k3d commands

k3d 5.9 27 commands

27 commands in 5 groups: Install, Manage, Nodes & Registries, Images, List & Inspect. Click or tap any command to copy it. Official documentation: k3d.io.

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Install

Install k3d, a lightweight wrapper that runs k3s clusters in Docker containers.

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/k3d-io/k3d/main/install.sh | bash

Install k3d via official script

brew install k3d

Install k3d via Homebrew

k3d version

Print k3d version

Manage

Create, start, stop, and delete lightweight Kubernetes clusters using k3d.

k3d cluster create <name>

Create a k3d cluster

k3d cluster delete <name>

Delete a k3d cluster

k3d cluster start <name>

Start a stopped k3d cluster

k3d cluster stop <name>

Stop a running k3d cluster

k3d cluster create <name> --agents <n>

Create a multi-agent cluster

k3d cluster create <name> --image <image>

Create with a specific k3s image

k3d cluster create <name> --k3s-arg "--disable=traefik@server:0"

Create cluster with custom k3s args

k3d cluster create <name> --registry-create <registry-name>

Create cluster with a local registry

k3d cluster create <name> --servers <n>

Create a multi-server (HA) cluster

k3d cluster create <name> -p "8081:80@loadbalancer"

Create cluster with port mapping

k3d cluster delete --all

Delete all k3d clusters

Nodes & Registries

Manage individual k3d nodes and container registries for local image distribution.

k3d node delete <name>

Delete a k3d node

k3d node list

List all k3d nodes

k3d node create <name> --cluster <cluster>

Add a node to an existing cluster

k3d registry delete <name>

Delete a k3d registry

k3d registry list

List all k3d registries

k3d registry create <name> --port <port>

Create a local container registry

Images

Import local container images into k3d clusters for testing without a registry.

k3d image import <image> -c <cluster>

Import an image into a cluster

k3d image import <image1> <image2> -c <cluster>

Import multiple images

k3d image import <tar> -c <cluster>

Import from a tar archive

List & Inspect

List clusters, nodes, registries, and retrieve kubeconfig for cluster access.

k3d cluster list

List all k3d clusters

k3d kubeconfig get <name>

Get kubeconfig for a cluster

k3d kubeconfig merge <name> --kubeconfig-switch-context

Merge kubeconfig and switch context