kubectl-wait

blocks until conditions are met

TLDR

Wait for pod ready

$ kubectl wait --for=condition=Ready pod/[pod-name]

Wait for deletion

$ kubectl wait --for=delete pod/[pod-name]

Wait for creation

$ kubectl wait --for=create secret/[name]

Wait with timeout

$ kubectl wait --for=condition=Ready pod/[pod-name] --timeout=[60s]

Wait for deployment available

$ kubectl wait --for=condition=Available deployment/[name]

Wait with label selector across resources

$ kubectl wait --for=condition=Ready pods -l [app=myapp]

Wait for a JSONPath value

$ kubectl wait --for=jsonpath='{.status.phase}'=Running pod/[name]

Wait across all namespaces

$ kubectl wait --for=condition=Ready pods --all -A

kubectl wait blocks execution until one or more Kubernetes resources reach a specified condition, making it an essential synchronization primitive for shell scripts, CI/CD pipelines, and automation workflows. Rather than polling with repeated `kubectl get` calls, it efficiently watches the resource and returns as soon as the condition is satisfied or the timeout expires.The command supports built-in condition checks such as `condition=Ready` and `condition=Available`, resource deletion events via `--for=delete`, and arbitrary field matching through JSONPath expressions like `jsonpath='{.status.phase}'=Running`. It can target individual resources by name or groups of resources matched by label selectors, and always defaults to a 30-second timeout unless overridden with --timeout.

PARAMETERS

RESOURCE

Resource(s) to wait on, e.g. `pod/busybox`, `deployment/web`, or a type like `pods`.

--for EXPR

Condition to wait on. Accepts `create`, `delete`, `condition=<name>[=<value>]`, or `jsonpath='{...}'[=<value>]`. Default condition value is `true`.

--timeout DURATION

Maximum time to wait (e.g. 30s, 5m). Default is 30s. Zero means check once; a negative value waits up to a week.

--all

Select all resources of the given type in the namespace.

-A, --all-namespaces

Operate across all namespaces.

-l, --selector QUERY

Label selector to filter resources.

--field-selector QUERY

Field selector to filter resources.

-f, --filename FILE

Identify the resource(s) via a manifest file or directory.

-n, --namespace NS

Target namespace.

-o, --output FORMAT

Output format (json, yaml, name, go-template, jsonpath, ...).

--help

Display help information.

INSTALL

sudo apt install kubectl

sudo pacman -S kubectl

sudo apk add kubectl

brew install kubectl

nix profile install nixpkgs#kubectl

CAVEATS

Subcommand of kubectl. Blocks execution. Set reasonable timeouts.

HISTORY

kubectl wait provides synchronization for Kubernetes automation and scripting.