GitPedia

Kube aliases

Kubernetes Aliases and Bash Functions

From Dbz·Updated April 16, 2026·View on GitHub·

This is an oh-my-zsh plugin (or source `kube-aliases.plugin.zsh` for bash) to make working with kubernetes easier. It provides a bunch of bash aliases and zsh functions. Docs can be found [here](https://github.com/Dbz/kube-aliases/blob/master/docs/usage), which clarifies all aliases. The project is written primarily in Shell, distributed under the MIT License license, first published in 2017. Key topics include: autocomplete, bash, cluster, command-line-tool, devops.

Latest release: v1.0.0-betagenerate-kube-aliases-1.0.0-beta
September 2, 2021View Changelog →

kube-aliases

This is an oh-my-zsh plugin (or source kube-aliases.plugin.zsh for bash) to
make working with kubernetes easier. It provides a bunch of bash aliases and
zsh functions. Docs can be found
here, which
clarifies all aliases.

Usage

There are a few main features of this plugin. First, there are lots of aliases
to make working with Kubernetes easier. Second, there are bash functions to
help with varies tasks such as switching contexts to use different clusters.

Aliases

To see a full list of aliases, use

bash
khelp usage

In general and when it makes sense, aliases follow the following conventions.

bash
k # kubectl kd<r> # kubectl delete <resource>, e.g. kdp for kubectl delete pods kds<r> # kubectl describe <resource>, e.g. kdsp for kubectl describe pod ke<r> # kubectl edit <resource>, e.g. kep for kubectl edit pods kg<r> # kubectl get <resource>, e.g. kgp for kubectl get pods kga<r> # kubectl get --all-namespaces -o wide <resource>, e.g. kgap for kubectl --all-namespaces -o wide get pods kl # kubectl logs <podname> klf # kubectl logs -f <podname>: i.e. watch logs live

There is also some other useful commands such as the following:

bash
kcon # create configuration files kdap # delete all pods within a namespace kdrain # drain a node kexec # execute a command in a specified pod, # default drops user into a shell kfind # use a regular expression to find items across everything except # custom resources kgpns # Get just pod names in a namespace kpfind # Search through pods with regular expressions krd # restart a deployment kstatus # search across namespaces to find pods statuses

For a more detailed list of aliases, view the docs.

Not everything is currently implemented, but more and more is being added to
the list. If something is missing that is desired, feel free to submit a pull
request.

Installation

Oh-My-Zsh

git clone https://github.com/Dbz/kube-aliases.git ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins/kube-aliases
echo "plugins+=(kube-aliases)" >> ~/.zshrc

You can also manually place kube-aliases inside of plugins=(...)

If you have set the ZSH_CUSTOM environment variable in your zshrc, then you should modify the git clone directory to be $ZSH_CUSTOM/plugins/kube-aliases.

Antigen

Add antigen bundle dbz/kube-aliases to your antigen bundles in your .zshrc

Zgen

Add zgen load dbz/kube-aliases to your zgen plugins in your .zshrc

Zinit

Add zinit load Dbz/kube-aliases to your zinit plugins in your .zshrc

Bash

Source kube-aliases.plugin.zsh in your .bashrc.

Aliases for Kubernetes Extensions

kubectx

For easy context and namespace switching there is
kubectx. kubectx allows users context
switching, and the linked github comes with kubens which allows for simple
namespace switching. You can use the following aliases:

bash
alias kctx='kubectx' alias kns='kubens'

Kubernetes Metrics Server

To get some metrics from nodes or pods, you can use Kubernetes Metrics
Server
. There are
the aliases

bash
alias kt='kubectl top' alias ktn='kubectl top nodes' alias ktp='kubectl top pods'

Trouble Shooting

Autocomplete

If there is problems with autocomplete, it may be that kubectl is not on the
path when the plugin is loaded. To fix, load plugins after adding kubectl to
path.

Contributors

Showing top 9 contributors by commit count.

View all contributors on GitHub →

This article is auto-generated from Dbz/kube-aliases via the GitHub API.Last fetched: 6/19/2026