CLI Reference¶

Complete command-line reference for k13d.

Synopsis¶

k13d [flags]
kubectl k13d [flags]

k13d uses Go's standard flag parser, so both --web and -web work. This document standardizes on:

one-letter flags: -n, -A
multi-letter flags: --web, --auth-mode

Default file paths are resolved from the platform config directory:

Platform	Config path	DB path
Linux	`${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-~/.config}/k13d/config.yaml`	`${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-~/.config}/k13d/audit.db`
macOS	`~/.config/k13d/config.yaml`	`~/Library/Application Support/k13d/audit.db`
Windows	`%AppData%\\k13d\\config.yaml`	`%AppData%\\k13d\\audit.db`

Modes¶

Mode	Example	Description
TUI	`k13d`	Terminal dashboard (default)
Web	`k13d --web`	Browser dashboard
MCP	`k13d --mcp`	MCP server over stdio

Flags¶

Startup & Scope¶

Flag	Default	Description
`--web`	`false`	Start Web UI mode
`--tui`	`false`	Start TUI mode explicitly
`--mcp`	`false`	Start MCP server mode
`--port`	`8080`	Web server port
`--config`	`~/.config/k13d/config.yaml` on macOS, `<XDG config home>/k13d/config.yaml` otherwise	Config file path
`--namespace`, `-n`	current/default	Initial namespace
`--all-namespaces`, `-A`	`false`	Start with all namespaces

Authentication¶

Flag	Default	Description
`--auth-mode`	`token`	`token`, `local`, `ldap`, `oidc`
`--no-auth`	`false`	Disable authentication
`--admin-user`	`admin` in local mode	Default admin username
`--admin-password`	random in local mode	Default admin password

--auth-mode local shows the username/password login form. --auth-mode token shows the Kubernetes token form.

Storage¶

Flag	Default	Description
`--db-path`	`<XDG config home>/k13d/audit.db`	SQLite database path
`--no-db`	`false`	Disable database-backed persistence
`--storage-info`	`false`	Print storage paths and exit

Utility¶

Flag	Default	Description
`--version`	`false`	Print version information
`--completion <shell>`	-	Generate `bash`, `zsh`, or `fish` completion

Examples¶

TUI¶

k13d
k13d -n kube-system
k13d -A

Web UI¶

k13d --web
k13d --web --port 3000
k13d --web --auth-mode local
k13d --web --auth-mode local --admin-user admin --admin-password changeme
k13d --web --no-auth

Custom Config¶

k13d --config /etc/k13d/config.yaml
k13d --web --config ./config/dev.yaml

Local AI With Ollama¶

ollama serve
ollama pull gpt-oss:20b
k13d --web --auth-mode local

MCP Server¶

k13d --mcp
kubectl k13d --mcp

Environment Variable Equivalents¶

These environment variables are read directly by the CLI:

Environment Variable	Equivalent Flag
`K13D_WEB`	`--web`
`K13D_PORT`	`--port`
`K13D_CONFIG`	`--config`
`K13D_NAMESPACE`	`--namespace`
`K13D_ALL_NAMESPACES`	`--all-namespaces`
`K13D_AUTH_MODE`	`--auth-mode`
`K13D_NO_AUTH`	`--no-auth`
`K13D_USERNAME`	`--admin-user`
`K13D_PASSWORD`	`--admin-password`
`K13D_DB_PATH`	`--db-path`
`K13D_NO_DB`	`--no-db`

Notes¶

KUBECONFIG is supported through Kubernetes client-go loading rules.
Web UI startup logs print Config File, Config Path Source, and Env Overrides, which is helpful when you are unsure which config file is active.
--auth-mode ldap and --auth-mode oidc select those auth paths, but the stock binary does not yet expose every provider-specific LDAP/OIDC field as first-class CLI flags.
Embedded LLM flags were removed. For local inference, use Ollama instead.
There is no --kubeconfig, --context, --debug, --host, --tls, --password, report, or bench CLI in the current binary.
config.yaml is loaded first, then environment variables override it, then explicit CLI flags override those defaults.