Command Reference

Command Reference

Every typed command telectl understands, with syntax, flags, and examples. All commands start with the prefix from bot.command_prefix (default /).

Command families

Family	Commands
Info	/start, /help, /about, /version, /config
Browse	/get, /describe, /resources
Logs & exec	/logs, /exec, /portforward
Cluster	/contexts, /use-context, /top, /events, /watch
Operations	/restart, /scale
Menus	/monitor, /operations, /settings

Shared flags

Most browse/operate commands accept these kubectl-style flags (in both separated and = forms):

Flag	Meaning
-n, --namespace <ns>	Namespace (defaults to session namespace, then kubernetes.default_namespace)
-A, --all-namespaces	All namespaces (overrides -n)
-o, --output <fmt>	wide, json, yaml (default: compact table)
-l, --selector <expr>	Label selector, e.g. app=api,env=prod
--field-selector <expr>	Field selector, e.g. status.phase=Running

---

/start

Greeting + the main reply keyboard.

/help

Command reference summary.

/about

Version, links, project info.

/version

Build version, commit, and build date.

/config

Prints the effective configuration (secrets redacted): which kubeconfig, context, namespace, dry-run state, impersonation status, and the cluster display name.

/get <resource> [name] [-n ns] [-o fmt] [-l selector] [--field-selector ...]

List or fetch resources, kubectl-style.

/get pods -A
/get pods -n production -l app=api
/get deployment frontend -o yaml
/get nodes -o wide

Supported resources (aliases accepted): pods/po, deployments/deploy, services/svc, replicasets/rs, namespaces/ns, nodes/no, configmaps/cm, secrets, persistentvolumeclaims/pvc, persistentvolumes/pv, ingresses/ing, events/ev.

/describe <resource> [name] [-n ns]

Detailed view: metadata, status conditions, events, and a readable summary. Without a name, describes the resource type's notable objects.

/resources

Opens the interactive resource browser menu (see Menu Navigation). Alias of tapping Resources.

/logs <pod> [-n ns] [-c container] [-f] [-p] [--tail N] [--since TIME]

Read pod logs.

Flag	Meaning
-c, --container <name>	Specific container in the pod
-f, --follow	Stream new lines (bounded; stops with /cancel)
-p, --previous	Logs from the previous (terminated) container instance
--tail N	Last N lines. Respected exactly — no silent cap
--since <time>	Logs since a time (e.g. 10m, 1h, RFC3339)

/logs api-74b6f5d9c9-abcde
/logs api-74b6f5d9c9-abcde -n production -c sidecar --tail 500

/exec <pod> [-n ns] [-c container] [-- command args...]

Run a command inside a pod container.

• No command → interactive shell (sh).
• Everything after the pod name (or after --) is the command; the command's own flags are passed through untouched.

/exec api-abcde                     # shell
/exec api-abcde -n production -- printenv
/exec api-abcde -c sidecar ls -la

/portforward <pod> <local:remote> [-n ns]

Forward a local port to a pod port. Output gives the forwarding address.

/contexts

Lists every context in the kubeconfig with its cluster, user, and namespace, as buttons — tap to switch. See Context Management.

/use-context <name>

Switch the active context in-process (does not rewrite the kubeconfig file on disk). Persistent switch is available from the Settings menu's context picker.

/use-context my-prod-cluster

/top <pods|nodes> [-n ns]

CPU/memory usage. Requires metrics-server in the cluster; otherwise it says so explicitly (rather than surfacing a raw 404).

/top pods -n production
/top nodes

/events [-n ns]

Recent events in the namespace (events expire after ~1h, so a quiet namespace may show none).

/watch <resource> [-n ns]

Follows changes to a resource and pushes updates as they happen. Runs as a command (not in the pane) because it streams; stop with /cancel.

/watch pods -n production

/restart deployment <name> [-n ns]

Rolling restart of a workload (deployment/statefulset/daemonset).

/restart deployment frontend -n production

/scale deployment <name> <replicas> [-n ns]

Scale a deployment or replicaset to a replica count.

/scale deployment frontend 5 -n production

/monitor, /operations, /settings

Open the corresponding menu panes (see Menu Navigation).

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Command allowlist

bot.allowed_commands controls which commands dispatch. The default list (and the source of truth for valid names) is:

start help about version get describe logs exec portforward
contexts use-context config top events watch restart scale
resources monitor operations settings

Note the key is portforward (not port-forward). A command missing from the list is rejected as not allowed even though its handler exists — if you trim this list, trim it deliberately.