diff --git a/pykube/__init__.py b/pykube/__init__.py
index 012592d..6d9fe4a 100644
--- a/pykube/__init__.py
+++ b/pykube/__init__.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 from .config import KubeConfig  # noqa
 from .exceptions import KubernetesError, PyKubeError, ObjectDoesNotExist  # noqa
-from .http import HTTPClient  # noqa
+from .http import HTTPClient, login  # noqa
 from .objects import (  # noqa
     object_factory,
     ConfigMap,
diff --git a/pykube/console.py b/pykube/console.py
index 2ea46a6..1247b0b 100644
--- a/pykube/console.py
+++ b/pykube/console.py
@@ -20,12 +20,8 @@ def main(argv=None):
     parser.add_argument('-c', help='Python program passed in as string', metavar='SCRIPT')
     args = parser.parse_args(argv)
 
-    config = pykube.KubeConfig.from_file(args.kubeconfig)
-
-    if args.context:
-        config.set_current_context(args.context)
-
-    api = pykube.HTTPClient(config)
+    api = pykube.login(kubeconfig=args.kubeconfig, kubecontext=args.context)
+    config = api.config
 
     context = {
         '__name__': '__console__',
diff --git a/pykube/http.py b/pykube/http.py
index ccb5004..fdcee52 100644
--- a/pykube/http.py
+++ b/pykube/http.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 import posixpath
 import shlex
 import subprocess
+from typing import Optional
 
 try:
     import google.auth
@@ -342,3 +343,30 @@ def delete(self, *args, **kwargs):
            - `kwargs`: Keyword arguments
         """
         return self.session.delete(*args, **self.get_kwargs(**kwargs))
+
+
+def login(
+    kubeconfig: Optional[str] = None,
+    kubecontext: Optional[str] = None,
+) -> HTTPClient:
+    """Make Kubernetes API client.
+
+    :param kubeconfig: (optional) path to kubeconfig,
+                       if not passed will use in-cluster config or
+                       default kubectl ones (in that order of preference)
+    :param kubecontext: (optional) name of the context in the kubeconfig file
+    :return: pykube.HTTPClient
+    """
+    if kubeconfig:
+        # if passed kubeconfig file explicitly - use it
+        config = KubeConfig.from_file(kubeconfig)
+    else:
+        try:
+            # running in cluster
+            config = KubeConfig.from_service_account()
+        except FileNotFoundError:
+            # not running in cluster => load default local KUBECONFIG
+            config = KubeConfig.from_file()
+    if kubecontext:
+        config.set_current_context(kubecontext)
+    return HTTPClient(config)
diff --git a/tests/test_login.py b/tests/test_login.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b44c65c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_login.py
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+from unittest import mock
+
+from pykube.http import login
+from . import TestCase
+
+
+@mock.patch('pykube.http.KubeConfig')
+@mock.patch('pykube.http.HTTPClient')
+class TestLogin(TestCase):
+    def test_login_with_config(self, client, config):
+        api = login(kubeconfig='/path/to/file')
+        config.from_file.assert_called_once_with('/path/to/file')
+        config.from_service_account.assert_not_called()
+        config.from_file.return_value.set_current_context.assert_not_called()
+        client.assert_called_once_with(config.from_file.return_value)
+        assert api == client.return_value
+
+    def test_login_with_config_and_context(self, client, config):
+        api = login(kubeconfig='/path/to/file', kubecontext='fake')
+        config.from_file.assert_called_once_with('/path/to/file')
+        config.from_service_account.assert_not_called()
+        config.from_file.return_value.set_current_context.assert_called_once_with('fake')
+        client.assert_called_once_with(config.from_file.return_value)
+        assert api == client.return_value
+
+    def test_login_with_incluster(self, client, config):
+        api = login()
+        config.from_service_account.assert_called_once_with()
+        config.from_file.assert_not_called()
+        config.from_service_account.return_value.set_current_context.assert_not_called()
+        client.assert_called_once_with(config.from_service_account.return_value)
+        assert api == client.return_value
+
+    def test_login_with_default_config(self, client, config):
+        config.from_service_account.side_effect = FileNotFoundError
+        api = login()
+        config.from_service_account.assert_called_once_with()
+        config.from_file.assert_called_once_with()
+        config.from_file.return_value.set_current_context.assert_not_called()
+        client.assert_called_once_with(config.from_file.return_value)
+        assert api == client.return_value
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 1cfaf28..0936372 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -8,10 +8,11 @@ envlist =
 
 [testenv]
 deps =
-    coverage == 4.0.3
-    flake8 == 2.5.4
-    pytest == 2.9.0
-    pytest-cov == 2.2.1
+    coverage == 4.5.4
+    flake8 == 3.7.8
+    pytest == 5.2.1
+    pytest-cov == 2.8.1
+    responses == 0.10.6
 usedevelop = True
 setenv =
    LANG=en_US.UTF-8