k8s-python-client-101

Install: pip3 install kubernetes Import: from kubernetes import client, config Auth: config.load_kube_config() (local) · config.load_incluster_config() (in-pod)

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API group reference

Client	API group	Typical use
CoreV1Api()	v1	Pods, Services, Secrets, Nodes
AppsV1Api()	apps/v1	Deployments, StatefulSets, DaemonSets
BatchV1Api()	batch/v1	Jobs, CronJobs
NetworkingV1Api()	networking.k8s.io/v1	Ingress, NetworkPolicy
RbacAuthorizationV1Api()	rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1	Roles, ClusterRoles
AutoscalingV2Api()	autoscaling/v2	HPA
StorageV1Api()	storage.k8s.io/v1	StorageClass, CSI
PolicyV1Api()	policy/v1	PodDisruptionBudget
AdmissionregistrationV1Api()	admissionregistration.k8s.io/v1	Webhooks
CoordinationV1Api()	coordination.k8s.io/v1	Lease (leader election)

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Verb legend

Tag	HTTP	Description
list	GET (collection)	List all resources, optionally filtered
read	GET (single)	Get one resource by name
create	POST	Create a new resource
patch	PATCH	Partial update (strategic merge or JSON merge)
replace	PUT	Full update — you own the entire object
delete	DELETE	Delete one resource
delete_collection	DELETE	Bulk delete matching resources

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Naming pattern

{verb}_[namespaced_]{resource}[_for_all_namespaces][_status]

Examples:

• list_namespaced_deployment — deployments in one namespace
• list_deployment_for_all_namespaces — cluster-wide
• read_namespaced_deployment_status — only the .status subresource
• patch_namespaced_deployment — partial update

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AppsV1Api() | workloads

Init: apps_v1 = client.AppsV1Api() Resources: Deployment · StatefulSet · DaemonSet · ReplicaSet · ControllerRevision

Deployment

Method	Verb
list_deployment_for_all_namespaces()	list
list_namespaced_deployment(namespace)	list
read_namespaced_deployment(name, namespace)	read
read_namespaced_deployment_status(name, namespace)	read
create_namespaced_deployment(namespace, body)	create
patch_namespaced_deployment(name, namespace, body)	patch
replace_namespaced_deployment(name, namespace, body)	replace
delete_namespaced_deployment(name, namespace)	delete
delete_collection_namespaced_deployment(namespace)	delete

StatefulSet

Method	Verb
list_stateful_set_for_all_namespaces()	list
list_namespaced_stateful_set(namespace)	list
read_namespaced_stateful_set(name, namespace)	read
create_namespaced_stateful_set(namespace, body)	create
patch_namespaced_stateful_set(name, namespace, body)	patch
delete_namespaced_stateful_set(name, namespace)	delete

DaemonSet

Method	Verb
list_daemon_set_for_all_namespaces()	list
list_namespaced_daemon_set(namespace)	list
read_namespaced_daemon_set(name, namespace)	read
create_namespaced_daemon_set(namespace, body)	create
patch_namespaced_daemon_set(name, namespace, body)	patch
delete_namespaced_daemon_set(name, namespace)	delete

ReplicaSet

Method	Verb
list_replica_set_for_all_namespaces()	list
list_namespaced_replica_set(namespace)	list
read_namespaced_replica_set(name, namespace)	read
patch_namespaced_replica_set(name, namespace, body)	patch
delete_namespaced_replica_set(name, namespace)	delete

ControllerRevision

Method	Verb
list_namespaced_controller_revision(namespace)	list
read_namespaced_controller_revision(name, namespace)	read

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CoreV1Api() | core primitives

Init: core_v1 = client.CoreV1Api() Resources: Pod · Service · ConfigMap · Secret · Node · Namespace · PersistentVolume · PersistentVolumeClaim · ServiceAccount · Endpoints · Event

Pod

Method	Verb
list_pod_for_all_namespaces()	list
list_namespaced_pod(namespace)	list
read_namespaced_pod(name, namespace)	read
read_namespaced_pod_log(name, namespace)	read
read_namespaced_pod_status(name, namespace)	read
create_namespaced_pod(namespace, body)	create
patch_namespaced_pod(name, namespace, body)	patch
delete_namespaced_pod(name, namespace)	delete
connect_get_namespaced_pod_exec(name, namespace, ...)	exec

Service

Method	Verb
list_namespaced_service(namespace)	list
read_namespaced_service(name, namespace)	read
create_namespaced_service(namespace, body)	create
patch_namespaced_service(name, namespace, body)	patch
delete_namespaced_service(name, namespace)	delete

