Kubernetes Debugging Cheat Sheet

Kubernetes Debugging•Permalink

Core kubectl troubleshooting commands for pods, deployments, services, events, logs, exec sessions, and ephemeral debugging.

View

Standard Detailed Compact

Export

Copy the compact sheet, download it, or print it.

Download

`D` dense toggle · `C` copy all

## Cluster Triage

Check kubectl and server version

↗#

kubectl version --short

# Show client and server version details.

Show cluster endpoints

↗#

kubectl cluster-info

# Display the control plane and addon URLs known to kubectl.

List nodes

↗#

kubectl get nodes

# Quickly see whether nodes are Ready.

List nodes with details

↗#

kubectl get nodes -o wide

# Show node IPs, versions, and roles.

List all major resources

↗#

kubectl get all -A

# Quick cluster-wide snapshot across namespaces.

List resource types

↗#

kubectl api-resources

# See which resource kinds the API server exposes.

Dump cluster diagnostic info

↗#

kubectl cluster-info dump

# Collect broad cluster state for troubleshooting.

## Pods and Workloads

List pods across all namespaces

↗#

kubectl get pods -A

# Find failing pods anywhere in the cluster.

List pods with node and IP

↗#

kubectl get pods -A -o wide

# Show placement and pod IP information.

Get full pod YAML

↗#

kubectl get pod <pod> -n <namespace> -o yaml

# Inspect raw spec and status fields.

Describe a pod

↗#

kubectl describe pod <pod> -n <namespace>

# Read conditions, events, mounts, image pulls, and restarts.

List deployments

↗#

kubectl get deployments -A

# Find workloads with rollout or availability issues.

Describe a deployment

↗#

kubectl describe deployment <name> -n <namespace>

# Inspect replica counts, rollout conditions, and selector details.

Check rollout status

↗#

kubectl rollout status deployment/<name> -n <namespace>

# Wait for or inspect deployment rollout progress.

List ReplicaSets

↗#

kubectl get rs -n <namespace>

# See which ReplicaSet a rollout created and whether scaling succeeded.

List StatefulSets

↗#

kubectl get statefulsets -A

# Inspect ordered pod creation and update status.

Describe a Job

↗#

kubectl describe job <name> -n <namespace>

# Inspect failures, completions, and backoff behavior.

## Events and Conditions

List events in a namespace

↗#

kubectl get events -n <namespace>

# See recent warnings and scheduling errors.

Sort events by time

↗#

kubectl get events -n <namespace> --sort-by=.metadata.creationTimestamp

# Show oldest to newest event timestamps for a namespace.

Sort cluster-wide events by time

↗#

kubectl get events -A --sort-by=.metadata.creationTimestamp

# Helpful for cluster-wide incident triage.

Wait for pod readiness

↗#

kubectl wait --for=condition=Ready pod/<pod> -n <namespace> --timeout=60s

# Use readiness conditions to gate troubleshooting steps or scripts.

List pod phase and reason

↗#

kubectl get pods -n <namespace> -o custom-columns=NAME:.metadata.name,PHASE:.status.phase,REASON:.status.containerStatuses[0].state.waiting.reason

# Compact custom columns view for triage.

## Logs, Exec, and Ephemeral Debugging

Read pod logs

↗#

kubectl logs <pod> -n <namespace>

# Print logs from a single-container pod.

Read logs from a specific container

↗#

kubectl logs <pod> -n <namespace> -c <container>

# Required for multi-container pods.

Stream logs

↗#

kubectl logs -f <pod> -n <namespace>

# Follow logs live while reproducing an issue.

Read previous container logs

↗#

kubectl logs <pod> -n <namespace> -p

# Useful after restarts or CrashLoopBackOff.

Read logs for pods matching a label

↗#

kubectl logs -n <namespace> -l app=<label> --all-containers=true --prefix

# Aggregate logs from a workload set.

Open a shell in a running container

↗#

kubectl exec -it <pod> -n <namespace> -- /bin/sh

# Run commands inside a pod for live inspection.

Inspect environment variables

↗#

kubectl exec <pod> -n <namespace> -- env

# Quickly validate environment and injected secrets names.

Copy a file from a pod

↗#

kubectl cp <namespace>/<pod>:/path/in/pod ./local-file

# Pull logs or generated files out of a running container.

Attach an ephemeral debug container

↗#

kubectl debug -it <pod> -n <namespace> --image=busybox:1.36 --target=<container>

# Launch a temporary debugging container in an existing pod.

Create a copy of a pod for debugging

↗#

kubectl debug <pod> -n <namespace> --copy-to=<pod>-debug --container=debugger --image=busybox:1.36 -it

# Duplicate a pod and add a debug container or different command.

Port-forward to a pod

↗#

kubectl port-forward pod/<pod> -n <namespace> 8080:80

# Reach a pod locally without exposing a Service.

## JSONPath and Useful One-Liners

List pods with restart counts

↗#

kubectl get pods -A -o custom-columns=NS:.metadata.namespace,POD:.metadata.name,RESTARTS:.status.containerStatuses[*].restartCount

# Spot frequently restarting containers quickly.

Show which node each pod runs on

↗#

kubectl get pods -A -o custom-columns=NS:.metadata.namespace,POD:.metadata.name,NODE:.spec.nodeName

# Correlate pod failures with node placement.

List images used by all pods

↗#

kubectl get pods -A -o jsonpath='{..image}' | tr -s '[[:space:]]' '
' | sort | uniq -c

# Find image tags currently running in the cluster.

Show not-ready pods

↗#

kubectl get pods -A --field-selector=status.phase!=Running

# Filter pods whose Ready condition is false or missing.

Show pod CPU and memory usage

↗#

kubectl top pods -A

# Requires metrics-server; useful for resource-based incidents.

Show node CPU and memory usage

↗#

kubectl top nodes

# Identify hot or memory-constrained nodes.

More in Kubernetes Debugging

Kubernetes Logs and Events Cheat Sheet

Find pod logs, previous container logs, event timelines, kube-system logs, and cluster incident evidence quickly.

Kubernetes Node Debugging Cheat Sheet

Diagnose node readiness, kubelet issues, pressure conditions, cordon/drain, and node-level debugging with kubectl debug.

Kubernetes Network Debugging Cheat Sheet

Debug Services, DNS, Ingress, network policies, connectivity, endpoints, and port-forwarding issues.

Kubernetes Pod Debugging Cheat Sheet

Troubleshoot Pending, CrashLoopBackOff, image pull, readiness, liveness, and init container problems.

Recommended next

No recommendations yet.

Browse all sheets →