kubectl-events

Show events in the default namespace

$ kubectl events

$ kubectl events [[-A|--all-namespaces]]

$ kubectl events [[-w|--watch]] [[-n|--namespace]] [namespace]

$ kubectl events --for [pod]/[pod_name] [[-n|--namespace]] [namespace]

$ kubectl events --for [resource]/[resource_name] [[-n|--namespace]] [namespace]

$ kubectl events --types Warning,Normal

$ kubectl events [[-o|--output]] yaml

kubectl events [OPTIONS]

--all-namespaces, -A
    List events from all namespaces (default: false)

--chunk-size int
    Chunk size for API server requests (default: 500)

--field-selector string
    Filter by fields, e.g., 'reason=FailedScheduling', 'involvedObject.name=my-pod'

--for resource[/name]
    Show events related to specific resource, e.g., 'pod/my-pod' or 'deployment/my-app'

--sort-by string
    Sort output by field name, e.g., 'lastTimestamp'

-n, --namespace string
    Namespace for events (default: current)

The kubectl events command streams and lists watchable events from a Kubernetes cluster, providing real-time insights into cluster activities. Events capture significant occurrences like pod scheduling, container restarts, node failures, resource quotas exceeded, or controller reconciliations.

By default, it tails recent events in the current namespace indefinitely. Key use cases include debugging deployment issues, monitoring scheduler decisions, and troubleshooting node problems. Output columns include LAST SEEN, TYPE (Normal/Warning), REASON, OBJECT, and MESSAGE.

Unlike kubectl get events, which snapshots events at a point in time, kubectl events watches for new ones dynamically. It's efficient for live monitoring but relies on the Event API, which has a default 1-hour TTL, meaning older events may expire.

Events have ~1h TTL and may not persist; output not perfectly ordered in distributed clusters; requires watch permissions.

kubectl events --for pod/nginx # Events for specific pod
kubectl events -A --field-selector reason=NodeNotReady # Node failures cluster-wide

Columns: LAST SEEN | TYPE | REASON | OBJECT | SOURCE | MESSAGE
Supports --output=json/yaml

Introduced as alpha in Kubernetes v1.19, beta in v1.20, stable in v1.23. Replaces deprecated 'kubectl get events' for dynamic watching.

kubectl get(1), kubectl describe(1), kubectl logs(1)