Kustomize Manage commands
13 commands in 3 groups: Install Kustomize, Manage, List & Inspect. Click or tap any command to copy it. Part of the full Kustomize cheat sheet. Official documentation: kubectl.docs.kubernetes.io.
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Install Kustomize
Kustomize customizes raw Kubernetes YAML without templates. It is built into kubectl (apply -k) and available as a standalone CLI.
curl -s "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/master/hack/install_kustomize.sh" | bash
Install via official script into the current directory (Linux / macOS)
brew install kustomize
Install via Homebrew (macOS / Linux with brew)
kustomize version
Verify installation and show build info
Manage
Render a kustomization overlay and apply it to the cluster. Use kubectl -k flags for the native built-in path, or pipe kustomize build for full control.
kubectl apply -k <dir>
Apply overlay using kubectl built-in kustomize
kustomize build <dir>
Render overlay to stdout
kustomize build <dir> > output.yaml
Write rendered manifests to a file
kustomize build <dir> --enable-helm
Render overlay with embedded Helm chart support
kustomize build <dir> | kubectl apply -f -
Render and apply to cluster
kustomize build <dir> | kubectl delete -f -
Render and delete from cluster
kustomize build <dir> | kubectl apply --server-side -f -
Render and apply with server-side apply (avoids annotation size limits)
kubectl delete -k <dir>
Delete resources defined by overlay
kubectl kustomize <dir> | kubectl apply -f -
Render with kubectl built-in, then apply
List & Inspect
Render an overlay locally to inspect the output without applying it.
kubectl kustomize <dir>
Render overlay with kubectl built-in (no apply)