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Connect to your cluster with kubectl

Last updated on Jul 14, 2026

Once a cluster is running, you control it from your own computer with kubectl, the standard Kubernetes tool.

Steps

  1. Install kubectl. The Kubernetes project provides it for Mac, Windows and Linux. On Mac, brew install kubectl; on Linux, download the binary; on Windows, use the installer or winget.
  2. Download your kubeconfig. In the console, open your cluster under Kubernetes and download its kubeconfig file. This file authenticates you to the cluster.
  3. Point kubectl at it. Either save it as ~/.kube/config, or set export KUBECONFIG=/path/to/config in your terminal for that session.
  4. Test it. Run kubectl get nodes. You should see your worker nodes listed as Ready.

From here you use Kubernetes normally: kubectl apply -f your manifests, kubectl get pods, and so on. When you expose a service of type LoadBalancer, Kubernetes automatically requests a load balancer and a public IP.

If kubectl cannot connect, the usual causes are the wrong kubeconfig file, a KUBECONFIG pointing at the wrong path, or the cluster not being finished provisioning yet. To change the cluster size, see Scale a cluster.