shepherdjerred/monorepo/kubectl-helper

Name: kubectl-helper
Author: shepherdjerred

Claude Code and agent skill by shepherdjerred/monorepo

Trust tier 3

community
ext:[{"type":"hook","description":"Pre/post lifecycle hooks"}]

By shepherdjerred
Coding
shepherdjerred/monorepo
packages/dotfiles/dot_agents/skills/kubectl-helper/SKILL.md
Updated 4 Oct 2026
Version 1.0.01 version recorded

Source check pending

Checking that the SKILL.md file is still in the repository.

Kubernetes troubleshooting and resource management with kubectl When user works with Kubernetes, mentions kubectl, pods, deployments, or k8s errors

Install

npx vskill@latest install shepherdjerred/monorepo/kubectl-helper

Semi-extensibleMentions customization, but needs skill-specific knowledge. Read the extensible skills standard

SKILL.md

Kubernetes Helper Agent

What's New in Kubernetes 1.33 & 2025

Server-Side Apply: Recommended default for applying manifests (better conflict resolution)
Server-Side Dry Run: Full API validation before applying changes
kubectl diff: Preview changes before applying
Containerd Default: containerd is now the default runtime (Docker deprecated)
Enhanced Label Selectors: More powerful filtering and bulk operations
Rollout Control: Better manual control with kubectl rollout pause

Overview

This agent helps you work with Kubernetes clusters using kubectl for resource management, troubleshooting, and debugging.

CLI Commands

Auto-Approved Commands

The following kubectl commands are auto-approved and safe to use:

kubectl get - List resources
kubectl describe - Show detailed resource information
kubectl logs - View container logs
kubectl explain - Show resource documentation
kubectl api-resources - List available resource types
kubectl version - Show version information
kubectl cluster-info - Display cluster information
kubectl config - Manage kubeconfig
kubectl top - Show resource usage

Modern Apply Patterns (2025)

Server-side apply (recommended):

bash

# Apply with server-side processing (better conflict resolution)
kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml --server-side
 
# Apply directory recursively
kubectl apply -f ./configs/ --server-side --recursive
 
# Force conflicts to be resolved server-side
kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml --server-side --force-conflicts

Preview changes before applying:

bash

# Show diff of what will change
kubectl diff -f deployment.yaml
 
# Dry run with full server-side validation
kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml --dry-run=server
 
# Client-side dry run (no server validation)
kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml --dry-run=client

Why server-side apply?

Better conflict resolution (server decides, not client)
Supports collaborative editing (multiple sources can manage same resource)
Respects field ownership (who owns each field)
Required for some newer Kubernetes features

Common Operations

Get resources:

bash

kubectl get pods
kubectl get pods -n production
kubectl get deployments --all-namespaces
kubectl get nodes
kubectl get services

Advanced label selectors (2025):

bash

# Single label match
kubectl get pods -l app=nginx
 
# Multiple labels (AND)
kubectl get pods -l app=nginx,env=production
 
# Set-based selectors
kubectl get pods -l 'env in (production,staging)'
kubectl get pods -l 'tier notin (frontend,backend)'
 
# Exists/not exists
kubectl get pods -l 'release'  # has 'release' label
kubectl get pods -l '!release'  # doesn't have 'release' label
 
# Bulk operations with labels
kubectl delete pods -l phase=test
kubectl scale deployment -l app=api --replicas=3

Describe resources:

bash

kubectl describe pod my-pod
kubectl describe node node-1
kubectl describe deployment my-app

View logs:

bash

kubectl logs my-pod
kubectl logs my-pod -c container-name
kubectl logs -f my-pod  # Follow logs
kubectl logs my-pod --previous  # Previous container logs
kubectl logs -l app=nginx  # Logs from all pods with label

Context and namespace management:

bash

kubectl config get-contexts
kubectl config current-context
kubectl config use-context production
kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=my-namespace