ConfigMap

Method	Verb
list_namespaced_config_map(namespace)	list
read_namespaced_config_map(name, namespace)	read
create_namespaced_config_map(namespace, body)	create
patch_namespaced_config_map(name, namespace, body)	patch
replace_namespaced_config_map(name, namespace, body)	replace
delete_namespaced_config_map(name, namespace)	delete

Secret

Method	Verb
list_namespaced_secret(namespace)	list
read_namespaced_secret(name, namespace)	read
create_namespaced_secret(namespace, body)	create
patch_namespaced_secret(name, namespace, body)	patch
delete_namespaced_secret(name, namespace)	delete

Node

Method	Verb
list_node()	list
read_node(name)	read
read_node_status(name)	read
patch_node(name, body)	patch

Namespace

Method	Verb
list_namespace()	list
read_namespace(name)	read
create_namespace(body)	create
delete_namespace(name)	delete

PersistentVolume

Method	Verb
list_persistent_volume()	list
read_persistent_volume(name)	read
create_persistent_volume(body)	create
delete_persistent_volume(name)	delete

PersistentVolumeClaim

Method	Verb
list_namespaced_persistent_volume_claim(namespace)	list
read_namespaced_persistent_volume_claim(name, namespace)	read
create_namespaced_persistent_volume_claim(namespace, body)	create
delete_namespaced_persistent_volume_claim(name, namespace)	delete

ServiceAccount

Method	Verb
list_namespaced_service_account(namespace)	list
read_namespaced_service_account(name, namespace)	read
create_namespaced_service_account(namespace, body)	create
delete_namespaced_service_account(name, namespace)	delete

Event

Method	Verb
list_namespaced_event(namespace)	list
read_namespaced_event(name, namespace)	read

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BatchV1Api() | jobs

Init: batch_v1 = client.BatchV1Api() Resources: Job · CronJob

Job

Method	Verb
list_job_for_all_namespaces()	list
list_namespaced_job(namespace)	list
read_namespaced_job(name, namespace)	read
read_namespaced_job_status(name, namespace)	read
create_namespaced_job(namespace, body)	create
patch_namespaced_job(name, namespace, body)	patch
delete_namespaced_job(name, namespace)	delete
delete_collection_namespaced_job(namespace)	delete

CronJob

Method	Verb
list_cron_job_for_all_namespaces()	list
list_namespaced_cron_job(namespace)	list
read_namespaced_cron_job(name, namespace)	read
create_namespaced_cron_job(namespace, body)	create
patch_namespaced_cron_job(name, namespace, body)	patch
delete_namespaced_cron_job(name, namespace)	delete

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NetworkingV1Api() | networking

Init: net_v1 = client.NetworkingV1Api() Resources: Ingress · NetworkPolicy · IngressClass

Ingress

Method	Verb
list_ingress_for_all_namespaces()	list
list_namespaced_ingress(namespace)	list
read_namespaced_ingress(name, namespace)	read
create_namespaced_ingress(namespace, body)	create
patch_namespaced_ingress(name, namespace, body)	patch
delete_namespaced_ingress(name, namespace)	delete

NetworkPolicy

Method	Verb
list_namespaced_network_policy(namespace)	list
read_namespaced_network_policy(name, namespace)	read
create_namespaced_network_policy(namespace, body)	create
patch_namespaced_network_policy(name, namespace, body)	patch
delete_namespaced_network_policy(name, namespace)	delete

IngressClass

Method	Verb
list_ingress_class()	list
read_ingress_class(name)	read
create_ingress_class(body)	create
delete_ingress_class(name)	delete

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RbacAuthorizationV1Api() | RBAC

Init: rbac_v1 = client.RbacAuthorizationV1Api() Resources: Role · RoleBinding · ClusterRole · ClusterRoleBinding

Role

Method	Verb
list_namespaced_role(namespace)	list
read_namespaced_role(name, namespace)	read
create_namespaced_role(namespace, body)	create
patch_namespaced_role(name, namespace, body)	patch
delete_namespaced_role(name, namespace)	delete

RoleBinding

Method	Verb
list_namespaced_role_binding(namespace)	list
read_namespaced_role_binding(name, namespace)	read
create_namespaced_role_binding(namespace, body)	create
patch_namespaced_role_binding(name, namespace, body)	patch
delete_namespaced_role_binding(name, namespace)	delete

ClusterRole

Method	Verb
list_cluster_role()	list
read_cluster_role(name)	read
create_cluster_role(body)	create
patch_cluster_role(name, body)	patch
delete_cluster_role(name)	delete

ClusterRoleBinding

Method	Verb
list_cluster_role_binding()	list
read_cluster_role_binding(name)	read
create_cluster_role_binding(body)	create
patch_cluster_role_binding(name, body)	patch
delete_cluster_role_binding(name)	delete

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AutoscalingV2Api() | autoscaling

