Tool Spotlight: K9s Power User Tricks

K9s is the best Kubernetes tool ever made. Period. But most people only use it to view pods (:pods).

Here are 3 features that will make you a power user.

1. The Pulse (:pulse)

Type :pulse. It gives you a high-level dashboard of your cluster’s health. Users, deployments, and events, all in a retro sci-fi interface. It’s the perfect “morning coffee” view.

2. The XRay (:xray resource)

Want to see the relationship between a Service, a Pod, and a PVC? Type :xray pods. It shows a tree view of dependencies. Crucial for understanding complex microservices.

3. Kill with Style (Ctrl-d)

Stop typing kubectl delete pod.... Just highlight the pod in K9s and hit Ctrl-d. Confirm with Enter. Gone.

If you aren’t using K9s, you are working too hard.