Keyboard shortcuts

On Linux and Windows, read ⌘ as Ctrl. Single keys such as j or / work when the cursor isn’t in a text field. Browsers keep a few keys for themselves whatever a page does, and KubeGlass uses none of them on the platform they’re kept on (see Dock). Press ? for the same list inside KubeGlass, written for your platform. The extensions file can add keys of your own; these come first.

Anywhere

Keys	Action
⌘K	Open or close the command palette
⌘⇧P	Open the command palette (not in Firefox, which keeps it for a private window)
:	Open the palette to jump to a kind or a page, as in k9s
>	Open the palette’s commands
/	Focus the page’s filter
n	Open the namespace picker
1–9	Open tab N on pages with tabs
⌘⇧K	Open the cluster switcher
⌘B	Show or hide the sidebar
⌘Z	Bring back an object you just deleted from its page (for 30 seconds)
?	Show or hide the shortcut list

Command palette

Type	To
A name	Find pages, kinds, applications and objects in every namespace you can read, by name, label (app=web too), image, state (crash, pending, oom) or IP address. A node’s name or IP also finds the pods on it
Tab	Search every cluster instead of the current one, and the current one again. Enter on another cluster’s object switches there and opens it
: and a kind or page	Open it: :po, :deploy, :svc, :crd, :certificates, :apps, :helm, :timeline, :alerts, :checks, :upgrade, :kinds
: kind and namespace	Open the list in that namespace: :po kube-system, or every namespace with :po all
: kind and a filter or cluster	As in k9s: :po /web filters the list by text, :po app=web or :po -l app=web by label, and :po @prod opens it on another cluster. They go together: :po kube-system app=web
:ctx, :ctx NAME	Switch cluster: :ctx lists the clusters, :ctx prod the ones that match
:ns NAME	Switch to that namespace. :ns alone opens the Namespaces list
:pulse, :popeye, :xray	The k9s views: the Overview, Security › Checks, and the related resources of the object whose page is open (Applications elsewhere)
:changes, :events	The Timeline with only changes, or only Kubernetes events
:pf	Clusters › Port forwards
:aliases	Every : command with its other names
:q	Close the palette
@	Switch to another cluster
#	Switch to another namespace
>	Commands: >switch cluster, >switch namespace, then on an object’s page >logs, >shell, >yaml, >describe, >events, >history, >related and >copy name, then the rest, such as >terminal new, >create deployment, >save command and the commands you saved (>run …). Preferences such as >theme dark come last

: takes any kind the cluster serves, by its plural, its kind or a short name, custom resources included, k9s’s own aliases (:dp, :sec, :jo, :cr, :crb, :ro, :rb, :np, and :ep for EndpointSlices), and the names in the extensions file. The best match comes first: the whole name, then names that start with what you typed, then a word in the name, then the letters in order from the first with at most one gap (:dpl). A command that matches none of them says so, and Enter does nothing. A row with a shortcut shows its keys on the right. ↑ and ↓ (or Ctrl J and Ctrl K, as in Vim) move through the results and Enter opens the highlighted one, which is the best match until you move. Esc first goes back to what the palette opened with: :dep, or the cluster list :ctx opens, goes back to : when : opened the palette and to an empty box when ⌘K did. The next Esc closes the palette.

Lists

These work in every list under Resources, as in k9s.

