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Kubernetes Tooling

Most of our infrastructure runs on Kubernetes. Here’s how to get your local tooling sorted.

kubectl

The Kubernetes CLI. Install it via Homebrew:

brew install kubectl

Verify it works:

kubectl version --client

Kubeconfig

Your kubeconfig file (~/.kube/config) tells kubectl how to connect to clusters. You’ll receive cluster credentials from a team lead.

Once you have them, verify access:

kubectl cluster-info
kubectl get nodes

Multiple Clusters

If you work across multiple clusters, keep configs separate and merge them:

export KUBECONFIG=~/.kube/config:~/.kube/staging:~/.kube/production

Switch between contexts:

kubectl config use-context staging
kubectl config use-context production

krew - Plugin Manager

krew lets you install kubectl plugins. Install it:

brew install krew

Add to your shell config:

export PATH="${KREW_ROOT:-$HOME/.krew}/bin:$PATH"

Useful plugins:

kubectl krew install ctx       # fast context switching
kubectl krew install ns        # fast namespace switching
kubectl krew install neat      # clean up YAML output
kubectl krew install tree      # show object hierarchy
kubectl krew install whoami    # show current user/permissions

stern - Log Tailing

stern tails logs across multiple pods at once. You’ll use this constantly:

brew install stern

Usage:

# Tail all pods matching "api" in current namespace
stern api

# Tail specific container across pods
stern api -c nginx

# Tail with timestamps
stern api -t

# Tail across all namespaces
stern api --all-namespaces

# Tail only the last 10 lines
stern api --tail 10

k9s - Terminal UI

k9s gives you a terminal dashboard for Kubernetes:

brew install k9s

Launch it:

k9s                    # current context
k9s --context staging  # specific context
k9s -n kube-system     # specific namespace

Key shortcuts in k9s:

  • :pods - view pods
  • :svc - view services
  • :deploy - view deployments
  • l - view logs
  • s - shell into container
  • d - describe resource
  • ctrl+d - delete resource

Lens (Optional)

If you prefer a GUI, Lens is a desktop app for managing clusters. It’s not required but some people find it useful for visualising resources.

Next Steps

Continue to Cloud & Infrastructure to set up your AWS access and infrastructure tools.