kubex

Interactive Kubernetes inspection tool for Windows and Linux shells.

kubex is designed to simplify common Kubernetes management tasks on command-line. It provides quick access to frequently used kubectl queries including:

• Switching contexts
• Switching namespaces
• View and decode secret data
• Check disk usage of pods
• Execute interactive shells inside pods
• View logs and manifest of various Kubernetes objects

Main motivations behind developing this scripting tool:

• Creating a utility that leverages the native Kubernetes command-line interface for cluster queries
• Eliminating the need for multiple standalone utilities or plugins, each dedicated to a single task
• Providing an easy-to-customize script that users can add other day-to-day queries for their specific workflows

Setup

On both Windows and Linux, ensure dependencies are installed and simply place the script in PATH to use it. Recommended location on Windows and Linux:

• %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\bin
• ~/.local/bin/kubex

Windows (Batch-Script)

mkdir %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\bin
copy kubex\kubex.cmd "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\bin\"
:: Add `%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\bin` to the PATH and restart running shell

Linux (Bash-Script)

mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
cp kubex/kubex.sh ~/.local/bin/kubex
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/kubex
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Dependencies

• kubectl → Kubernetes official command-line interface
• gum → gum (Charmbracelet) for select prompts.

Additional dependency only on Windows:

• base64 — install via Chocolately choco install base64

Notes

• kubex does NOT execute destructive commands (e.g., deleting object, draining node) and does not require Administrator or root privileges. kubex is only intended for inspection and monitoring purposes.

Windows specific

• Be aware of Windows batch limitations regarding variable length. Therefore, when working with large Kubernetes clusters that contain a high number of objects (contexts, namespaces, pods, secrets, etc.), the generated selection lists can become very long (e.g. hundreds of pod names can exceed variable size limit of 8KB). In such cases, avoid using kubex.cmd and instead use kubex.sh via WSL.

• EnableExtensions is enabled by default on Windows (since NT 4.0). If it has been explicitly disabled on your system, it must be enabled before running swa.

• ANSI escape sequences are used and a terminal that supports ANSI escape sequences is required. Native terminals of Windows 10 (build ≥ 10586) support ANSI escape sequences by default.