This repository contains a script to generate hundreds of convenient shell aliases for kubectl, so you no longer need to spell out every single command and --flag over and over again.

An example shell alias created from command/flags permutation looks like:

alias ksysgdepwslowidel='kubectl --namespace=kube-system get deployment --watch --show-labels -o=wide -l'

Confused? Read on.

Some of the 800 generated aliases are:

alias k='kubectl'
alias kg='kubectl get'
alias kgpo='kubectl get pod'

alias ksysgpo='kubectl --namespace=kube-system get pod'

alias krm='kubectl delete'
alias krmf='kubectl delete -f'
alias krming='kubectl delete ingress'
alias krmingl='kubectl delete ingress -l'
alias krmingall='kubectl delete ingress --all-namespaces'

alias kgsvcoyaml='kubectl get service -o=yaml'
alias kgsvcwn='kubectl get service --watch --namespace'
alias kgsvcslwn='kubectl get service --show-labels --watch --namespace'

alias kgwf='kubectl get --watch -f'
...

See the full list.

You can directly download the .kubectl_aliases file for bash/zsh or the .kubectl_aliases.fish file for fish and save it to your $HOME directory.

Add the following to your .bashrc/.zshrc file:

[ -f ~/.kubectl_aliases ] && source ~/.kubectl_aliases

Recommendation: If you want to use GNU watch command instead of kubectl [...] --watch, run it like this:

[ -f ~/.kubectl_aliases ] && source \
   <(cat ~/.kubectl_aliases | sed -r 's/(kubectl.*) --watch/watch \1/g')

Print the full command before running it: Add this to your .bashrc or .zshrc file:

function kubectl() { echo "+ kubectl $@">&2; command kubectl $@; }

Add the following to your ~/.config/fish/config.fish file:

test -f ~/.kubectl_aliases.fish && source ~/.kubectl_aliases.fish

This actually adds the more powerful fish abbreviations instead of aliases, so that pressing space shows the full command before execution.

Recommendation: If you want to use GNU watch command instead of kubectl [...] --watch, run it like this:

test -f ~/.kubectl_aliases.fish && source \
     (cat ~/.kubectl_aliases.fish | sed -r 's/(kubectl.*) --watch/watch \1/g' | psub)

• k=kubectl
  • sys=--namespace kube-system
• commands:
  • g=get
  • d=describe
  • rm=delete
  • a:apply -f
  • ak:apply -k
  • k:kustomize
  • ex: exec -i -t
  • lo: logs -f
• resources:
  • po=pod, dep=deployment, ing=ingress, svc=service, cm=configmap, sec=secret, ns=namespace, no=node ⚠️ Please do not suggest new resources here, instead fork the project.
• flags:
  • output format: oyaml, ojson, owide
  • all: --all or --all-namespaces depending on the command
  • sl: --show-labels
  • w=-w/--watch
• value flags (should be at the end):
  • n=-n/--namespace
  • f=-f/--filename
  • l=-l/--selector

The script has only one optional argument, the shell to which the aliases will be generated. If not given, it assumes bash. Ex:

# Generate aliases for bash/zsh
python generate_aliases.py > .kubectl_aliases

# Generate abbr for fish
python generate_aliases.py fish > .kubectl_aliases.fish

• Doesn't this slow down my shell start up? Sourcing the file that contains ~500 aliases takes about 30-45 milliseconds in my shell (zsh). I don't think it's a big deal for me. Measure it with echo $(($(date +%s%N)/1000000)) command yourself in your .bashrc/.zshrc.

• Can I add more Kubernetes resource types to this? Please consider forking this repo and adding the resource types you want. Not all resource types are used by everyone, and adding more resource types slows down shell initialization see above).

• Where can I find PowerShell aliases for kubectl? There’s a fork of this here.

• @ahmetb

This is not an official Google project.