k9s

K9s is a terminal-based user interface for interacting with Kubernetes clusters. It provides a live dashboard that continuously watches Kubernetes for changes and displays resource information in a navigable interface. Users can browse pods, deployments, services, and other Kubernetes resources through keyboard-driven commands without needing to memorize kubectl syntax.

The tool offers real-time log viewing, resource editing capabilities, and supports multiple cluster contexts. K9s includes features like resource filtering, sorting, and the ability to execute kubectl commands directly from the interface. It supports customization through skins, plugins, and hotkey configurations. The interface displays resource metrics, events, and allows drilling down into resource details through intuitive navigation.

K9s targets DevOps engineers, platform engineers, and developers who regularly manage Kubernetes workloads. It requires Kubernetes client version 1.28+ and works with existing kubeconfig files. The tool can run in read-only mode for production environments where cluster modifications should be restricted. It supports both local clusters and remote Kubernetes environments through standard kubectl authentication mechanisms.

Installation

# via Homebrew
brew install derailed/k9s/k9s

# via Snap
snap install k9s --devmode

# via Go
go install github.com/derailed/k9s@latest