Install and Set Up kubectl on macOS

Before you begin

You must use a kubectl version that is within one minor version difference ofyour cluster. For example, a v1.35 client can communicatewith v1.34, v1.35,and v1.36 control planes.Using the latest compatible version of kubectl helps avoid unforeseen issues.

Install kubectl on macOS

The following methods exist for installing kubectl on macOS:

Install kubectl binary with curl on macOS

  1. Download the latest release:

       curl -LO"https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl"

       curl -LO"https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/darwin/arm64/kubectl"

    Note:

    To download a specific version, replace the$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)portion of the command with the specific version.

    For example, to download version 1.35.0 on Intel macOS, type:

    curl -LO"https://dl.k8s.io/release/v1.35.0/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl"

    And for macOS on Apple Silicon, type:

    curl -LO"https://dl.k8s.io/release/v1.35.0/bin/darwin/arm64/kubectl"

  2. Validate the binary (optional)

    Download the kubectl checksum file:

       curl -LO"https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl.sha256"

       curl -LO"https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/darwin/arm64/kubectl.sha256"

    Validate the kubectl binary against the checksum file:

    echo"$(cat kubectl.sha256)  kubectl" | shasum -a256 --check

    If valid, the output is:

    kubectl: OK

    If the check fails,shasum exits with nonzero status and prints output similar to:

    kubectl: FAILEDshasum: WARNING: 1 computed checksum did NOT match

    Note:

    Download the same version of the binary and checksum.

  3. Make the kubectl binary executable.

    chmod +x ./kubectl

  4. Move the kubectl binary to a file location on your systemPATH.

    sudo mv ./kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectlsudo chown root: /usr/local/bin/kubectl

    Note:

    Make sure/usr/local/bin is in your PATH environment variable.

  5. Test to ensure the version you installed is up-to-date:

    kubectl version --client

    Or use this for detailed view of version:

    kubectl version --client --output=yaml

  6. After installing and validating kubectl, delete the checksum file:

    rm kubectl.sha256

Install with Homebrew on macOS

If you are on macOS and usingHomebrew package manager,you can install kubectl with Homebrew.

  1. Run the installation command:

    brew install kubectl

    or

    brew install kubernetes-cli

  2. Test to ensure the version you installed is up-to-date:

    kubectl version --client

Install with Macports on macOS

If you are on macOS and usingMacports package manager,you can install kubectl with Macports.

  1. Run the installation command:

    sudo port selfupdatesudo port install kubectl

  2. Test to ensure the version you installed is up-to-date:

    kubectl version --client

Verify kubectl configuration

In order for kubectl to find and access a Kubernetes cluster, it needs akubeconfig file,which is created automatically when you create a cluster usingkube-up.shor successfully deploy a Minikube cluster.By default, kubectl configuration is located at~/.kube/config.

Check that kubectl is properly configured by getting the cluster state:

kubectl cluster-info

If you see a URL response, kubectl is correctly configured to access your cluster.

If you see a message similar to the following, kubectl is not configured correctlyor is not able to connect to a Kubernetes cluster.

The connection to the server <server-name:port> was refused - did you specify the right host or port?

For example, if you are intending to run a Kubernetes cluster on your laptop (locally),you will need a tool likeMinikube to beinstalled first and then re-run the commands stated above.

Ifkubectl cluster-info returns the url response, but you can't access your cluster,check whether it is configured properly using the following command:

kubectl cluster-info dump

Troubleshooting the 'No Auth Provider Found' error message

In Kubernetes 1.26, kubectl removed the built-in authentication for the following cloudproviders' managed Kubernetes offerings. These providers have released kubectl pluginsto provide the cloud-specific authentication. For instructions, refer to the following provider documentation:

There could also be other causes for the same error message that are unrelatedto that change.

Optional kubectl configurations and plugins

Enable shell autocompletion

kubectl provides autocompletion support for Bash, Zsh, Fish, and PowerShellwhich can save you a lot of typing.

Below are the procedures to set up autocompletion for Bash, Fish, and Zsh.

Introduction

The kubectl completion script for Bash can be generated withkubectl completion bash.Sourcing this script in your shell enables kubectl completion.

However, the kubectl completion script depends onbash-completion which you thus have to previously install.

Warning:

There are two versions of bash-completion, v1 and v2. V1 is for Bash 3.2(which is the default on macOS), and v2 is for Bash 4.1+. The kubectl completionscriptdoesn't work correctly with bash-completion v1 and Bash 3.2.It requiresbash-completion v2 andBash 4.1+. Thus, to be able tocorrectly use kubectl completion on macOS, you have to install and useBash 4.1+ (instructions).The following instructions assume that you use Bash 4.1+(that is, any Bash version of 4.1 or newer).

Upgrade Bash

The instructions here assume you use Bash 4.1+. You can check your Bash's version by running:

echo$BASH_VERSION

If it is too old, you can install/upgrade it using Homebrew:

brew install bash

Reload your shell and verify that the desired version is being used:

echo$BASH_VERSION$SHELL

Homebrew usually installs it at/usr/local/bin/bash.

