Set up kubectl and eksctl
Kubectl
is a command line tool that you use to communicate with the Kubernetes API server. The kubectl
binary is available in many operating system package managers. Using a package manager for your installation is often easier than a manual download and install process. The eksctl
command lets you create and modify Amazon EKS clusters.
Topics on this page help you install and set up these tools:
Install or update kubectl
This topic helps you to download and install, or update, the kubectl
binary on your device. The binary is identical to the upstream community versionskubectl
that you need, although many builders simply run brew install kubectl
to install it.
Note
You must use a kubectl
version that is within one minor version difference of your Amazon EKS cluster control plane. For example, a 1.30
kubectl
client works with Kubernetes
1.29
, 1.30
, and 1.31
clusters.
Step 1: Check if kubectl
is installed
Determine whether you already have kubectl
installed on your device.
kubectl version --client
If you have kubectl
installed in the path of your device, the example output includes information similar to the following. If you want to update the version that you currently have installed with a later version, complete the next step, making sure to install the new version in the same location that your current version is in.
Client Version: v1.31.X-eks-1234567
If you receive no output, then you either don’t have kubectl
installed, or it’s not installed in a location that’s in your device’s path.
Step 2: Install or update kubectl
Install or update kubectl
on one of the following operating systems:
macOS
-
Download the binary for your cluster’s Kubernetes version from Amazon S3.
-
Kubernetes
1.31
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.31.2/2024-11-15/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.30
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.30.6/2024-11-15/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.29
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.29.10/2024-11-15/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.28
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.28.15/2024-11-15/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.27
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.27.16/2024-11-15/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.26
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.26.15/2024-11-15/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.25
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.25.16/2024-11-15/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.24
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.24.17/2024-11-15/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.23
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.23.17/2024-09-11/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.22
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.22.17/2024-09-11/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.21
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.21.14/2024-09-11/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl
-
-
(Optional) Verify the downloaded binary with the
SHA-256
checksum for your binary.-
Download the
SHA-256
checksum for your cluster’s Kubernetes version.-
Kubernetes
1.31
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.31.2/2024-11-15/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.30
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.30.6/2024-11-15/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.29
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.29.10/2024-11-15/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.28
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.28.15/2024-11-15/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.27
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.27.16/2024-11-15/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.26
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.26.15/2024-11-15/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.25
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.25.16/2024-11-15/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.24
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.24.17/2024-11-15/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.23
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.23.17/2024-09-11/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.22
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.22.17/2024-09-11/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.21
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.21.14/2024-09-11/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl.sha256
-
-
Check the
SHA-256
checksum for your downloaded binary.openssl sha1 -sha256 kubectl
-
Make sure that the generated checksum in the output matches in the checksum in the downloaded
kubectl.sha256
file.
-
-
Apply execute permissions to the binary.
chmod +x ./kubectl
-
Copy the binary to a folder in your
PATH
. If you have already installed a version ofkubectl
, then we recommend creating a$HOME/bin/kubectl
and ensuring that$HOME/bin
comes first in your$PATH
.mkdir -p $HOME/bin && cp ./kubectl $HOME/bin/kubectl && export PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH
-
(Optional) Add the
$HOME/bin
path to your shell initialization file so that it is configured when you open a shell.echo 'export PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bash_profile
Linux (amd64)
-
Download the
kubectl
binary for your cluster’s Kubernetes version from Amazon S3.-
Kubernetes
1.31
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.31.2/2024-11-15/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.30
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.30.6/2024-11-15/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.29
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.29.10/2024-11-15/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.28
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.28.15/2024-11-15/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.27
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.27.16/2024-11-15/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.26
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.26.15/2024-11-15/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.25
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.25.16/2024-11-15/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.24
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.24.17/2024-11-15/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.23
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.23.17/2024-09-11/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.22
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.22.17/2024-09-11/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.21
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.21.14/2024-09-11/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl
-
-
(Optional) Verify the downloaded binary with the
SHA-256
checksum for your binary.-
Download the
SHA-256
checksum for your cluster’s Kubernetes version from Amazon S3using the command for your device’s hardware platform.-
Kubernetes
1.31
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.31.2/2024-11-15/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.30
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.30.6/2024-11-15/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.29
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.29.10/2024-11-15/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.28
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.28.15/2024-11-15/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.27
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.27.16/2024-11-15/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.26
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.26.15/2024-11-15/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.25
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.25.16/2024-11-15/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.24
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.24.17/2024-11-15/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.23
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.23.17/2024-09-11/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.22
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.22.17/2024-09-11/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.21
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.21.14/2024-09-11/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl.sha256
-
-
Check the
SHA-256
checksum for your downloaded binary with one of the following commands.sha256sum -c kubectl.sha256
or
openssl sha1 -sha256 kubectl
-
For the first, you should see
kubectl: OK
, for the second, you can check that the generated checksum in the output matches in the checksum in the downloadedkubectl.sha256
file.