Keys	Action
j or ↓	Move down
k or ↑	Move up
gg or Home	First row
G or End	Last row
Enter	Open the row on its own page (on Namespaces, switch to the namespace)
Space	Select or unselect the row
⇧Space or Ctrl Space	Select the rows from the last one picked to this one
⇧F10	The row’s menu (also the context menu key or a right-click)
l	Logs (pods and workloads)
p	Logs of the previous run (pods)
⇧L	Logs in the dock
s	Shell into a pod, scale a workload, or suspend or resume a CronJob
y	YAML
e	Edit the YAML
⇧E	YAML in the dock, to edit
d	Describe the object
⇧F	Forward a port of a pod, a Service, or a workload’s ready pod
⇧J	Go to the object that controls this one
x	Show a Secret’s values
i	Set a workload’s images
t	Run a CronJob now
r	Restart a Deployment, StatefulSet or DaemonSet, after asking
c	Copy the name
⇧K	Force delete a pod, with no grace period
Ctrl d	Delete, after asking
z	Only what needs attention, or everything again
w	Wide columns on or off, as kubectl -o wide
⇧N ⇧A ⇧S ⇧R ⇧C ⇧M	Sort by name, age, status, restarts, CPU or memory; again for the other way
0	Show every namespace
1–9	Show a favorite namespace: the ones you starred in the namespace picker, then the others in the order you first used them, each keeping its number
u	On Namespaces, switch to the namespace and go back to the list before (⌘Enter opens it)
Esc	Clear the filter, then the selection, then close the pane beside the list

With rows selected, r, t, ⇧K, Ctrl d and (except on pods) s act on all of them. In the filter, ↓ or Enter moves to the first row and Esc clears the filter.

When the pane beside a list is on, l, p, s, y and d open the object in the pane on that tab, and the pane follows j and k. On the splitter between the list and the pane, ← and → change the pane’s width (with ⇧, in bigger steps), and Home and End make it as wide or as narrow as it goes.

Detail pages

Keys	Action
1–9	Open tab N: Overview, Logs, Shell, YAML, Events and so on, as the page shows them
l	Logs
⇧L	Logs in the dock
s	Shell into a pod, scale a workload, or suspend or resume a CronJob
y	YAML
d	Describe
e	Edit the YAML
⇧E	YAML in the dock, to edit
⇧F	Forward a port of a pod or Service, or of one of a workload’s ready pods
r	Restart a workload
t	Run a CronJob now
Ctrl d	Delete, with grace period and cascade options
Esc or Backspace	Up to the list, its filter kept

In the pane beside a list the list’s keys work instead, and 1–9 pick namespaces.

YAML editor

With the focus in the editor of a YAML tab, a dock YAML tab, Create or apply, the Helm values or the extensions file. The editor is Monaco, so these are VS Code’s keys. See The YAML editor.

Action	Mac	Linux and Windows
Apply the changes, in a YAML tab	⌘S	Ctrl+S
Find	⌘F	Ctrl+F
Find and replace	⌥⌘F	Ctrl+H
Comment or uncomment the lines	⌘/	Ctrl+/
Move the lines up / down	⌥↑ / ⌥↓	Alt+↑ / Alt+↓
Add a cursor above / below	⌥⌘↑ / ⌥⌘↓	Ctrl+Alt+↑ / Ctrl+Alt+↓ on Windows, Shift+Alt+↑ / Shift+Alt+↓ on Linux
Go to line	⌃G	Ctrl+G
Next / previous YAML mistake	F8 / ⇧F8	F8 / Shift+F8
Fold / unfold the section	⌥⌘[ / ⌥⌘]	Ctrl+Shift+[ / Ctrl+Shift+], except in a dock tab, where they go to the previous and next tab
The editor’s menu	Right-click, or ⇧F10	Right-click, or Shift+F10

In Edit values on a Secret’s or a ConfigMap’s Overview, ⌘↵ or ⌘S (Ctrl+Enter or Ctrl+S) applies and Esc cancels. See Secret and ConfigMap values.

Logs

In the log viewer, while the focus is in it and not in a field; on an object’s Logs tab also while the focus is on the page’s tabs or nowhere, apart from the digits, and n and N only while there is a filter. See Logs.