Rollout management and canary deployments:

bash

# View rollout status
kubectl rollout status deployment/my-app
 
# Pause rollout for manual canary analysis
kubectl rollout pause deployment/my-app
 
# After validation, resume rollout
kubectl rollout resume deployment/my-app
 
# Rollback if issues found
kubectl rollout undo deployment/my-app
 
# View rollout history
kubectl rollout history deployment/my-app
 
# Rollback to specific revision
kubectl rollout undo deployment/my-app --to-revision=2

Canary deployment workflow:

bash

# 1. Update deployment (triggers rollout)
kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml --server-side
 
# 2. Immediately pause to control rollout
kubectl rollout pause deployment/my-app
 
# 3. New pods start alongside old pods (manual canary)
kubectl get pods -l app=my-app -L version
 
# 4. Monitor metrics, test new version
# ... check logs, metrics, error rates ...
 
# 5. If good, resume full rollout
kubectl rollout resume deployment/my-app
 
# 6. If bad, rollback
kubectl rollout undo deployment/my-app

Troubleshooting Workflows

Pod Not Starting

bash

# 1. Check pod status
kubectl get pod my-pod -o wide
 
# 2. Describe pod to see events
kubectl describe pod my-pod
 
# 3. Check logs
kubectl logs my-pod
 
# 4. Check previous container logs if crash looping
kubectl logs my-pod --previous
 
# 5. Check events in namespace
kubectl get events --sort-by='.lastTimestamp' | grep my-pod

Debugging Running Pod

bash

# Execute commands in pod
kubectl exec -it my-pod -- sh
kubectl exec -it my-pod -c container-name -- bash
 
# Port forward to local machine
kubectl port-forward my-pod 8080:80
 
# Copy files to/from pod
kubectl cp my-pod:/path/to/file ./local-file
kubectl cp ./local-file my-pod:/path/to/file

Network Issues

bash

# Check service endpoints
kubectl get endpoints my-service
 
# Describe service
kubectl describe service my-service
 
# Test DNS resolution
kubectl run -it --rm debug --image=busybox --restart=Never -- nslookup my-service
 
# Check network policies
kubectl get networkpolicies

Resource Constraints

bash

# Check resource usage
kubectl top nodes
kubectl top pods
kubectl top pods --containers
 
# Describe resource limits
kubectl describe pod my-pod | grep -A 5 Limits

Common Patterns

Get Resource in Specific Format

bash

# JSON output
kubectl get pod my-pod -o json
 
# YAML output
kubectl get pod my-pod -o yaml
 
# Custom columns
kubectl get pods -o custom-columns=NAME:.metadata.name,STATUS:.status.phase
 
# JSONPath
kubectl get pods -o jsonpath='{.items[*].metadata.name}'

Filtering and Selecting

bash

# By label
kubectl get pods -l app=nginx
kubectl get pods -l 'env in (production,staging)'
 
# By field
kubectl get pods --field-selector status.phase=Running
kubectl get pods --field-selector metadata.namespace!=kube-system

Watch Resources

bash

# Watch for changes
kubectl get pods --watch
kubectl get pods -w
 
# Watch with timestamps
kubectl get pods --watch --output-watch-events

Best Practices and Smart Defaults (2025)

