# k9s — Terminal UI for Managing Kubernetes Clusters in Style

> k9s is a powerful terminal-based UI for Kubernetes. Navigate, observe, and manage your clusters with keyboard shortcuts — much faster than kubectl commands.

## Install

Save as a script file and run:

## Quick Use

```bash
# Install
brew install k9s                       # macOS
snap install k9s --devmode              # Linux
choco install k9s                       # Windows

# Run (uses current kubectl context)
k9s
```

Navigate with keyboard — much faster than typing kubectl commands.

## Intro

**k9s** is a terminal-based UI to interact with your Kubernetes clusters. Built on top of the Kubernetes API, it provides a rich, keyboard-driven interface that makes navigating, observing, and managing Kubernetes resources incredibly fast and intuitive. Think of it as a "Midnight Commander for Kubernetes" — you'll never want to type `kubectl` again.

With 33.3K+ GitHub stars and Apache-2.0 license, k9s has become the essential companion tool for Kubernetes administrators and developers who prefer terminal interfaces over web UIs.

## What k9s Does

- **Resource Navigation**: Browse all Kubernetes resources with tab completion
- **Live Updates**: Real-time resource updates without refreshing
- **Multi-Cluster**: Switch between clusters and namespaces instantly
- **Logs & Shell**: Stream logs and exec into pods directly
- **Port Forward**: One-key port forwarding
- **Resource Editing**: Edit YAML in your favorite editor
- **RBAC View**: Check permissions and roles
- **Node Metrics**: View CPU/memory usage per node/pod
- **Benchmarking**: Built-in HTTP load testing for services
- **Custom Views**: Save frequently used resource views
- **Skins**: Customizable color themes
- **Plugins**: Extend with custom commands and actions

## Installation

### Package Managers

```bash
# macOS
brew install k9s

# Linux
snap install k9s --devmode
# Or via binary
curl -sS https://webinstall.dev/k9s | bash

# Windows
choco install k9s
# Or scoop
scoop install k9s

# Docker
docker run --rm -it -v $KUBECONFIG:/root/.kube/config quay.io/derailed/k9s
```

### From Source

```bash
go install github.com/derailed/k9s@latest
```

## Basic Usage

### Starting k9s

```bash
# Use current kubectl context
k9s

# Specify context
k9s --context my-cluster

# Start in specific namespace
k9s -n kube-system

# Read-only mode
k9s --readonly

# With custom refresh rate
k9s --refresh 2
```

## Essential Keyboard Shortcuts

### Navigation

```
:pod            — Show pods
:svc            — Show services
:deploy         — Show deployments
:ns             — Show namespaces
:node           — Show nodes
:cm             — Show configmaps
:secret         — Show secrets
:ing            — Show ingresses
:pvc            — Show persistent volume claims
:sa             — Show service accounts
:cronjob        — Show cronjobs
:hpa            — Show horizontal pod autoscalers
:netpol         — Show network policies
```

### Common Actions

```
d               — Describe resource
v               — View YAML
e               — Edit YAML (opens $EDITOR)
l               — View logs
s               — Shell into pod
:q or ctrl-c    — Quit / go back
?               — Show help
/               — Filter resources (fuzzy search)
Esc             — Clear filter
Enter           — Select / drill down
Space           — Toggle mark
r               — Refresh view
ctrl-d          — Delete resource (with confirmation)
ctrl-k          — Kill pod
```

### Pod-Specific

```
l               — View logs
shift+l         — View previous container logs
s               — Shell into container
f               — Port forward
ctrl-k          — Kill pod (force delete)
shift+f         — Show port forwards
```

### Context & Namespace

```
:ctx            — Switch context
:ns             — Switch namespace
:0              — View all namespaces
```

### Pulses & Benchmarks

```
:pulse          — Cluster pulse (heartbeat view)
:bench          — Start HTTP benchmark
ctrl+b          — Toggle benchmark on service
```

## Advanced Features

### Custom Aliases

Create `~/.config/k9s/aliases.yaml`:

```yaml
aliases:
  po: pod
  dep: deployment
  svc: service
  cmap: configmap
  sec: secret
  # Custom shortcut
  prod: "-n production pod"
```

Use with `:prod` to show pods in production namespace.

