How can I execute 'ls /tmp/' command in the vector pod in Kubernetes?

[JayJay-K]

Question

Now I deployed vector in Kubernetes with DaemonSet.
I hope to run 'ls /tmp' in the vector pod, but I got an error 'not found'.
May I have advice to execute 'ls' command in the vector pod?

Vector Config

# values-vector.yaml
role: "Agent"

tolerations:
- operator: Exists

service:
  ports:
  - name: prom-exporter
    port: 9598

containerPorts:
- name: prom-exporter
  containerPort: 9598
  protocol: TCP

log:
  level: debug

customConfig:
  sources:
    kim_in:
      type: file
      include:
      - /var/run/cilium/tetragon/tetragon.log
      read_from: "end"

  sinks:
    tet_out:
      inputs:
      - kim_in
      encoding:
        codec: text

      type: file
      path: /tmp/vector-%Y-%m-%d.log

Vector Logs

$ kubectl -n myns exec -it vector-bjpnx -- ls /tmp
2026-05-28T07:11:20.246297Z: executable file `ls` not found in $PATH: No such file or directory

[sueun-dev]

fwiw, this is expected with the default/distroless image.

The generated agent manifest uses timberio/vector:0.55.0-distroless-libc, and that image does not include shell/coreutils. I ran the same image with a tiny file sink config: Vector started and wrote to /tmp/vector-recheck.log, and exec /usr/bin/vector --version worked, but exec ls /tmp failed with exec: "ls": executable file not found in $PATH. /bin/ls and sh are missing too.

I also tried the same config on timberio/vector:0.55.0-alpine; there ls /tmp works.

So for quick debugging, temporarily use the Alpine image tag. For the file sink itself, I'd avoid relying on the container's private /tmp long-term. Mount a volume for that path, then inspect the volume from a debug container/pod that actually has shell tools.