Keys	Action
/ or ⌘F	Filter the lines (a regex, or text)
n, or Enter in the filter	Next match
⇧N, or ⇧Enter in the filter	Previous match
s	Follow the newest line, or stop
G	Go to the newest line and follow
g	Go to the first line
w	Wrap long lines
t	Show or hide times
j	Expand JSON lines
f	Full screen
1–5	Last 1m, 5m, 15m, 30m or 1h
0	Back to the line count you last picked (Last 500 lines to start with)
p	Current run or the run before the last restart
c	Copy the lines shown
⌘S	Download the lines shown
Esc	Clear the filter, then leave full screen

Clusters

On Clusters › All clusters:

Keys	Action
j k or ↓ ↑	Move down and up
gg / G	First / last row
Enter	Switch to the cluster. For one that doesn’t answer, show why
o or Space	Open or close the row’s details
l or →	Open the details
h or ←	Close the details
p	Pin or unpin
Esc	Close the details, then clear the filter

Dock

These work with the focus in the dock; showing the dock and a new tab work from anywhere. Browsers keep some keys whatever a page does: Chrome and Edge keep ⌘T, ⌘W, ⌘⇧T, ⌘⇧W, ⌘⇧N, ⌘⇧[ and ⌘⇧] on a Mac, and Ctrl+T, Ctrl+W, Ctrl+N, their Shift forms and Ctrl+Tab on Linux and Windows; Firefox also keeps ⌘⇧P and Ctrl+Shift+P. So the dock’s keys differ between the two. A shell keeps its own keys: on a Mac its Ctrl keys, and on Linux and Windows every Ctrl key without Shift, so there only the keys with Shift work in a shell; click the tab bar for the rest. Alt and an arrow key go to the shell on every platform.

Action	Mac	Linux and Windows
Show or hide the dock	⌘` or ⌃⇧`	Ctrl+`
New dock tab	⌃⇧T	Ctrl+Shift+`, as in VS Code
Close the tab (not a pinned one)	⌃⇧W	The tab’s ×
Previous / next tab	⌃⇧[ / ⌃⇧]	Ctrl+Shift+[ / Ctrl+Shift+]
Tab 1 to 9	⌘1–⌘9	Ctrl+1–Ctrl+9, outside a shell
Split side by side	⌘D	Ctrl+D, outside a shell
Split one above the other	⌘⇧D	Ctrl+Shift+D
Move between panes	⌥ and an arrow key, or ⌃H ⌃J ⌃K ⌃L, outside a shell	Alt and an arrow key, or Ctrl+H J K L, outside a shell
Cycle panes backward / forward	⌘[ / ⌘]	Ctrl+[ / Ctrl+], outside a shell
Zoom or unzoom a pane	⌘⇧Enter	Ctrl+Shift+Enter
Full screen	⌘⇧F	The toolbar’s button
Search the scrollback	⌘F	Ctrl+Shift+F, as in Windows Terminal and GNOME Terminal, or Ctrl+F outside a shell
Clear the terminal	⌘K	The toolbar’s button
Zoom in / out / reset	⌘= / ⌘- / ⌘0	Ctrl+= / Ctrl+- / Ctrl+0, outside a shell
Broadcast typing to every session	⌘⇧B	Ctrl+Shift+B
Show or hide the quick commands bar	⌘⇧P (not in Firefox)	Ctrl+Shift+P (not in Firefox)
Colon commands	:, with the focus in the dock but not in a shell or a field	the same
Close a tab, or unpin a pinned one	Delete on the tab	the same
The tab’s actions menu	⇧F10 on the tab	Shift+F10 on the tab

With the focus in a shell on a Mac, ⌘K clears it instead of opening the command palette; anywhere in the dock, ⌘⇧P (Ctrl+Shift+P) shows the quick commands bar instead of opening the palette. In a logs or YAML tab only the tab keys (a new tab, tab 1 to 9, the previous and next tab) and : are the dock’s, so the log viewer and the editor keep ⌘F, ⌘D and their other keys. The colon commands, such as :split and :wq, are also in the dock’s More menu; see Terminal.