website/content/en/docs/tasks/tools/install-kubectl-linux.md

reviewers	title	content_type	weight	card
mikedanese	Install and Set Up kubectl on Linux	task	10	name weight title tasks 20 Install kubectl on Linux

{{% heading "prerequisites" %}}

You must use a kubectl version that is within one minor version difference of your cluster. For example, a v{{< skew currentVersion >}} client can communicate with v{{< skew currentVersionAddMinor -1 >}}, v{{< skew currentVersionAddMinor 0 >}}, and v{{< skew currentVersionAddMinor 1 >}} control planes. Using the latest compatible version of kubectl helps avoid unforeseen issues.

Install kubectl on Linux

The following methods exist for installing kubectl on Linux:

• Install kubectl binary with curl on Linux
• Install using native package management
• Install using other package management

Install kubectl binary with curl on Linux

1. Download the latest release with the command:

   {{< tabs name="download_binary_linux" >}} {{< tab name="x86-64" codelang="bash" >}} curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl" {{< /tab >}} {{< tab name="ARM64" codelang="bash" >}} curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl" {{< /tab >}} {{< /tabs >}}

   {{< 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 {{< skew currentPatchVersion >}} on Linux x86-64, type:

   curl -LO https://dl.k8s.io/release/v{{< skew currentPatchVersion >}}/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl
   

   And for Linux ARM64, type:

   curl -LO https://dl.k8s.io/release/{{< param "fullversion" >}}/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl
   

   {{< /note >}}

2. Validate the binary (optional)

   Download the kubectl checksum file:

   {{< tabs name="download_checksum_linux" >}} {{< tab name="x86-64" codelang="bash" >}} curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl.sha256" {{< /tab >}} {{< tab name="ARM64" codelang="bash" >}} curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl.sha256" {{< /tab >}} {{< /tabs >}}

   Validate the kubectl binary against the checksum file:

   echo "$(cat kubectl.sha256)  kubectl" | sha256sum --check
   

   If valid, the output is:

   kubectl: OK
   

   If the check fails, sha256 exits with nonzero status and prints output similar to:

   kubectl: FAILED
   sha256sum: WARNING: 1 computed checksum did NOT match
   

   {{< note >}} Download the same version of the binary and checksum. {{< /note >}}

3. Install kubectl

   sudo install -o root -g root -m 0755 kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
   

   {{< note >}} If you do not have root access on the target system, you can still install kubectl to the ~/.local/bin directory:

   chmod +x kubectl
   mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
   mv ./kubectl ~/.local/bin/kubectl
   # and then append (or prepend) ~/.local/bin to $PATH
   

   {{< /note >}}

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

   kubectl version --client
   

   {{< note >}} The above command will generate a warning:

   WARNING: This version information is deprecated and will be replaced with the output from kubectl version --short.
   

   You can ignore this warning. You are only checking the version of kubectl that you have installed.

   {{< /note >}}

   Or use this for detailed view of version:

   kubectl version --client --output=yaml
   

Install using native package management

{{< tabs name="kubectl_install" >}} {{% tab name="Debian-based distributions" %}}

1. Update the apt package index and install packages needed to use the Kubernetes apt repository:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install -y ca-certificates curl
   

   If you use Debian 9 (stretch) or earlier you would also need to install apt-transport-https:

   sudo apt-get install -y apt-transport-https
   

2. Download the Google Cloud public signing key:

   curl -fsSL https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt/doc/apt-key.gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-archive-keyring.gpg
   

3. Add the Kubernetes apt repository:

   echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-archive-keyring.gpg] https://apt.kubernetes.io/ kubernetes-xenial main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kubernetes.list
   

4. Update apt package index with the new repository and install kubectl:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install -y kubectl
   

{{< note >}} In releases older than Debian 12 and Ubuntu 22.04, /etc/apt/keyrings does not exist by default. You can create this directory if you need to, making it world-readable but writeable only by admins. {{< /note >}}

{{% /tab %}}

{{% tab name="Red Hat-based distributions" %}}

cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/kubernetes.repo
[kubernetes]
name=Kubernetes
baseurl=https://packages.cloud.google.com/yum/repos/kubernetes-el7-\$basearch
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://packages.cloud.google.com/yum/doc/yum-key.gpg https://packages.cloud.google.com/yum/doc/rpm-package-key.gpg
EOF
sudo yum install -y kubectl

{{% /tab %}} {{< /tabs >}}

Install using other package management

{{< tabs name="other_kubectl_install" >}} {{% tab name="Snap" %}} If you are on Ubuntu or another Linux distribution that supports the snap package manager, kubectl is available as a snap application.

snap install kubectl --classic
kubectl version --client

{{% /tab %}}

{{% tab name="Homebrew" %}} If you are on Linux and using Homebrew package manager, kubectl is available for installation.

brew install kubectl
kubectl version --client

{{% /tab %}}

{{< /tabs >}}

Verify kubectl configuration

{{< include "included/verify-kubectl.md" >}}

Optional kubectl configurations and plugins

Enable shell autocompletion

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

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

{{< tabs name="kubectl_autocompletion" >}} {{< tab name="Bash" include="included/optional-kubectl-configs-bash-linux.md" />}} {{< tab name="Fish" include="included/optional-kubectl-configs-fish.md" />}} {{< tab name="Zsh" include="included/optional-kubectl-configs-zsh.md" />}} {{< /tabs >}}

Install kubectl convert plugin

{{< include "included/kubectl-convert-overview.md" >}}

1. Download the latest release with the command:

   {{< tabs name="download_convert_binary_linux" >}} {{< tab name="x86-64" codelang="bash" >}} curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl-convert" {{< /tab >}} {{< tab name="ARM64" codelang="bash" >}} curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl-convert" {{< /tab >}} {{< /tabs >}}

2. Validate the binary (optional)

   Download the kubectl-convert checksum file:

   {{< tabs name="download_convert_checksum_linux" >}} {{< tab name="x86-64" codelang="bash" >}} curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl-convert.sha256" {{< /tab >}} {{< tab name="ARM64" codelang="bash" >}} curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl-convert.sha256" {{< /tab >}} {{< /tabs >}}

   Validate the kubectl-convert binary against the checksum file:

   echo "$(cat kubectl-convert.sha256) kubectl-convert" | sha256sum --check
   

   If valid, the output is:

   kubectl-convert: OK
   

   If the check fails, sha256 exits with nonzero status and prints output similar to:

   kubectl-convert: FAILED
   sha256sum: WARNING: 1 computed checksum did NOT match
   

   {{< note >}} Download the same version of the binary and checksum. {{< /note >}}

3. Install kubectl-convert

   sudo install -o root -g root -m 0755 kubectl-convert /usr/local/bin/kubectl-convert
   

4. Verify plugin is successfully installed

   kubectl convert --help
   

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

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

   rm kubectl-convert kubectl-convert.sha256
   

{{% heading "whatsnext" %}}

{{< include "included/kubectl-whats-next.md" >}}