-
-
Apply execute permissions to the binary.
chmod +x ./kubectl
-
Copy the binary to a folder in your
PATH
. If you have already installed a version ofkubectl
, then we recommend creating a$HOME/bin/kubectl
and ensuring that$HOME/bin
comes first in your$PATH
.mkdir -p $HOME/bin && cp ./kubectl $HOME/bin/kubectl && export PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH
-
(Optional) Add the
$HOME/bin
path to your shell initialization file so that it is configured when you open a shell.Note
This step assumes you are using the Bash shell; if you are using another shell, change the command to use your specific shell initialization file.
echo 'export PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bashrc
Linux (arm64)
-
Download the
kubectl
binary for your cluster’s Kubernetes version from Amazon S3.-
Kubernetes
1.31
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.31.2/2024-11-15/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.30
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.30.6/2024-11-15/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.29
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.29.10/2024-11-15/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.28
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.28.15/2024-11-15/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.27
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.27.16/2024-11-15/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.26
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.26.15/2024-11-15/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.25
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.25.16/2024-11-15/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.24
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.24.17/2024-11-15/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.23
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.23.17/2024-09-11/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.22
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.22.17/2024-09-11/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl
-
Kubernetes
1.21
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.21.14/2024-09-11/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl
-
-
(Optional) Verify the downloaded binary with the
SHA-256
checksum for your binary.-
Download the
SHA-256
checksum for your cluster’s Kubernetes version from Amazon S3using the command for your device’s hardware platform.-
Kubernetes
1.31
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.31.2/2024-11-15/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.30
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.30.6/2024-11-15/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.29
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.29.10/2024-11-15/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.28
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.28.15/2024-11-15/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.27
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.27.16/2024-11-15/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.26
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.26.15/2024-11-15/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.25
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.25.16/2024-11-15/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.24
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.24.17/2024-11-15/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.23
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.23.17/2024-09-11/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.22
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.22.17/2024-09-11/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.21
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.21.14/2024-09-11/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl.sha256
-
-
Check the
SHA-256
checksum for your downloaded binary with one of the following commands.sha256sum -c kubectl.sha256
or
openssl sha1 -sha256 kubectl
-
For the first, you should see
kubectl: OK
, for the second, you can check that the generated checksum in the output matches in the checksum in the downloadedkubectl.sha256
file.
-
-
Apply execute permissions to the binary.
chmod +x ./kubectl
-
Copy the binary to a folder in your
PATH
. If you have already installed a version ofkubectl
, then we recommend creating a$HOME/bin/kubectl
and ensuring that$HOME/bin
comes first in your$PATH
.mkdir -p $HOME/bin && cp ./kubectl $HOME/bin/kubectl && export PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH
-
(Optional) Add the
$HOME/bin
path to your shell initialization file so that it is configured when you open a shell.Note
This step assumes you are using the Bash shell; if you are using another shell, change the command to use your specific shell initialization file.
echo 'export PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bashrc
Windows
-
Open a PowerShell terminal.
