Kubectl Plugins and Krew
Krew helps you discover and install kubectl plugins on your machine.
There are a lot of kubectl plugins you can install and use to enhance your Kubernetes experience.
Prerequisites: A recent copy of the git command (such as available from the IUS repo) must be installed for krew to operate.
Let’s get started:
1. Install and set up Krew on your machine and add krew's bin directory to your path
(
set -x; cd "$(mktemp -d)" &&
OS="$(uname | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')" &&
ARCH="$(uname -m | sed -e 's/x86_64/amd64/' -e 's/\(arm\)\(64\)\?.*/\1\2/' -e 's/aarch64$/arm64/')" &&
KREW="krew-${OS}_${ARCH}" &&
curl -fsSLO "https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/krew/releases/latest/download/${KREW}.tar.gz" &&
tar zxvf "${KREW}.tar.gz" &&
./"${KREW}" install krew
)
export PATH="${KREW_ROOT:-$HOME/.krew}/bin:$PATH"
2. Download the plugin list:
kubectl krew update
3. Discover plugins available on Krew:
kubectl krew search NAME DESCRIPTION INSTALLED access-matrix Show an RBAC access matrix for server resources no advise-psp Suggests PodSecurityPolicies for cluster. no auth-proxy Authentication proxy to a pod or service no [...]
4. Choose a plugin from the list and install it:
kubectl krew install access-matrix
5. Use the installed plugin:
kubectl access-matrix
6. Keep your plugins up-to-date:
kubectl krew upgrade
7. Uninstall a plugin you no longer use:
kubectl krew uninstall access-matrix
This is pretty much all you need to know as a user to use Krew. Interesting plugins already installed and useful include:
| Plugin | Description | Documentation/source |
|---|---|---|
| ctx | Switch between contexts in your kubeconfig | https://github.com/ahmetb/kubectx |
| ns | Switch between Kubernetes namespaces | https://github.com/ahmetb/kubectx |
| get-all | Like `kubectl get all` but _really_ everything | https://github.com/corneliusweig/ketall |
| tail | Stream logs from multiple pods and containers | https://github.com/boz/kail |
(copied from https://krew.sigs.k8s.io/docs/user-guide/quickstart/)