kx

A more convenient method for changing contexts and name spaces for kubectl

Usage:

kx [context [namespace]] [-a|--all] [-s|--set] [--no-color] [-r|--rename NEW_NAME]

To add to prompt:

$ export PROMPT_COMMAND=$(kx prompt)

Examples:

Change context and namespace

$ kx new-context new-namespace

Use a dash as the context name to stay in the same context but change namespace

$ kx - new-namespace

Change context, keep the namespace set in .kube/config

$ kx new-context

Change back to the previous context and namespace

$ kx
first-ctx first-ns
$ kx second-ctx second-ns
$ kx
second-ctx second-ns
$ kx -
$ kx
first-ctx first-ns
$ kx -
$ kx
second-ctx second-ns

Generate tab completion for the contexts in your kubeconfig

$ eval "$(kx complete)"
$ kx <tab><tab>
foo-prd        gke_prd-usc1-1     foo-test
foo-gke-prd    int-usw1a          stg-use1a
foo-gke-stg    minikube           stg-use1b

Rename a context

$ kx -r new-name old-name

Show current context and namespace

$ kx
current-context current-namespace

Set a favorite context/namespace pair

[some-ctx:some-ns]
$ kx fave-ctx fave-ns -f my-fave
...
[some-ctx:some-ns]
$ kx my-fave
[fave-ctx:fave-ns]
$ 

Show all contexts and namespaces. Favorites for each ns are listed as well

$ kx -a
Current Context     Namespace       Favorites
        foo-prd     bar             prod=foo-prd:bar
-->     foo-test    kube-system     pkube=foo-test:kube-system,test=foo-test:bar

Configuration

kx is a cobra app so it is configured the same way as any other similar app.

The default location for this file is $HOME/.kx.yaml. The prompt generated by kx prompt can by configured here. Favorites are also stored here.

Configuring the Prompt

The prompt is completely configurable. The parts of which are defined like so:

prompt:
  separator: string
  leftWrapper: string
  rightWrapper: string
  contextColor: color* 
  namespaceColor: color*
  separatorColor: color*
  colorOff: \033[0m  # special required value, will be depracated 

* see color configuration*

To display a prompt that appears like this:

[the-context:the-namespace]

The following configuration can be used:

prompt:
  separator: ':'
  leftWrapper: '['
  rightWrapper: ']'
  contextColor: Red
  namespaceColor: K8sBlue
  separatorColor: White

How it looks with color:

To display a prompt that appears like this:

(the-context➡ the-namespace)

The following configuration can be used:

prompt:
  separator: '➡ '
  leftWrapper: '('
  rightWrapper: ')'
  contextColor: MayaBlue
  namespaceColor: LightPink1
  separatorColor: White

How it looks with color:

Colors

Colors are configured using the name of the color. These names can be found in pkg/colors/colors.go.

You can print the available color options with the kxcolors command.

$ kx kxcolors 
Name
Aquamarine1
Aquamarine3
Black
Blue1
Blue3
...

Each name will be displayed in the color it represents. You can add these names to your .kx.yaml manually or use the set command. After using set you will need to re-source the prompt command:

$ kx kxcolors set [-c|--context] <COLOR NAME> [-s|--separator] <COLOR NAME> [-n|--ns] <COLOR NAME>
$ eval "$(kx prompt)"

Note: color names may change slightly in the future to be consistent with Go capitalization.

Favorites

Favorites are also stored in in .kx.yaml. Should be pretty obvious how these work:

favorites:
  pkube:
    context: foo-test
    namespace: kube-system
  prod:
    context: foo-prd
    namespace: bar
  test:
    context: foo-test
    namespace: bar

Todo

• Work with custom locations of kubeconfig via the KUBECONFIG env var.
• Support for favorite ctx/namespace pairs.
• Add context names to bash completion.
• Ability to rename contexts.
• Return to previous context/namespace
• Work with locations of kubeconfig passed via the command line.
• Command to show color options.
• Code clean up.
• Better error messaging.

Thanks

Thanks to the following folks for helping out, you guys rock!

• Micah Elliot: Author of the colortrans.py script to convert between RGB and xterm-256 color codes