Multi-Cluster Kubernetes Management

Cross-cluster operations and context management using kubectl-mcp-server's multi-cluster support.

Context Management

List Available Contexts

list_contexts_tool()

View Current Context

kubeconfig_view()  # Shows sanitized kubeconfig

Switch Context

CLI: kubectl-mcp-server context <context-name>

Cross-Cluster Operations

All kubectl-mcp-server tools support the context parameter:

# Get pods from production cluster
get_pods(namespace="default", context="production-cluster")

# Get pods from staging cluster
get_pods(namespace="default", context="staging-cluster")

Common Multi-Cluster Patterns

Compare Environments

# Compare deployment across clusters
compare_namespaces(
    namespace1="production",
    namespace2="staging",
    resource_type="deployment",
    context="production-cluster"
)

Parallel Queries

Query multiple clusters simultaneously:

# Production cluster
get_pods(namespace="app", context="prod-us-east")
get_pods(namespace="app", context="prod-eu-west")

# Development cluster
get_pods(namespace="app", context="development")

Cross-Cluster Health Check

# Check all clusters
for context in ["prod-1", "prod-2", "staging"]:
    get_nodes(context=context)
    get_pods(namespace="kube-system", context=context)

Cluster API (CAPI) Management

For managing cluster lifecycle:

List Managed Clusters

capi_clusters_list_tool(namespace="capi-system")

Get Cluster Details

capi_cluster_get_tool(name="prod-cluster", namespace="capi-system")

Get Workload Cluster Kubeconfig

capi_cluster_kubeconfig_tool(name="prod-cluster", namespace="capi-system")

Machine Management

capi_machines_list_tool(namespace="capi-system")
capi_machinedeployments_list_tool(namespace="capi-system")

Scale Cluster

capi_machinedeployment_scale_tool(
    name="prod-cluster-md-0",
    namespace="capi-system",
    replicas=5
)

See CONTEXT-SWITCHING.md for detailed patterns.

Multi-Cluster Helm

Deploy charts to specific clusters:

install_helm_chart(
    name="nginx",
    chart="bitnami/nginx",
    namespace="web",
    context="production-cluster"
)

list_helm_releases(
    namespace="web",
    context="staging-cluster"
)

Multi-Cluster GitOps

Flux Across Clusters

flux_kustomizations_list_tool(
    namespace="flux-system",
    context="cluster-1"
)

flux_reconcile_tool(
    kind="kustomization",
    name="apps",
    namespace="flux-system",
    context="cluster-2"
)

ArgoCD Across Clusters

argocd_apps_list_tool(namespace="argocd", context="management-cluster")

Federation Patterns

Secret Synchronization

# Read from source cluster
get_secrets(namespace="app", context="source-cluster")

# Apply to target cluster (via manifest)
apply_manifest(secret_manifest, namespace="app", context="target-cluster")

Cross-Cluster Service Discovery

With Cilium ClusterMesh or Istio multi-cluster:

cilium_nodes_list_tool(context="cluster-1")
istio_proxy_status_tool(context="cluster-2")

Best Practices

1. Naming Convention: Use descriptive context names

   • prod-us-east-1, staging-eu-west-1

2. Access Control: Different kubeconfigs per environment

   • Prod: Read-only for most users
   • Dev: Full access for developers

3. Always Specify Context: Avoid accidental cross-cluster operations

   # Explicit is better
   get_pods(namespace="app", context="production")
   

4. Cluster Groups: Organize by purpose

   • Production: prod-*
   • Staging: staging-*
   • Development: dev-*

Related Skills

• k8s-troubleshoot - Debug across clusters
• k8s-gitops - GitOps multi-cluster