Install kubectl

Before you begin

You must use a kubectl version that is within one minor version difference of your cluster. For example, a v1.2 client should work with v1.1, v1.2, and v1.3 master. Using the latest version of kubectl helps avoid unforeseen issues.

Install kubectl on Linux

Install kubectl binary with curl on Linux

  1. Download the latest release with the command:

    curl -LO https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/$(curl -s https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl

    To download a specific version, replace the $(curl -s https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/stable.txt) portion of the command with the specific version.

    For example, to download version v1.14.0 on Linux, type:

    curl -LO https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/v1.14.0/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl
  2. Make the kubectl binary executable.

    chmod +x ./kubectl
  3. Move the binary in to your PATH.

    sudo mv ./kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
  4. Test to ensure the version you installed is up-to-date:

    kubectl version

Install using native package management


sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y apt-transport-https
curl -s https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt/doc/apt-key.gpg | sudo apt-key add -
echo "deb https://apt.kubernetes.io/ kubernetes-xenial main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kubernetes.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y kubectl

Install with snap

If you are on Ubuntu or another Linux distribution that support snap package manager, kubectl is available as a snap application.

  1. Switch to the snap user and run the installation command:

    sudo snap install kubectl --classic
  2. Test to ensure the version you installed is up-to-date:

    kubectl version

Last updated

Was this helpful?