Kubernetes & Helm Cheat Sheet

kubectl Basics

kubectl get nodes            # List all nodes
kubectl get nodes -o wide    # List nodes with detailed info
kubectl get pods             # List all pods
kubectl get pods -w          # Watch pod status
kubectl get deploy           # List deployments
kubectl get service          # List services
kubectl get ing              # List ingresses
kubectl describe pod <POD>   # Show detailed info for a pod
kubectl describe ing <ING>   # Show detailed info for ingress
kubectl delete pod <POD>     # Delete a pod
kubectl edit deploy <DEPLOY> # Edit deployment configuration
kubectl edit service <SVC>   # Edit service configuration
kubectl get pvc              # List persistent volume claims
kubectl get all -n <NAMESPACE> # Get all resources in a namespace

Port Forwarding

export POD_NAME=$(kubectl get pods --namespace default -l "app.kubernetes.io/name=<APP>,app.kubernetes.io/instance=<INSTANCE>" -o jsonpath="{.items[0].metadata.name}")
export CONTAINER_PORT=$(kubectl get pod --namespace default $POD_NAME -o jsonpath="{.spec.containers[0].ports[0].containerPort}")
kubectl --namespace default port-forward $POD_NAME 8080:$CONTAINER_PORT
# Access app at http://127.0.0.1:8080

Helm Basics

helm --version                # Check Helm version
helm help                     # Helm CLI help
helm search repo <CHART>      # Search installed repos for a chart
helm search hub <CHART>       # Search Helm Hub
helm repo add <NAME> <URL>    # Add a Helm repository
helm repo update              # Update repo indexes
helm install <RELEASE> <CHART> [options] # Install a chart
helm upgrade <RELEASE> <CHART> --values <FILE> # Upgrade chart with custom values
helm uninstall <RELEASE> <CHART> [options] # Uninstall a chart (Not recommended.)
helm show values <CHART> > values.yml # Export default chart values for editing

Note: Try fixing any issues via ‘helm upgrade’ instead of uninstalling and installing again, since this might recreate things you want to keep the same.

Helm Example Usage

# Add repos
helm repo add community-charts https://community-charts.github.io/helm-charts
helm repo add traefik https://traefik.github.io/charts
helm repo add secustor https://secustor.dev/helm-charts
helm repo update

# Install applications
helm install n8n community-charts/n8n
helm install traefik traefik/traefik
helm install imchlc secustor/immich -n immich --create-namespace

# Upgrade applications with custom values
helm show values community-charts/n8n > n8n-values.yml
helm upgrade n8n community-charts/n8n --values n8n-values.yml
helm upgrade immich secustor/immich -n immich --values immich-values.yml

# Uninstall
helm uninstall n8n community-charts/n8n

Debugging & Logs

kubectl logs <POD> [-c <CONTAINER>] [--previous]  # View logs
kubectl get pods -w                             # Watch pod status
kubectl describe pod <POD>                      # Debug pod events
nslookup <HOSTNAME>                             # DNS resolution check

Networking

ip route      # Show routing table
route list    # Alternative routing info

Notes

• Use namespaces for multi-app environments.
• Port-forwarding is useful for local testing before exposing ingress.
• Always check logs and describe pods when troubleshooting.
• Helm values.yml allows for customization of deployments.