Install bash-completion

Note:

As mentioned, these instructions assume you use Bash 4.1+, which means you willinstall bash-completion v2 (in contrast to Bash 3.2 and bash-completion v1,in which case kubectl completion won't work).

You can test if you have bash-completion v2 already installed withtype _init_completion.If not, you can install it with Homebrew:

brew install bash-completion@2

As stated in the output of this command, add the following to your~/.bash_profile file:

brew_etc="$(brew --prefix)/etc"&&[[ -r"${brew_etc}/profile.d/bash_completion.sh"]]&& ."${brew_etc}/profile.d/bash_completion.sh"

Reload your shell and verify that bash-completion v2 is correctly installed withtype _init_completion.

Enable kubectl autocompletion

You now have to ensure that the kubectl completion script gets sourced in allyour shell sessions. There are multiple ways to achieve this:

  • Source the completion script in your~/.bash_profile file:

    echo'source <(kubectl completion bash)' >>~/.bash_profile

  • Add the completion script to the/usr/local/etc/bash_completion.d directory:

    kubectl completion bash >/usr/local/etc/bash_completion.d/kubectl

  • If you have an alias for kubectl, you can extend shell completion to work with that alias:

    echo'alias k=kubectl' >>~/.bash_profileecho'complete -o default -F __start_kubectl k' >>~/.bash_profile

  • If you installed kubectl with Homebrew (as explainedhere),then the kubectl completion script should already be in/usr/local/etc/bash_completion.d/kubectl.In that case, you don't need to do anything.

    Note:

    The Homebrew installation of bash-completion v2 sources all the files in theBASH_COMPLETION_COMPAT_DIR directory, that's why the latter two methods work.

In any case, after reloading your shell, kubectl completion should be working.

Note:

Autocomplete for Fish requires kubectl 1.23 or later.

The kubectl completion script for Fish can be generated with the commandkubectl completion fish. Sourcing the completion script in your shell enables kubectl autocompletion.

To do so in all your shell sessions, add the following line to your~/.config/fish/config.fish file:

kubectl completion fish |source

After reloading your shell, kubectl autocompletion should be working.

The kubectl completion script for Zsh can be generated with the commandkubectl completion zsh. Sourcing the completion script in your shell enables kubectl autocompletion.

To do so in all your shell sessions, add the following to your~/.zshrc file:

source <(kubectl completion zsh)

If you have an alias for kubectl, kubectl autocompletion will automatically work with it.

After reloading your shell, kubectl autocompletion should be working.

If you get an error like2: command not found: compdef, then add the following to the beginning of your~/.zshrc file:

autoload -Uz compinitcompinit

Configure kuberc

Seekuberc for more information.

Installkubectl convert plugin

A plugin for Kubernetes command-line toolkubectl, which allows you to convert manifests between different APIversions. This can be particularly helpful to migrate manifests to a non-deprecated api version with newer Kubernetes release.For more info, visitmigrate to non deprecated apis

  1. Download the latest release with the command:

       curl -LO"https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl-convert"

       curl -LO"https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/darwin/arm64/kubectl-convert"

  2. Validate the binary (optional)

    Download the kubectl-convert checksum file:

       curl -LO"https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl-convert.sha256"

       curl -LO"https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/darwin/arm64/kubectl-convert.sha256"

    Validate the kubectl-convert binary against the checksum file:

    echo"$(cat kubectl-convert.sha256)  kubectl-convert" | shasum -a256 --check

    If valid, the output is:

    kubectl-convert: OK

    If the check fails,shasum exits with nonzero status and prints output similar to:

    kubectl-convert: FAILEDshasum: WARNING: 1 computed checksum did NOT match

    Note:

    Download the same version of the binary and checksum.

  3. Make kubectl-convert binary executable

    chmod +x ./kubectl-convert

  4. Move the kubectl-convert binary to a file location on your systemPATH.

    sudo mv ./kubectl-convert /usr/local/bin/kubectl-convertsudo chown root: /usr/local/bin/kubectl-convert

    Note:

    Make sure/usr/local/bin is in your PATH environment variable.

  5. Verify plugin is successfully installed

    kubectl convert --help

    If you do not see an error, it means the plugin is successfully installed.

  6. After installing the plugin, clean up the installation files:

    rm kubectl-convert kubectl-convert.sha256

Uninstall kubectl on macOS

Depending on how you installedkubectl, use one of the following methods.

Uninstall kubectl using the command-line

  1. Locate thekubectl binary on your system:

    which kubectl

  2. Remove thekubectl binary:

    sudo rm <path>

    Replace<path> with the path to thekubectl binary from the previous step. For example,sudo rm /usr/local/bin/kubectl.

Uninstall kubectl using homebrew

If you installedkubectl using Homebrew, run the following command:

brew remove kubectl

What's next

Last modified May 15, 2025 at 9:23 AM PST:Add kuberc dedicated page (edac5dbf0e)