What is k9s?
k9s is a terminal UI for managing Kubernetes clusters. It provides a fast, keyboard-driven interface to observe and interact with your running clusters in real time — navigating resources, viewing logs, executing into pods and applying changes — without constantly typing long kubectl commands.
🚀 Why Staying Current Matters: k9s ships frequent updates with new views, plugins and Kubernetes API support. Keeping it current ensures compatibility with the latest cluster versions and features.
⚡ Key Features of k9s
⌨️ Keyboard-driven
Navigate and manage cluster resources quickly with intuitive shortcuts.
📜 Live Logs & Exec
Stream pod logs and shell into containers directly from the UI.
🔍 Resource Views
Browse deployments, pods, services and more with real-time status.
🧩 Extensible
Custom skins, aliases and plugins to tailor your workflow.
🎯 Why k9s?
- Faster than kubectl: Observe and act on resources without long commands
- Real-time: Live view of cluster state and resource health
- Powerful navigation: Jump between related resources instantly
- Customizable: Skins, hotkeys and plugins to fit your team
🆕 Highlights
- Cluster Navigation: Browse all Kubernetes resource types
- Logs & Shell: Tail logs and exec into pods
- Resource Actions: Scale, delete and edit from the UI
- Plugins: Extend with custom commands
📦 Installation from deb-free.griffo.io
Step 1: Add Repository
sudo install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://deb-free.griffo.io/EA0F721D231FDD3A0A17B9AC7808B4DD62C41256.asc | sudo gpg --dearmor --yes -o /etc/apt/keyrings/deb-free.griffo.io.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/deb-free.griffo.io.gpg] https://deb-free.griffo.io/apt $(lsb_release -sc 2>/dev/null) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/deb-free.griffo.io.list > /dev/null
sudo apt update
install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://deb-free.griffo.io/EA0F721D231FDD3A0A17B9AC7808B4DD62C41256.asc | gpg --dearmor --yes -o /etc/apt/keyrings/deb-free.griffo.io.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/deb-free.griffo.io.gpg] https://deb-free.griffo.io/apt $(lsb_release -sc 2>/dev/null) main" | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/deb-free.griffo.io.list > /dev/null
apt update
Step 2: Install k9s
# Install latest k9s
sudo apt install k9s
# Verify installation
k9s version
# Install latest k9s
apt install k9s
# Verify installation
k9s version
🎯 Basic Usage Examples
# Show version
k9s version
# Launch k9s against your current kubeconfig context
k9s
# Launch in a specific namespace
k9s -n kube-system
# Use a specific context
k9s --context production
# Launch in read-only mode
k9s --readonly
🚀 Why Choose deb-free.griffo.io?
📊 Repository Comparison:
- Official Ubuntu: Often months behind, missing latest features
- deb.griffo.io (main): Latest version within hours of release
- Manual Installation: Manual downloads and PATH setup required
- Our Repository: Pre-built, ready-to-use packages
- ✅ Latest Features: Get newest k9s features and improvements immediately
- ✅ No Manual Setup: Pre-built binaries, installed and updated through apt
- ✅ Automatic Updates: Packages updated once a release is at least 2 months old; security fixes ship immediately
- ✅ Proper Dependencies: Correctly packaged with all required libraries
- ✅ Multi-Distribution: Works on Jammy and Noble
- ✅ Easy Maintenance: Simple apt commands for updates
📦 Package Build Repository
The Ubuntu packages are automatically built and maintained in this GitHub repository:
- 📁 k9s-debian - Latest release builds
🔗 Related Packages
Also available from deb.griffo.io:
- lazydocker - Terminal UI for Docker management
- Headscale - Self-hosted Tailscale control server
- Garage - S3-compatible distributed object storage
🎯 Perfect for: DevOps engineers and developers who work with Kubernetes daily and want a fast, real-time terminal interface to observe and manage their clusters.
💝 Support This Project
If this repository saves you time and effort, please consider supporting it!