Infrastructure as Code

Always use version control for manifests:

```bash # Good: Manifests in git git add k8s/ git commit -m "Update deployment replicas" kubectl apply -f k8s/ --server-side

# Bad: Imperative changes (lost on next apply) kubectl scale deployment my-app --replicas=5 ```

Prefer server-side apply for all manifest applications

``bash # Default to server-side kubectl apply -f . --server-side --recursive ``

Preview changes before applying:

``bash # Always diff first kubectl diff -f deployment.yaml # Then apply kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml --server-side ``

Use kubectl diff as pre-commit hook:

``bash # .git/hooks/pre-commit kubectl diff -f k8s/ --exit-code ``

Runtime Notes (K8s 1.33)

Containerd is now the default runtime (Docker deprecated since 1.20)
If using Docker, migrate to containerd or CRI-O
Docker shim removed entirely in 1.33+

bash

# Check current runtime
kubectl get nodes -o wide
# Look at CONTAINER-RUNTIME column
 
# Verify containerd
kubectl describe node <node-name> | grep "Container Runtime"

Security Best Practices

Use Namespaces: Isolate workloads with namespaces
RBAC: Follow principle of least privilege
Network Policies: Restrict pod-to-pod communication
Resource Limits: Always set memory and CPU limits

``yaml resources: limits: memory: "256Mi" cpu: "500m" requests: memory: "128Mi" cpu: "250m" ``

Security Contexts: Run containers as non-root when possible

``yaml securityContext: runAsNonRoot: true runAsUser: 1000 readOnlyRootFilesystem: true ``

Secrets: Use Kubernetes Secrets, never hardcode credentials
Label Consistency: Use consistent labels for filtering and RBAC

``yaml labels: app: nginx env: production version: v1.2.3 ``

Common Issues and Solutions

ImagePullBackOff

bash

# Check image name and tag
kubectl describe pod my-pod | grep Image
 
# Check image pull secrets
kubectl get secrets
kubectl describe secret my-registry-secret
 
# Check node's ability to pull
kubectl describe node my-node | grep -A 10 Conditions

CrashLoopBackOff

bash

# View current logs
kubectl logs my-pod
 
# View previous logs
kubectl logs my-pod --previous
 
# Check liveness/readiness probes
kubectl describe pod my-pod | grep -A 5 Probes
 
# Temporarily disable probes (edit deployment)
kubectl edit deployment my-app

Pending Pods

bash

# Check events
kubectl describe pod my-pod | grep Events -A 10
 
# Check node resources
kubectl top nodes
kubectl describe nodes
 
# Check PVC status
kubectl get pvc

Examples

Example 1: Complete Pod Debugging

bash

#!/bin/bash
POD=$1
 
echo "=== Pod Status ==="
kubectl get pod "$POD" -o wide
 
echo "\n=== Pod Events ==="
kubectl describe pod "$POD" | grep Events -A 20
 
echo "\n=== Pod Logs ==="
kubectl logs "$POD" --tail=50
 
echo "\n=== Resource Usage ==="
kubectl top pod "$POD" --containers

Example 2: Find Pods Using Most Resources

bash

# CPU
kubectl top pods --all-namespaces --sort-by=cpu
 
# Memory
kubectl top pods --all-namespaces --sort-by=memory

Example 3: Quick Health Check

bash

# Check cluster health
kubectl get nodes
kubectl get componentstatuses
kubectl get pods --all-namespaces --field-selector=status.phase!=Running
 
# Check critical system pods
kubectl get pods -n kube-system

Advanced Operations

Bulk Operations

bash

# Delete all pods with label
kubectl delete pods -l app=old-version
 
# Scale all deployments
kubectl get deployments -o name | xargs -I {} kubectl scale {} --replicas=3
 
# Restart all pods in deployment (rollout restart)
kubectl rollout restart deployment my-app

Debug with Ephemeral Containers

bash

# Add debug container to running pod (K8s 1.23+)
kubectl debug my-pod -it --image=busybox --target=my-container
 
# Create debug pod as copy
kubectl debug my-pod -it --copy-to=my-pod-debug --container=debugger --image=busybox

When to Ask for Help

Ask the user for clarification when:

The cluster context or namespace is ambiguous
Destructive operations are needed (delete, drain, cordon)
RBAC permissions might be insufficient
The issue requires changes to cluster configuration
Multiple pods/deployments match the criteria

Security

Security scanPassed, 95 of 100Pattern checks on the skill's files.
Model reviewPassed

See the full security report

Quality evaluation

Task evaluationNot runNo evaluation yet. Run one in Skill Studio.

See evaluation results

Source

SKILL.md in the repositoryCheckingpackages/dotfiles/dot_agents/skills/kubectl-helper/SKILL.md

Popularity

7-day trend score: 5

Not refreshed yet.

Extension points

hookPre/post lifecycle hooks

Learn the extensible skills standard

Works with

Any agent vskill installs to: 56 targets in all. These 39 have a page on this site.

Claude Code
Cursor
GitHub Copilot
Windsurf
Codex
Gemini CLI
Cline
Amp
Roo Code
Goose
Continue
Kilo Code
Junie
Trae
OpenHands
Qwen Code
AI Agent
Tabnine Chat
Sourcegraph Cody
Amazon Q
Firebase Genkit
Sweep
Devin
Phind
Mentat
Claude Desktop
Aider
GPT Pilot
Plandex
bolt.new
v0
Replit Agent
Anse
TypingMind
BetterChatGPT
LibreChat
Warp AI
Pieces
Fig AI

Embed badge

[![vskill VERIFIED](https://verified-skill.com/api/v1/skills/shepherdjerred/monorepo/kubectl-helper/badge)](https://verified-skill.com/skills/shepherdjerred/monorepo/kubectl-helper)

Something wrong with this skill or its page? Tell us.