Handling Kubeconfigs¶
By default, k3d will update your default kubeconfig with your new cluster’s details and set the current-context to it (can be disabled).
To get a kubeconfig set up for you to connect to a k3d cluster without this automatism, you can go different ways.
What is the default kubeconfig?
We determine the path of the used or default kubeconfig in two ways:
- Using the
KUBECONFIG
environment variable, if it specifies exactly one file - Using the default path (e.g. on Linux it’s `#!bash $HOME/.kube/config`)
Getting the kubeconfig for a newly created cluster¶
-
Create a new kubeconfig file after cluster creation
- `#!bash k3d kubeconfig write mycluster`
- Note: this will create (or update) the file
$HOME/.k3d/kubeconfig-mycluster.yaml
- Tip: Use it: `#!bash export KUBECONFIG=$(k3d kubeconfig write mycluster)`
- Note 2: alternatively you can use `#!bash k3d kubeconfig get mycluster > some-file.yaml`
- Note: this will create (or update) the file
- `#!bash k3d kubeconfig write mycluster`
-
Update your default kubeconfig upon cluster creation (DEFAULT)
- `#!bash k3d cluster create mycluster –kubeconfig-update-default`
- Note: this won’t switch the current-context (append
--kubeconfig-switch-context
to do so)
- Note: this won’t switch the current-context (append
- `#!bash k3d cluster create mycluster –kubeconfig-update-default`
-
Update your default kubeconfig after cluster creation
- `#!bash k3d kubeconfig merge mycluster –kubeconfig-merge-default`
- Note: this won’t switch the current-context (append
--kubeconfig-switch-context
to do so)
- Note: this won’t switch the current-context (append
- `#!bash k3d kubeconfig merge mycluster –kubeconfig-merge-default`
-
Update a different kubeconfig after cluster creation
- `#!bash k3d kubeconfig merge mycluster –output some/other/file.yaml`
- Note: this won’t switch the current-context
- The file will be created if it doesn’t exist
- `#!bash k3d kubeconfig merge mycluster –output some/other/file.yaml`
Switching the current context
None of the above options switch the current-context by default.
This is intended to be least intrusive, since the current-context has a global effect.
You can switch the current-context directly with the kubeconfig merge
command by adding the --kubeconfig-switch-context
flag.
Removing cluster details from the kubeconfig¶
`#!bash k3d cluster delete mycluster` will always remove the details for mycluster
from the default kubeconfig.
It will also delete the respective kubeconfig file in $HOME/.k3d/
if it exists.
Handling multiple clusters¶
k3d kubeconfig merge
let’s you specify one or more clusters via arguments or all via --all
.
All kubeconfigs will then be merged into a single file if --kubeconfig-merge-default
or --output
is specified.
If none of those two flags was specified, a new file will be created per cluster and the merged path (e.g. $HOME/.k3d/kubeconfig-cluster1.yaml:$HOME/.k3d/cluster2.yaml
) will be returned.
Note, that with multiple cluster specified, the --kubeconfig-switch-context
flag will change the current context to the cluster which was last in the list.