kubesel

README

kubesel

Kubesel (kubeconfig selector) is your modern approach to working with kubectl configuration in a multi-cluster, multi-namespace environment. Quickly and easily change your active kubectl context, namespace, and cluster through a single program.

Designed from the ground up using the KUBECONFIG environment variable, kubesel creates and manages a unique kubeconfig file for each shell session. If you change your cluster in one pane, it won't affect the other pane where you were planning on running kubectl delete.

---

Table of Contents:

• Installation
  • Setup
• Features
• Usage
• Tips
  • List Output Formats
  • Adding Kubeconfig Files From a Directory
• Alternatives

---

Installation

With Go:

go install github.com/eth-p/kubesel

With Nix:

nix profile install github:eth-p/kubesel

Setup

For kubesel to set contexts/namespaces per shell, it needs to be able to generate and manage a kubeconfig file associated with specific instances of the shell. To do this, kubesel init creates a shell script that will generate the file and update the KUBECONFIG environment variable.

While you can run the command manually, it is highly recommended to set up your .profile/.rc files to automatically run it whenever a new interactive shell is created. Doing it this way eliminates the risk of multiple shells accidentally sharing the same kubesel-managed kubeconfig file.

[!note] The KUBECONFIG environment variable should be set before kubesel init is run.

Bash

Add this to ~/.bash_profile:

if [[ $- = *i* ]]; then
    source <(kubesel init bash)
fi

Zsh

Add this to ~/.zshrc:

source <(kubesel init zsh)

Fish

Add this to ~/.config/fish/config.fish:

if status is-interactive
    kubesel init fish | source
end

Features

• Per-shell context (cluster, user, and namespace).
• Supports bash, zsh, and fish.
• Shell completions.
• Fuzzy matching contexts/clusters/users/namespaces.
• A fzf interface for picking contexts/clusters/users/namespaces.
• Preserves OIDC authentication refresh tokens.
• Shell-scripting friendly list subcommand.
• Manual pages.
• Fancy ANSI colors! (optional)

Usage

Change Cluster, User, or Namespace:

kubesel cluster my-cluster      # use this cluster
kubesel user my-user            # use this user
kubesel namespace my-namespace  # use this namespace

Change Cluster, User, and Namespace:

# Use the cluster, user, and namespace from this context.
kubesel context my-context
kubesel context my-context -n # keep the current namespace

View Contexts, Clusters, Users, or Namespaces:

kubesel list clusters
kubesel list contexts
kubesel list users
kubesel list namespaces

Tips

List Output Formats

The kubesel list command supports changing its output format with --output.
Supported formats are:

• list for just the names in an unsorted list
• table for a table
• col for columns
• col=COL1,COL2 for specific columns
• col=* for all columns

Adding Kubeconfig Files From a Directory

If you keep each cluster in a different kubeconfig file, you can have kubesel automatically include them during initialization:

ls ~/.kube/configs
# prod.yaml
# staging.yaml
# dev.yaml
# kind-myapp.yaml

# Use the `--add-kubeconfigs` flag to include them with a glob pattern.
kubesel init --add-kubeconfigs='~/.kube/configs/*.yaml'

Alternatives

kubectx

https://github.com/ahmetb/kubectx

• ✅ Shell completions.
• ✅ Fuzzy-finding.
• ⚠️ Changes affect all shells.

kubesess

https://github.com/Ramilito/kubesess

• ✅ Per-shell cluster/namespace/context.
• ✅ Fuzzy-finding.
• ⚠️ Does not support OIDC refresh tokens.

fish-kubeswitch

https://github.com/eth-p/fish-kubeswitch

• ✅ Per-shell cluster/namespace/context.
• ✅ Shell completions.
• ⚠️ Only supports fish shell.
• ⚠️ Wraps kubectl as a shell function.

Packaging

Go Build Tags

• no_init_completions
  Removes shell completion loading from the kubesel init scripts.