Init: hpa_v2 = client.AutoscalingV2Api() Resources: HorizontalPodAutoscaler

Method	Verb
list_horizontal_pod_autoscaler_for_all_namespaces()	list
list_namespaced_horizontal_pod_autoscaler(namespace)	list
read_namespaced_horizontal_pod_autoscaler(name, namespace)	read
read_namespaced_horizontal_pod_autoscaler_status(name, namespace)	read
create_namespaced_horizontal_pod_autoscaler(namespace, body)	create
patch_namespaced_horizontal_pod_autoscaler(name, namespace, body)	patch
replace_namespaced_horizontal_pod_autoscaler(name, namespace, body)	replace
delete_namespaced_horizontal_pod_autoscaler(name, namespace)	delete

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StorageV1Api() | storage

Init: storage_v1 = client.StorageV1Api() Resources: StorageClass · VolumeAttachment · CSIDriver · CSINode

StorageClass

Method	Verb
list_storage_class()	list
read_storage_class(name)	read
create_storage_class(body)	create
patch_storage_class(name, body)	patch
delete_storage_class(name)	delete

VolumeAttachment

Method	Verb
list_volume_attachment()	list
read_volume_attachment(name)	read
create_volume_attachment(body)	create
delete_volume_attachment(name)	delete

CSIDriver / CSINode

Method	Verb
list_csi_driver()	list
read_csi_driver(name)	read
create_csi_driver(body)	create
delete_csi_driver(name)	delete
list_csi_node()	list
read_csi_node(name)	read

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PolicyV1Api() | policy

Init: policy_v1 = client.PolicyV1Api() Resources: PodDisruptionBudget

Method	Verb
list_namespaced_pod_disruption_budget(namespace)	list
read_namespaced_pod_disruption_budget(name, namespace)	read
read_namespaced_pod_disruption_budget_status(name, namespace)	read
create_namespaced_pod_disruption_budget(namespace, body)	create
patch_namespaced_pod_disruption_budget(name, namespace, body)	patch
delete_namespaced_pod_disruption_budget(name, namespace)	delete
delete_collection_namespaced_pod_disruption_budget(namespace)	delete

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AdmissionregistrationV1Api() | webhooks

Init: admiss_v1 = client.AdmissionregistrationV1Api() Resources: MutatingWebhookConfiguration · ValidatingWebhookConfiguration

MutatingWebhookConfiguration

Method	Verb
list_mutating_webhook_configuration()	list
read_mutating_webhook_configuration(name)	read
create_mutating_webhook_configuration(body)	create
patch_mutating_webhook_configuration(name, body)	patch
delete_mutating_webhook_configuration(name)	delete

ValidatingWebhookConfiguration

Method	Verb
list_validating_webhook_configuration()	list
read_validating_webhook_configuration(name)	read
create_validating_webhook_configuration(body)	create
patch_validating_webhook_configuration(name, body)	patch
delete_validating_webhook_configuration(name)	delete

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CoordinationV1Api() | leader election

Init: coord_v1 = client.CoordinationV1Api() Resources: Lease

Method	Verb
list_namespaced_lease(namespace)	list
read_namespaced_lease(name, namespace)	read
create_namespaced_lease(namespace, body)	create
patch_namespaced_lease(name, namespace, body)	patch
replace_namespaced_lease(name, namespace, body)	replace
delete_namespaced_lease(name, namespace)	delete
delete_collection_namespaced_lease(namespace)	delete

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Common kwargs

These keyword arguments work across most list/read/patch/delete methods:

Kwarg	Type	Description
namespace	str	Target namespace
label_selector	str	e.g. "app=my-app,env=prod"
field_selector	str	e.g. "status.phase=Running"
watch	bool	Stream events (use with watch.Watch())
timeout_seconds	int	Request timeout
pretty	str	"true" for human-readable output
dry_run	str	"All" to simulate without applying

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Quick Examples

from kubernetes import client, config

config.load_kube_config()          # uses ~/.kube/config
# config.load_kube_config(context="my-cluster")  # specific context

apps_v1 = client.AppsV1Api()
core_v1 = client.CoreV1Api()

# list all deployments cluster wide
deploys = apps_v1.list_deployment_for_all_namespaces(watch=False).items

# list pods with label selector
pods = core_v1.list_namespaced_pod(
    namespace="default",
    label_selector="app=my-app"
).items

# read pod logs
log = core_v1.read_namespaced_pod_log(
    name="my-pod-abc123", namespace="default",
    container="app", tail_lines=100
)

# watch events
from kubernetes import watch
w = watch.Watch()
for event in w.stream(core_v1.list_namespaced_pod, namespace="default", timeout_seconds=60):
    print(event["type"], event["object"].metadata.name)

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