kubectx + kubens: Power tools for kubectl

This repository provides both kubectx and kubens tools. Install →

What are kubectx and kubens?

kubectx is a tool to switch between contexts (clusters) on kubectl faster.
kubens is a tool to switch between Kubernetes namespaces (and configure them for kubectl) easily.

Here's a kubectx demo:

...and here's a kubens demo:

Examples

# switch to another cluster that's in kubeconfig
$ kubectx minikube
Switched to context "minikube".

# switch back to previous cluster
$ kubectx -
Switched to context "oregon".

# start an "isolated shell" that only has a single context
$ kubectx -s minikube

# rename context
$ kubectx dublin=gke_ahmetb_europe-west1-b_dublin
Context "gke_ahmetb_europe-west1-b_dublin" renamed to "dublin".

# change the active namespace on kubectl
$ kubens kube-system
Context "test" set.
Active namespace is "kube-system".

# go back to the previous namespace
$ kubens -
Context "test" set.
Active namespace is "default".

# change the active namespace even if it doesn't exist
$ kubens not-found-namespace --force
Context "test" set.
Active namespace is "not-found-namespace".
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$ kubens not-found-namespace -f
Context "test" set.
Active namespace is "not-found-namespace".

If you have fzf installed, you can also interactively select a context or cluster, or fuzzy-search by typing a few characters. To learn more, read interactive mode →

Both kubectx and kubens support Tab completion on bash/zsh/fish shells to help with long context names. You don't have to remember full context names anymore.

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Installation

Package manager	Command
Homebrew (macOS & Linux)	brew install kubectx
MacPorts (macOS)	sudo port install kubectx
apt (Debian/Ubuntu)	sudo apt install kubectx
pacman (Arch Linux)	sudo pacman -S kubectx
Chocolatey (Windows)	choco install kubens kubectx
Scoop (Windows)	scoop bucket add main && scoop install main/kubens main/kubectx
winget (Windows)	winget install --id ahmetb.kubectx && winget install --id ahmetb.kubens
Krew (kubectl plugin)	kubectl krew install ctx && kubectl krew install ns

Alternatively, download binaries from the Releases page → and add them to somewhere in your PATH.

Shell completion scripts

zsh (with antibody)

Add this line to your Plugins File (e.g. ~/.zsh_plugins.txt):

ahmetb/kubectx path:completion kind:fpath

Depending on your setup, you might or might not need to call compinit or autoload -U compinit && compinit in your ~/.zshrc after you load the Plugins file. If you use oh-my-zsh, load the completions before you load oh-my-zsh because oh-my-zsh will call compinit.

zsh (plain)

The completion scripts have to be in a path that belongs to $fpath. Either link or copy them to an existing folder.

Example with oh-my-zsh:

mkdir -p ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/completions
chmod -R 755 ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/completions
ln -s /opt/kubectx/completion/_kubectx.zsh ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/completions/_kubectx.zsh
ln -s /opt/kubectx/completion/_kubens.zsh ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/completions/_kubens.zsh
echo "fpath=($ZSH/custom/completions $fpath)" >> ~/.zshrc

If completion doesn't work, add autoload -U compinit && compinit to your .zshrc (similar to zsh-completions).

If you are not using oh-my-zsh, you could link to /usr/share/zsh/functions/Completion (might require sudo), depending on the $fpath of your zsh installation.

In case of errors, calling compaudit might help.

bash

git clone https://github.com/ahmetb/kubectx.git ~/.kubectx
COMPDIR=$(pkg-config --variable=completionsdir bash-completion)
ln -sf ~/.kubectx/completion/kubens.bash $COMPDIR/kubens
ln -sf ~/.kubectx/completion/kubectx.bash $COMPDIR/kubectx
cat << EOF >> ~/.bashrc


#kubectx and kubens
export PATH=~/.kubectx:\$PATH
EOF

fish

mkdir -p ~/.config/fish/completions
ln -s /opt/kubectx/completion/kubectx.fish ~/.config/fish/completions/
ln -s /opt/kubectx/completion/kubens.fish ~/.config/fish/completions/

Note

Tip: Show context/namespace in your shell prompt with oh-my-posh or simply with kube-ps1.

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Interactive mode

If you want kubectx and kubens commands to present you an interactive menu with fuzzy searching, you just need to install fzf in your $PATH.

Caveats:

• If you have fzf installed, but want to opt out of using this feature, set the environment variable KUBECTX_IGNORE_FZF=1.
• If you want to keep fzf interactive mode but need the default behavior of the command, you can do it by piping the output to another command (e.g. kubectx | cat ).

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Customizing colors

If you like to customize the colors indicating the current namespace or context, set the environment variables KUBECTX_CURRENT_FGCOLOR and KUBECTX_CURRENT_BGCOLOR (refer color codes here):

export KUBECTX_CURRENT_FGCOLOR=$(tput setaf 6) # blue text
export KUBECTX_CURRENT_BGCOLOR=$(tput setab 7) # white background

Colors in the output can be disabled by setting the NO_COLOR environment variable.

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If you liked kubectx, you may like my kubectl-aliases project, too. I recommend pairing kubectx and kubens with fzf and kube-ps1.

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