-
Download the
kubectl
binary for your cluster’s Kubernetes version from Amazon S3.-
Kubernetes
1.31
curl.exe -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.31.2/2024-11-15/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe
-
Kubernetes
1.30
curl.exe -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.30.6/2024-11-15/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe
-
Kubernetes
1.29
curl.exe -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.29.10/2024-11-15/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe
-
Kubernetes
1.28
curl.exe -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.28.15/2024-11-15/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe
-
Kubernetes
1.27
curl.exe -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.27.16/2024-11-15/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe
-
Kubernetes
1.26
curl.exe -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.26.15/2024-11-15/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe
-
Kubernetes
1.25
curl.exe -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.25.16/2024-11-15/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe
-
Kubernetes
1.24
curl.exe -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.24.17/2024-11-15/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe
-
Kubernetes
1.23
curl.exe -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.23.17/2024-09-11/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe
-
Kubernetes
1.22
curl.exe -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.22.17/2024-09-11/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe
-
Kubernetes
1.21
curl.exe -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.21.14/2024-09-11/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe
-
-
(Optional) Verify the downloaded binary with the
SHA-256
checksum for your binary.-
Download the
SHA-256
checksum for your cluster’s Kubernetes version for Windows.-
Kubernetes
1.31
curl.exe -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.31.2/2024-11-15/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.30
curl.exe -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.30.6/2024-11-15/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.29
curl.exe -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.29.10/2024-11-15/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.28
curl.exe -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.28.15/2024-11-15/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.27
curl.exe -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.27.16/2024-11-15/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.26
curl.exe -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.26.15/2024-11-15/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.25
curl.exe -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.25.16/2024-11-15/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.24
curl.exe -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.24.17/2024-11-15/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.23
curl.exe -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.23.17/2024-09-11/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.22
curl.exe -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.22.17/2024-09-11/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe.sha256
-
Kubernetes
1.21
curl.exe -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.21.14/2024-09-11/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe.sha256
-
-
Check the
SHA-256
checksum for your downloaded binary.Get-FileHash kubectl.exe
-
Make sure that the generated checksum in the output matches in the checksum in the downloaded
kubectl.sha256
file. The PowerShell output should be an uppercase equivalent string of characters.
-
-
Copy the binary to a folder in your
PATH
. If you have an existing directory in yourPATH
that you use for command line utilities, copy the binary to that directory. Otherwise, complete the following steps.-
Create a new directory for your command line binaries, such as
C:\bin
. -
Copy the
kubectl.exe
binary to your new directory. -
Edit your user or system
PATH
environment variable to add the new directory to yourPATH
. -
Close your PowerShell terminal and open a new one to pick up the new
PATH
variable.
-
-
After you install
kubectl
, you can verify its version.kubectl version --client
-
When first installing
kubectl
, it isn’t yet configured to communicate with any server. We will cover this configuration as needed in other procedures. If you ever need to update the configuration to communicate with a particular cluster, you can run the following command.Replaceregion-code
with the AWS Region that your cluster is in. Replacemy-cluster
with the name of your cluster.aws eks update-kubeconfig --region region-code --name my-cluster
-
Consider configuring auto completion, which lets you use the tab key to complete
kubectl
subcommands after typing the first few letters. See Kubectl autocompletein the Kubernetes documentation for details.
Install eksctl
The eksctl
CLI is used to work with EKS clusters. It automates many individual tasks. See Installationeksctl
documentation for instructions on installing eksctl
.
When using eksctl
the IAM security principal that you’re using must have permissions to work with Amazon EKS IAM roles, service linked roles, AWS CloudFormation, a VPC, and related resources. For more information, see Actions and Using service-linked roles in the IAM User Guide. You must complete all steps in this guide as the same user. To check the current user, run the following command:
aws sts get-caller-identity