k8s

name	k8s
description	Kubernetes operational knowledge for accessing clusters, running kubectl, understanding Flux status, and navigating the homelab Kubernetes environment. Use when: (1) Accessing a cluster or checking connectivity, (2) Running kubectl commands or checking resource status, (3) Checking Flux reconciliation status or triggering reconciliation, (4) Finding internal service URLs, (5) Understanding cluster layout or resource types, (6) Researching unfamiliar Helm charts or services. Triggers: "kubectl", "kubeconfig", "flux get", "flux reconcile", "flux status", "cluster access", "internal URL", "service URL", "prometheus URL", "grafana URL", "helm release status", "check flux", "which cluster", "how to access", "port-forward"
user-invocable	false

ACCESSING CLUSTERS

The available clusters are dev, integration, and live. Use the coresponding kube context for access.

Common kubectl Patterns

Command	Purpose
kubectl get pods -n <ns>	List pods in a namespace
kubectl get pods -A	List pods across all namespaces
kubectl describe pod <pod> -n <ns>	Detailed pod info with events
kubectl logs <pod> -n <ns> --tail=100	Recent logs from a pod
kubectl logs <pod> -n <ns> --previous	Logs from previous container instance
kubectl get events -n <ns> --sort-by='.lastTimestamp'	Recent events timeline
kubectl top pods -n <ns>	CPU/memory usage per pod
kubectl top nodes	CPU/memory usage per node
kubectl get ns <ns> --show-labels	Namespace labels (network policy profiles)
kubectl explain <resource>	API schema reference for a resource type

Flux GitOps Commands

# Check status
flux --context <cluster> get all
flux --context <cluster> get kustomizations
flux --context <cluster> get helmreleases -A

# Trigger reconciliation
flux --context <cluster> reconcile source git flux-system
flux --context <cluster> reconcile kustomization <name>
flux --context <cluster> reconcile helmrelease <name> -n <namespace>

Flux Status Interpretation

Status	Meaning	Action
Ready: True	Reconciled and healthy	None
Ready: False	Failed to reconcile	Check the message/reason
Stalled: True	Stopped retrying after repeated failures	Suspend/resume to reset (see sre skill)
Suspended: True	Intentionally paused	Resume: flux resume <type> <name>
Reconciling	Actively being applied	Wait for completion

Researching Unfamiliar Services

When investigating unknown services, spawn a haiku agent to research documentation:

Task tool:
- subagent_type: "general-purpose"
- model: "haiku"
- prompt: "Research [service] troubleshooting docs. Focus on:
  1. Common failure modes
  2. Health indicators
  3. Configuration gotchas
  Start with: [docs-url]"

Chart URL to Docs mapping:

Chart Source	Documentation
charts.jetstack.io	cert-manager.io/docs
charts.longhorn.io	longhorn.io/docs
grafana.github.io	grafana.com/docs
prometheus-community.github.io	prometheus.io/docs

Common Confusions

BAD: Use helm list to check Helm release status GOOD: Use kubectl get helmrelease -A — Flux manages releases via CRDs, not Helm CLI