kubectl x

A kubectl plugin that runs commands against every context in your kubeconfig file in parallel.

Features

• Run kubectl commands against all contexts simultaneously
• Parallel execution with configurable batching (default: 25 contexts at a time)
• Include/exclude contexts by name pattern
• Support for list, version, get, logs, wait, top, events, api-resources, api-versions, and auth subcommands
• Streaming log output with -f flag across all contexts
• Watch mode with -w/--watch flag on get and events subcommands
• Flexible output formatting:
  • Default: Adds a CONTEXT column to table output
  • JSON/YAML: Concatenates items list, adds .metadata.context field. This is useful for manipulation with tools like jq or yq.

Why another project?

This functionality already exists in some other projects, including kubectl-foreach, kubectl-cluster-group, and kubectl-allctx. These are all great projects and we learned a lot from them. However, none of them output valid JSON or YAML and we wanted those options for complex querying capabilities.

Limitations

Unstable API

This is a v0.x project - the interface may change at any time and should not be relied upon for programmatic use.

Read-only operations

The authors of this project do not intend to support write operations (apply, delete, etc.) via the tool. If you desire to do that, we encourage you to come up with your own tooling, fork the project, or look elsewhere.

Installation

Homebrew

brew install platformersdev/tap/kubectl-x

Download a release

Download the latest binary for your platform from the releases page, then place it in your $PATH:

# Example for macOS (Apple Silicon)
curl -L https://github.com/platformersdev/kubectl-x/releases/latest/download/kubectl-x-darwin-arm64 -o kubectl-x
chmod +x kubectl-x
sudo mv kubectl-x /usr/local/bin/

Install with Go

go install github.com/platformersdev/kubectl-x@latest

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/platformersdev/kubectl-x.git
cd kubectl-x
go build .

kubectl discovers plugins by looking for executables named kubectl-<plugin> on your $PATH. As long as kubectl-x is in your $PATH, you can invoke it as kubectl x.

Usage

Batch Size

Control the number of contexts processed in parallel using the --batch-size (or -b) flag:

# Use default batch size of 25
kubectl x get pods

# Use custom batch size
kubectl x --batch-size 10 get pods
kubectl x -b 50 get pods

Including Contexts

Filter which contexts to run commands against using the --include flag with regex patterns (case-insensitive). You can specify multiple --include flags to match contexts that match any of the patterns (OR logic):

# Match contexts containing "prod"
kubectl x --include prod get pods

# Match contexts starting with "dev"
kubectl x --include "^dev" version

# Match contexts containing "dev" OR "prod"
kubectl x --include dev --include prod get pods

# Match contexts ending with "-prod" or "-staging"
kubectl x --include "-prod$" --include "-staging$" get pods

# Match contexts with "prod" or "production" (using regex alternation)
kubectl x --include "prod(uction)?" get pods

# Combine with batch size
kubectl x --include staging --batch-size 10 get pods

Excluding Contexts

Exclude contexts using the --exclude flag with regex patterns (case-insensitive). Multiple --exclude flags are OR'd together. When both --include and --exclude are used, include filters are applied first, then exclude filters remove from that set:

# Exclude contexts containing "dev"
kubectl x --exclude dev get pods

# Exclude multiple patterns
kubectl x --exclude dev --exclude staging get pods

# Include "prod" contexts but exclude US West
kubectl x --include prod --exclude "us-west" get pods

List Command

List all contexts from your kubeconfig, one per line. Respects --include and --exclude filters, making it useful for previewing which contexts a command will target before running it:

# List all contexts
kubectl x list

# List only prod contexts
kubectl x list --include prod

# List prod contexts, excluding US West
kubectl x list --include prod --exclude "us-west"

Version Command

Run kubectl version against all contexts:

kubectl x version

Get Command

Run kubectl get against all contexts:

# Get pods from all contexts
kubectl x get pods

# Get pods with namespace
kubectl x get pods -n default

# Get pods with JSON output
kubectl x get pods -o json

# Get pods with YAML output
kubectl x get pods -o yaml

# Watch pods across all contexts
kubectl x get pods -w

# Watch with namespace
kubectl x get pods -n default --watch

# Watch-only (skip initial listing)
kubectl x get pods --watch-only

Wait Command

Run kubectl wait against all contexts:

# Wait for a pod to be ready across all contexts
kubectl x wait --for=condition=ready pod/my-pod

# Wait with a timeout
kubectl x wait --for=condition=ready pod/my-pod --timeout=60s

# Wait for all pods with a label selector
kubectl x wait --for=condition=ready pods -l app=myapp -n default

# Wait for a deployment rollout
kubectl x wait --for=condition=available deployment/my-deploy

Logs Command

Run kubectl logs against all contexts:

# Get logs for a pod across all contexts
kubectl x logs my-pod

# Get logs with namespace
kubectl x logs my-pod -n default

# Stream logs in real-time across all contexts
kubectl x logs my-pod -f

# Stream logs with additional flags
kubectl x logs my-pod -f --tail=100 -n default

Events Command

Run kubectl events against all contexts:

# Get events from all contexts
kubectl x events

# Get events in a specific namespace
kubectl x events -n default

# Watch events across all contexts in real-time
kubectl x events -w

# Watch events in a specific namespace
kubectl x events -n default --watch

# Watch-only (skip initial listing)
kubectl x events --watch-only

API Resources Command

Run kubectl api-resources against all contexts:

# List all API resources from all contexts
kubectl x api-resources

# List namespaced resources only
kubectl x api-resources --namespaced=true

# List resources for a specific API group
kubectl x api-resources --api-group=apps

API Versions Command

Run kubectl api-versions against all contexts:

# List all API versions from all contexts
kubectl x api-versions

Auth Command

Run kubectl auth subcommands against all contexts:

# Show the current authenticated user across all contexts
kubectl x auth whoami

# Check if the current user can perform an action across all contexts
kubectl x auth can-i get pods
kubectl x auth can-i create deployments -n default
kubectl x auth can-i '*' '*'

Output Formats

Default Output

By default, the tool adds a CONTEXT column to the left of the kubectl output:

CONTEXT    NAME                    READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
ctx1       pod-abc                 1/1     Running   0          5m
ctx2       pod-xyz                 1/1     Running   0          3m

JSON/YAML Output

When using -o json or -o yaml, the tool concatenates all items from all contexts and adds a metadata.context field to each item:

{
  "apiVersion": "v1",
  "kind": "List",
  "items": [
    {
      "metadata": {
        "name": "pod-abc",
        "context": "ctx1",
        ...
      }
    },
    {
      "metadata": {
        "name": "pod-xyz",
        "context": "ctx2",
        ...
      }
    }
  ]
}

Requirements

• kubectl installed and configured
• Valid kubeconfig file (default: ~/.kube/config or $KUBECONFIG)
• Go 1.25 or later to build