kctl

kctl is a tool to help make Kubernetes (kubectl) easier to use.

Usage: kctl [args]

kctl with no arguments will show this help message. Using --help will show kubectl help. Generally kctl is aliased as "k" and the rest of the documentation will reflect this. k proxies all arguments through to kubectl with a few exceptions where it attempts to augment the arguments passed in to provide an easier user interface.

There are 2 augmentations that k has over regular kubectl:

1. pattern matching

   When trying to find a service/pod, you can use a colon to denote a "search". On the left hand side of the colon is a namespace pattern and on the right is a resource pattern. The pattern syntax is described here: https://github.com/google/re2/wiki/Syntax

   The best way to understand the use of this is to see some examples

   k get pods :             # Get pods in --all-namespaces
   k get pods default:      # Get pods in a namespace matching "default"
   k describe pod f:^api$   # Describe the pod matching the patterns
   k exec 'f:^api.*' ps afx # Run ps afx on the pod matched by "f:^api$"
   k get services 'def.*:'  # Get all services in a namespace matching "default"

2. ssh command

   The SSH command allows you to easily start a bash session inside a pod and carries over your environment's terminal settings so that width/height and terminal type are set correctly for the new bash session.

   Example:

   k ssh default:podname