kubectl-port-forward

Forward local port to pod

$ kubectl port-forward [pod-name] [8080]:[80]

$ kubectl port-forward svc/[service-name] [8080]:[80]

$ kubectl port-forward deployment/[name] [8080]:[80]

$ kubectl port-forward --address [0.0.0.0] [pod-name] [8080]:[80]

kubectl port-forward type/name local:remote [options]

kubectl port-forward creates a network tunnel between a local port on your machine and a port on a pod, service, or deployment running inside a Kubernetes cluster. Traffic sent to the local port is forwarded through the Kubernetes API server to the target resource, allowing you to access cluster-internal services without exposing them via a LoadBalancer or NodePort.
This is particularly useful for debugging, accessing dashboards, connecting to databases, or testing services that are not publicly exposed. By default it listens on localhost, but you can use the --address flag to bind to additional interfaces such as 0.0.0.0 for sharing access across a local network. The port mapping is specified as local:remote, and the tunnel remains active until the command is terminated.

--address address

Addresses to listen on.

Kubernetes namespace.

kubectl(1), kubectl-proxy(1)