### Hotkeys

Create `~/.config/k9s/hotkeys.yaml`:

```yaml
hotKey:
  shift-0:
    shortCut: Shift-0
    description: Viewing all pods
    command: pods
  shift-1:
    shortCut: Shift-1
    description: Viewing services
    command: services
```

### Plugins

Create `~/.config/k9s/plugin.yaml`:

```yaml
plugin:
  tail-logs:
    shortCut: Ctrl-L
    description: "Tail logs with grep"
    scopes:
      - po
    command: sh
    background: false
    args:
      - -c
      - "kubectl logs -f --tail=100 $NAME -n $NAMESPACE | less"

  debug-container:
    shortCut: Shift-D
    description: "Launch debug container"
    scopes:
      - po
    command: kubectl
    background: false
    args:
      - debug
      - -it
      - "$NAME"
      - --image=nicolaka/netshoot
      - --target=$NAME
      - -n
      - "$NAMESPACE"
```

### Skins (Themes)

Create `~/.config/k9s/skins/dracula.yaml`:

```yaml
k9s:
  body:
    fgColor: "#F8F8F2"
    bgColor: "#282A36"
    logoColor: "#BD93F9"
  # ... more color settings
```

Set in config: `skin: dracula`

### Views & Contexts

k9s remembers your views per context. Each kubectl context has its own state:
- Last viewed resource
- Active filters
- Saved views
- Custom columns

## Productivity Tips

### Filter Resources

```
/nginx          — Show resources matching "nginx"
/!system        — Exclude "system"
```

### View Multiple Resources

```
:svc,pod        — Show both services and pods
```

### Decoded Secrets

k9s can decode base64 secrets in real-time:
```
Navigate to secret → x (decode) → shows plaintext
```

### Live Logs with Highlighting

```
Navigate to pod → l (logs)
/ — Filter logs by keyword
t — Toggle follow mode
Shift-T — Toggle timestamps
Shift-F — Show full log
```

## k9s vs Alternatives

| Feature | k9s | Lens | kubectl | OpenLens |
|---------|-----|------|---------|----------|
| Interface | Terminal | GUI | CLI | GUI |
| Speed | Very fast | Slow (GUI) | Fast | Slow (GUI) |
| Learning curve | Medium | Low | High | Low |
| Keyboard-driven | Yes | Partial | Yes | Partial |
| Multi-cluster | Yes | Yes | Yes (contexts) | Yes |
| Resource usage | ~100MB | ~500MB+ | Negligible | ~500MB+ |
| Remote SSH | Yes | Limited | Yes | Limited |
| Best for | CLI users, SRE | GUI users | Scripting | OSS Lens |

## 常见问题

**Q: k9s 需要什么权限？**
A: k9s 使用你的 kubectl 配置和权限。如果 kubectl 能访问集群，k9s 就能访问。只读 RBAC 用户可以用 `--readonly` 模式防止意外修改。

**Q: 可以在多个集群间切换吗？**
A: 可以。使用 `:ctx` 命令查看所有 kubectl contexts 并切换。k9s 会记住每个 context 的状态（上次浏览的资源、过滤条件等）。

**Q: 如何查看 CPU/内存使用？**
A: 确保集群安装了 metrics-server（`kubectl top` 能工作），然后在 k9s 中按 `:pod` 查看 pods，会显示实时 CPU 和内存。按 `:node` 查看节点资源。

## 来源与致谢

- GitHub: [derailed/k9s](https://github.com/derailed/k9s) — 33.3K+ ⭐ | Apache-2.0
- 官网: [k9scli.io](https://k9scli.io)

---
Source: https://tokrepo.com/en/workflows/e68df6b6-3558-11f1-9bc6-00163e2b0d79
Author: Script Depot