{"spec":{"containers":[{"name":"gpu-test","image":"nvidia/cuda:12.8.0-base-ubuntu24.04","resources":{"limits":{"nvidia.com/gpu":"1"}},"command":["nvidia-smi"]}]}}'

# Check GPU operator
kubectl get pods -n gpu-operator
kubectl logs -n gpu-operator -l app=nvidia-device-plugin-daemonset

YAML Quick Templates

Pod

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: my-pod
  labels:
    app: myapp
spec:
  containers:
    - name: app
      image: myapp:latest
      ports:
        - containerPort: 8080
      resources:
        requests:
          cpu: 100m
          memory: 128Mi
        limits:
          cpu: 500m
          memory: 512Mi

Deployment

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: myapp
spec:
  replicas: 3
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: myapp
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: myapp
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: app
          image: myapp:v1.0
          ports:
            - containerPort: 8080

Ingress

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: myapp-ingress
  annotations:
    cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer: letsencrypt
spec:
  tls:
    - hosts: [myapp.example.com]
      secretName: myapp-tls
  rules:
    - host: myapp.example.com
      http:
        paths:
          - path: /
            pathType: Prefix
            backend:
              service:
                name: myapp
                port:
                  number: 80

Productivity Aliases

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

alias k='kubectl'
alias kgp='kubectl get pods'
alias kgs='kubectl get svc'
alias kgd='kubectl get deployments'
alias kgn='kubectl get nodes'
alias kdp='kubectl describe pod'
alias kl='kubectl logs'
alias klf='kubectl logs -f'
alias kex='kubectl exec -it'
alias kaf='kubectl apply -f'
alias kdf='kubectl delete -f'
alias kctx='kubectl config current-context'
alias kns='kubectl config set-context --current --namespace'

Related Resources

• Kubernetes Recipes Book — my Kubernetes book
• AI on Kubernetes in Production Series
• Multi-Tenant GPUs on Bare Metal
• Book a Kubernetes Workshop