TUI Dashboard¶

The Terminal User Interface (TUI) provides a k9s-like experience for managing Kubernetes clusters directly from your terminal.

Overview¶

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ k13d │ Context: minikube │ Namespace: default │ ? for help     │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Pods (8)                        │ │ AI Assistant            │ │
│ │                                 │ │                         │ │
│ │ NAME            READY  STATUS   │ │ Ask me anything about   │ │
│ │ nginx-abc123    1/1    Running  │ │ your cluster...         │ │
│ │ api-def456      2/2    Running  │ │                         │ │
│ │ db-ghi789       1/1    Running  │ │ > Why is nginx failing? │ │
│ │                                 │ │                         │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────┘ └─────────────────────────┘ │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ :pods   Filter: /nginx                                          │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Getting Started¶

Launch TUI Mode¶

# Default mode
k13d

# With specific kubeconfig
k13d --kubeconfig ~/.kube/my-cluster

# With specific context
k13d --context production

Navigation¶

Basic Navigation¶

Resource Navigation¶

Panel Focus¶

Resource Commands¶

Viewing Resources¶

Namespace Commands¶

Management Commands¶

Autocomplete¶

When typing a command, k13d provides smart autocomplete:

• Single match: Dimmed hint text appears (press Tab to accept)
• Multiple matches: Dropdown overlay appears above command bar
• Up / Down to navigate
• Tab or Enter to select
• Esc to dismiss
• Custom aliases from aliases.yaml included in results

Resource Aliases¶

Define custom command shortcuts in ~/.config/k13d/aliases.yaml:

aliases:
  pp: pods
  dep: deployments
  svc: services
  sec: secrets
  cm: configmaps
  ds: daemonsets
  sts: statefulsets

Usage¶

• Type :pp to navigate to Pods (alias resolves automatically)
• Type :alias to see all active aliases (built-in + custom)
• Custom aliases integrate with autocomplete — type :p and press Tab
• If a custom alias conflicts with a built-in, the custom alias wins

Resource Actions¶

General Actions¶

Pod-Specific Actions¶

Deployment Actions¶

Node Actions¶

AI Assistant¶

Using the AI Panel¶

1. Press Tab to focus on the AI panel
2. Type your question
3. Press Enter to send
4. View the response in the output area

Chat History¶

Previous Q&A sessions are preserved within each TUI session. Scroll up to review past conversations, separated by visual dividers.

Model Switching¶

Switch AI models on the fly:

• Type :model to see all configured profiles
• Type :model gpt-4o to switch directly
• Active model marked with * in selector

AI Actions on Resources¶

Tool Approval¶

When AI requests to execute a command:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Tool Approval Required                   │
│                                         │
│ kubectl get pods -n production          │
│                                         │
│ [Y] Approve  [N] Reject  [A] Always     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Filtering and Search¶

Filter Syntax¶

/nginx           # Contains "nginx"
/^nginx          # Starts with "nginx"
/nginx$          # Ends with "nginx"
/nginx.*running  # Regex pattern

Quick Filter¶

Status Bar¶

The status bar shows:

:pods [1/25] │ Filter: nginx │ Context: production │ NS: default

• Current resource type
• Selection index / total count
• Active filter
• Kubernetes context
• Current namespace

Plugins¶

Extend k13d with external CLI tools via ~/.config/k13d/plugins.yaml. Plugins bind keyboard shortcuts to commands that run with the selected resource's context.

Quick Start¶

Create ~/.config/k13d/plugins.yaml:

plugins:
  dive:
    shortCut: "Ctrl-I"
    description: "Dive into container image layers"
    scopes: [pods]
    command: dive
    args: [$IMAGE]

Then in the TUI:

1. Navigate to Pods (:pods)
2. Select a pod with j/k
3. Press Ctrl+I to launch dive with the pod's container image

Using Plugins¶

Example Plugins¶

plugins:
  # Analyze container image layers
  dive:
    shortCut: "Ctrl-I"
    description: "Dive into container image layers"
    scopes: [pods]
    command: dive
    args: [$IMAGE]

  # Debug pod with ephemeral container
  debug:
    shortCut: "Shift-D"
    description: "Debug pod with ephemeral container"
    scopes: [pods]
    command: kubectl
    args: [debug, -n, $NAMESPACE, $NAME, -it, --image=busybox]
    confirm: true

  # Background port-forward
  port-forward:
    shortCut: "Shift-F"
    description: "Port-forward to localhost:8080"
    scopes: [pods, services]
    command: kubectl
    args: [port-forward, -n, $NAMESPACE, $NAME, "8080:80"]
    background: true
    confirm: true

  # Multi-pod log streaming
  stern:
    shortCut: "Shift-S"
    description: "Stream logs with stern (by app label)"
    scopes: [deployments]
    command: stern
    args: [-n, $NAMESPACE, $LABELS.app]

  # Open in external tool (all resources)
  lens:
    shortCut: "Ctrl-O"
    description: "Open in Lens"
    scopes: ["*"]
    command: lens
    args: [--context, $CONTEXT]
    background: true

See Configuration > Plugins for the full reference including all available variables.

Custom Hotkeys¶

Define custom keyboard shortcuts in ~/.config/k13d/hotkeys.yaml to execute external commands:

hotkeys:
  stern-logs:
    shortCut: "Shift-L"
    description: "Stern multi-pod logs"
    scopes: [pods, deployments]
    command: stern
    args: ["-n", "$NAMESPACE", "$NAME"]

  port-forward-8080:
    shortCut: "Ctrl-P"
    description: "Port forward to 8080"
    scopes: [pods, services]
    command: kubectl
    args: [port-forward, -n, "$NAMESPACE", "$NAME", "8080:8080"]

Hotkeys support $NAMESPACE, $NAME, and $CONTEXT variable expansion. Set dangerous: true to require confirmation before execution.

Per-Resource Sort Defaults¶

Configure default sort in ~/.config/k13d/views.yaml:

views:
  pods:
    sortColumn: AGE
    sortAscending: false       # Newest first
  deployments:
    sortColumn: NAME
    sortAscending: true        # Alphabetical
  services:
    sortColumn: TYPE
    sortAscending: true

Sort preferences are applied automatically when navigating to each resource. k13d detects column types (numeric, age, ready format, string) for proper sorting.

Context Switching¶

Switch between Kubernetes clusters:

1. Type :context or :ctx
2. Select from available contexts (current marked with *)
3. Press Enter to switch

On switch, k13d reconnects to the new cluster, reloads namespaces, and refreshes all resource data.

Customization¶

Theme Configuration¶

k13d uses a Tokyo Night-inspired theme by default.

Configuration File¶

# ~/.config/k13d/config.yaml

ui:
  theme: tokyo-night  # or: light, dark, nord
  refresh_interval: 5s
  show_header: true
  show_status: true

Keyboard Shortcuts Reference¶

Global¶

Navigation¶

Actions¶

AI¶

Tips and Tricks¶

1. Quick Namespace Switch¶

:ns default
:ns -          # Previous namespace

2. Resource Shortcuts¶

:po           # pods
:svc          # services
:deploy       # deployments
:no           # nodes
:alias        # view all aliases
:model        # switch AI model
:plugins      # view plugins

3. Filter + Action¶

/error        # Filter to errors
Shift+L       # AI analyze all matching

4. Vim-Style Navigation¶

If you're familiar with Vim:

• j/k for up/down
• gg for top
• G for bottom
• / for search

Next Steps¶

• Web Dashboard - Web UI alternative
• Keyboard Shortcuts - Complete shortcut reference
• AI Assistant - AI features