Kubernetes

Installs kubectl, kubeseal, k9s, and Helm (with the helm-diff plugin), and configures 25+ shell aliases and functions.

Demo

What it does

• Auto-installs and updates kubectl to the latest GitHub release
• Installs kubeseal (Bitnami Sealed Secrets CLI)
• Installs k9s (terminal UI for Kubernetes)
• Installs Helm and keeps the helm-diff plugin up to date
• Bash tab completion for kubectl
• Creates ~/.kube/configs/ directory for per-cluster kubeconfigs
• Optionally writes a kubeseal client config to ~/.config/kubeseal/kubeseal.yaml
• Keeps cluster and namespace selection per-shell (KUBECONFIG, KUBECTL_NAMESPACE, HELM_NAMESPACE) so terminals never collide, see Per-shell isolation
• Shell aliases and functions for common Kubernetes operations

Variables

Variable	Default	Description
kubernetes_kubeseal_tmp_path	/tmp/kubeseal/	Temporary directory for kubeseal download
kubernetes_k9s_tmp_path	/tmp/k9s/	Temporary directory for k9s download
kubernetes_helm_tmp_path	/tmp/helm/	Temporary directory for the Helm download
kubernetes_helm_plugins	(empty)	Extra helm plugins to install, each a mapping with name, url, and optional version; installed when missing and updated on --upgrade
kubernetes_kubeseal_config	{}	Merged into kubernetes_kubeseal_config_path (skipped when empty)
kubernetes_kubeseal_config_path	~/.config/kubeseal/kubeseal.yaml	Destination the kubeseal config is written to; write-through if it is a symlink

Functions

Function	Description
kube-config	Show current cluster info or switch to a named kubeconfig from ~/.kube/configs/
kube-namespace	Set the active namespace (injected into all kubectl calls via the kubectl wrapper); validates the namespace exists on the cluster and errors with Namespace not found rather than exporting a name nothing matches
kubectl	Wrapper that automatically injects --namespace when KUBECTL_NAMESPACE is set
kube-configs	List available kubeconfigs in ~/.kube/configs/

kubectl is a wrapper that injects --namespace

When KUBECTL_NAMESPACE is set (via kube-namespace), the kubectl function appends --namespace to every call that doesn't already pass -n/--namespace, so commands target that namespace rather than the kubeconfig's default.

Per-shell isolation

Cluster and namespace selection lives in environment variables scoped to the current shell, never in the kubeconfig's stored current-context or namespace. kube-config sets KUBECONFIG to a per-cluster file under ~/.kube/configs/, and kube-namespace exports both KUBECTL_NAMESPACE (injected by the kubectl wrapper) and HELM_NAMESPACE (read natively by Helm).

Because nothing is written to a shared config file, every terminal holds its own cluster and namespace and kubectl, helm, and k9s in that shell all agree on it.

That is what lets you run several sessions at once, one terminal on staging payments, another on production default, a coding agent like Claude Code on a third cluster, with no kubectl config use-context race between them. The starship prompt reads the same KUBECONFIG and KUBECTL_NAMESPACE and shows the cluster and namespace (☸ <context> (<namespace>)), so each shell visibly shows the cluster it is on. This is the per-shell context isolation concept applied to Kubernetes.

# terminal 1
$ kube-config staging && kube-namespace payments
$ pods                 # staging / payments
$ helm list            # staging / payments, same shell, no -n needed

# terminal 2, simultaneously and unaffected
$ kube-config production && kube-namespace default
$ pods                 # production / default

Aliases

Alias	Command	Description
Kubeconfig
kubeconfig	kube-config	Switch to a named kubeconfig
kubernetes	kube-config	Alias for kube-config
kube-contexts	kubectl config get-contexts	List contexts
kube-clusters	kubectl config get-clusters	List clusters
Namespaces
namespace	kube-namespace	Bare: list namespaces; namespace <name>: switch the active namespace (name completion)
kube-namespaces	kubectl get namespaces	List namespaces
Nodes
nodes	kubectl get nodes	List nodes
kube-nodes	kubectl get nodes	List nodes
nodesw	nodes --watch	Watch nodes
nodestopcpu	kubectl top node --sort-by='cpu'	Top nodes by CPU
nodestopmemory	kubectl top node --sort-by='memory'	Top nodes by memory
Pods
pods	kubectl get pods	List pods
podsw	pods --watch	Watch pods
podsclean	Delete all failed pods across namespaces	Remove failed pods
podstopcpu	kubectl top pod --sort-by='cpu'	Top pods by CPU
podstopmemory	kubectl top pod --sort-by='memory'	Top pods by memory
Resources
deployments	kubectl get deployments	List deployments
services	kubectl get services	List services
secrets	kubectl get secrets	List secrets
configs	kubectl get configmaps	List ConfigMaps
ingresses	kubectl get ingresses	List ingresses
Events & Logs
events	kubectl get events --sort-by='.lastTimestamp'	List events by time
eventsw	events --watch	Watch events
logs	kubectl logs	Tail pod logs
logsf	logs --follow	Follow pod logs
Shorthand
kube	kubectl	Kubectl alias

Helm plugins are managed for you

Helm and the helm-diff plugin are installed and updated automatically by this role. No manual helm plugin install step is needed. Add your own to kubernetes_helm_plugins:

kubernetes_helm_plugins:
  - name: secrets
    url: https://github.com/jkroepke/helm-secrets
  - name: s3
    url: https://github.com/hypnoglow/helm-s3.git
    version: v0.16.0

Troubleshooting

A command targeted an unexpected namespace

The kubectl function injects --namespace whenever KUBECTL_NAMESPACE is set (via kube-namespace), so a stale value sends commands to the wrong namespace. Check the current value with echo $KUBECTL_NAMESPACE and clear it with unset KUBECTL_NAMESPACE, or call the binary directly with command kubectl … to bypass the wrapper for a single call.