kubectl-wait

Wait for pod ready

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

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

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

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

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

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

kubectl wait [options] resource

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.

RESOURCE

Resource to wait for.

Condition to wait for.

Wait timeout.

Label selector.

Target namespace.

Display help information.

Subcommand of kubectl. Blocks execution. Set reasonable timeouts.

kubectl wait provides synchronization for Kubernetes automation and scripting.

kubectl(1), kubectl-get(1)