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Alpha Kube Inspector is under active development — expect bugs and breaking changes.

CLI Usage & Shortcuts

Launch the CLI by running kube-inspector-cli (or Open ▸ CLI Mode in the desktop app). You start on the Clusters screen and navigate inward; each screen replaces the previous one. The top bar always shows a breadcrumb on the left and the available shortcuts for the current screen on the right.

The interface is a stack of screens:

Clusters → Resource menu → Resource list → ( YAML view · YAML edit · Logs · Exec )

Press q or Esc to go back one level. On the Clusters screen, q / Esc quits the app.

Global keys

These work on every screen (except while typing in a text field):

Key Action
↑ / ↓ or j / k Move selection
g / G Jump to top / bottom
Enter Open / select
q or Esc Back one screen (quit on the Clusters screen)
c Jump to the cluster selector
? Toggle the help overlay

Cross-platform shortcuts

All shortcuts are plain single keys (no Ctrl/Alt combos that terminals intercept), so they behave the same on Linux, macOS and Windows. The current screen's keys are always shown in the top-right.

Clusters screen

The landing screen lists the clusters configured in ~/.kube-ins/ (shared with the desktop app).

Key Action
Enter Set the selected cluster active and open the resource menu
a Add a cluster — enter a name and a path to a kubeconfig file
d Delete the selected cluster config (with confirmation)
v View the selected cluster's kubeconfig

Resource menu

A grouped list (Workloads, Networking, Config & Secrets, Security, Storage, Cluster) mirroring the desktop sidebar. Use the arrow keys to move, Enter to open a resource type, and Enter on a group header to collapse/expand it.

Resource list

Each resource type opens as a table pinned to the active cluster. The header shows the resource title and the current item count.

Key Action
/ Filter rows (matches name & namespace); Esc clears the filter
r Refresh the list
y or Enter View the object's YAML
e Edit the object's YAML (where supported)
d Delete the selected object (with confirmation)
l Stream logs (pods only)
s Open a shell in the pod (pods only)
c Switch cluster
q / Esc Back to the menu

Nodes additionally support node operations, shown in the hint bar: C cordon, U uncordon, D drain (with confirmation).

Editable resources

Resources without a backing update operation (e.g. Pods, Events) are view-only — pressing e shows a notice. Editable kinds (Deployments, Services, ConfigMaps, Secrets, RBAC, Nodes, …) open the YAML editor.

YAML view & edit

  • View (y / Enter): a read-only, scrollable YAML pane. Press g / G to jump to the top / bottom, e to switch to editing, q / Esc to go back.
  • Edit (e): an editable buffer seeded with the live YAML.
    • F2 — save changes (applies the update to the cluster)
    • Esc — cancel without saving

Logs

Press l on a pod to stream its logs. If the pod has more than one container you'll be prompted to pick one first.

Key Action
f Toggle follow (auto-scroll)
g / G Jump to top / bottom
q / Esc Stop streaming and go back

Exec (pod shell)

Press s on a pod to open an interactive shell (/bin/sh) in the selected container. The terminal UI steps aside and hands the raw terminal to the remote shell.

Disconnecting

To leave the shell and return to the table, press Ctrl-] (the TUI cannot embed a terminal, so it uses this telnet-style escape). Typing exit in the shell ends the remote process; press Ctrl-] afterwards to return.

CLI Mode inside the desktop app

You don't need a separate install to try the CLI from the desktop app: choose Open ▸ CLI Mode in the title bar. The graphical workspace is replaced by a fullscreen terminal running the same TUI; click Exit CLI Mode (or quit the TUI with q) to return to the dockview workspace with your panels intact.

Shared active cluster

The active cluster is stored on disk (~/.kube-ins/.active) and shared between the CLI and the desktop app — switching clusters in one affects the other.