Kubernetes Skills Guide

You have specialized Kubernetes debugging skills. Use these instead of raw kubectl commands for consistent, well-documented workflows.

Decision Tree

Skills vs Agents

Simple, single kubectl command query? → Use kubernetes skill

• Better than: Running raw kubectl get pods commands
• Example: "Check pod status in production namespace"
• Use when: Quick resource check, single namespace, no correlation needed

Complex investigation requiring multiple steps? → Use Task tool with K8s agents (conserves context)

• k8s-locator - Find and list resources across namespaces
• k8s-analyzer - Diagnose pod/deployment issues, check logs/events
• k8s-pattern-finder - Find patterns across resources, detect infrastructure issues
• Use when: Multi-namespace investigation, pattern detection, cluster-wide issues

Specific pod crashing or failing? → Use k8s-debug skill

• Launches ephemeral debug container in running pod
• Example: "Debug the failing pod api-gateway-xyz"

When to Use Which Agent

Just need to find resources broadly? → Use k8s-locator agent only

• Lists pods, deployments, services across namespaces
• Saves to /tmp for later analysis
• Example: "Get all pods in production, staging, development namespaces"

Investigating single pod/service issue? → Use k8s-locator + k8s-analyzer agents

• Locator: Find relevant pods/resources
• Analyzer: Diagnose health, check events, analyze logs
• Example: "Debug service-b CrashLoopBackOff"

Need to find patterns or cluster-wide issues? → Use all three: k8s-locator + k8s-analyzer + k8s-pattern-finder

• Locator: Fetch resources from all namespaces
• Analyzer: Diagnose specific pod failures
• Pattern-finder: Correlate across resources, detect node issues, cascade failures
• Example: "Find why multiple pods are ImagePullBackOff across namespaces"

Available Kubernetes Tools

When to Use Raw kubectl

Only use kubectl directly when:

• Running one-off commands not covered by skills
• User explicitly requests a specific kubectl command
• Debugging the skill itself

For systematic Kubernetes work, use the specialized skills above.

Common kubectl Commands

Covered by skills:

• kubectl get → Use kubernetes
• kubectl describe → Use kubernetes
• kubectl logs → Use kubernetes
• kubectl debug → Use k8s-debug

Not covered yet (use directly):

• kubectl apply, kubectl delete, kubectl edit (destructive operations)
• kubectl port-forward, kubectl exec (interactive operations)

Authentication

Check context before any kubectl operation:

kubectl config current-context
kubectl config view --minify