Kubernetes Skills

# Multi-Cluster Kubernetes Management

Cross-cluster operations and context management using kubectl-mcp-server's multi-cluster support.

Context Management

List Available Contexts ``` list_contexts_tool() ```

View Current Context ``` kubeconfig_view() # Shows sanitized kubeconfig ```

Switch Context CLI: `kubectl-mcp-server context <context-name>`

Cross-Cluster Operations

All kubectl-mcp-server tools support the `context` parameter:

```python # Get pods from production cluster get_pods(namespace="default", context="production-cluster")

# Get pods from staging cluster get_pods(namespace="default", context="staging-cluster") ```

Common Multi-Cluster Patterns

Compare Environments

``` # Compare deployment across clusters compare_namespaces( namespace1="production", namespace2="staging", resource_type="deployment", context="production-cluster" ) ```

Parallel Queries Query multiple clusters simultaneously:

``` # Production cluster get_pods(namespace="app", context="prod-us-east") get_pods(namespace="app", context="prod-eu-west")

# Development cluster get_pods(namespace="app", context="development") ```

Cross-Cluster Health Check ``` # Check all clusters for context in ["prod-1", "prod-2", "staging"]: get_nodes(context=context) get_pods(namespace="kube-system", context=context) ```

Cluster API (CAPI) Management

For managing cluster lifecycle:

List Managed Clusters ``` capi_clusters_list_tool(namespace="capi-system") ```

Get Cluster Details ``` capi_cluster_get_tool(name="prod-cluster", namespace="capi-system") ```

Get Workload Cluster Kubeconfig ``` capi_cluster_kubeconfig_tool(name="prod-cluster", namespace="capi-system") ```

Machine Management ``` capi_machines_list_tool(namespace="capi-system") capi_machinedeployments_list_tool(namespace="capi-system") ```

Scale Cluster ``` capi_machinedeployment_scale_tool( name="prod-cluster-md-0", namespace="capi-system", replicas=5 ) ```

See CONTEXT-SWITCHING.md for detailed patterns.

Multi-Cluster Helm

Deploy charts to specific clusters: ``` install_helm_chart( name="nginx", chart="bitnami/nginx", namespace="web", context="production-cluster" )

list_helm_releases( namespace="web", context="staging-cluster" ) ```

Multi-Cluster GitOps

Flux Across Clusters ``` flux_kustomizations_list_tool( namespace="flux-system", context="cluster-1" )

flux_reconcile_tool( kind="kustomization", name="apps", namespace="flux-system", context="cluster-2" ) ```

ArgoCD Across Clusters ``` argocd_apps_list_tool(namespace="argocd", context="management-cluster") ```

Federation Patterns

Secret Synchronization ``` # Read from source cluster get_secrets(namespace="app", context="source-cluster")

# Apply to target cluster (via manifest) apply_manifest(secret_manifest, namespace="app", context="target-cluster") ```

Cross-Cluster Service Discovery With Cilium ClusterMesh or Istio multi-cluster: ``` cilium_nodes_list_tool(context="cluster-1") istio_proxy_status_tool(context="cluster-2") ```

Best Practices

1. Naming Convention: Use descriptive context names
2. - `prod-us-east-1`, `staging-eu-west-1`

1. Access Control: Different kubeconfigs per environment
2. - Prod: Read-only for most users
3. - Dev: Full access for developers

1. Always Specify Context: Avoid accidental cross-cluster operations
2. ```
3. # Explicit is better
4. get_pods(namespace="app", context="production")
5. ```

1. Cluster Groups: Organize by purpose
2. - Production: `prod-*`
3. - Staging: `staging-*`
4. - Development: `dev-*`

Related Skills - [k8s-troubleshoot](../k8s-troubleshoot/SKILL.md) - Debug across clusters - [k8s-gitops](../k8s-gitops/SKILL.md) - GitOps multi-cluster