kubectl-tunnel

A kubectl plugin that creates an SSH tunnel to your Kubernetes API server and forwards traffic through it.

Features

• Automatically detects the current Kubernetes context
• Creates an SSH tunnel to the API server
• Executes kubectl commands through the tunnel
• Cleans up the tunnel when done

Installation

From Source

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/kubectl-tunnel.git
   cd kubectl-tunnel

2. Build the plugin:

   go build -o kubectl-tunnel ./cmd/kubectl-tunnel

3. Make it executable:

   chmod +x kubectl-tunnel

4. Move it to a directory in your PATH:

   sudo mv kubectl-tunnel /usr/local/bin/kubectl-tunnel

Using go install

go install github.com/yourusername/kubectl-tunnel/cmd/kubectl-tunnel@latest

Usage

# Basic usage
kubectl tunnel get pods

# With any kubectl command
kubectl tunnel get nodes
kubectl tunnel get pods -n kube-system
kubectl tunnel apply -f deployment.yaml

# Keep the tunnel open without running a command
kubectl tunnel
# This will give you a KUBECONFIG export. Use this in another terminal for any k8s access. The
# tunnel is removed when you terminate the kubectl tunnel process.

How It Works

1. Reads your current kubeconfig
2. Extracts the API server URL from the current context
3. Creates an SSH tunnel from 127.0.0.2: to the API server
4. Creates a temporary kubeconfig using the local tunnel
5. Executes the specified kubectl command through the tunnel
6. Cleans up the tunnel when done

Requirements

• Go 1.21 or later
• kubectl installed and configured
• SSH access to the Kubernetes API server
• Proper SSH configuration in ~/.ssh/config for the API server

Note

This plugin does not accept config parameters for SSH access. These can be provided via your ~/.ssh/config file. The hostname will be taken from the CurrentContext in your kubeconfig file.

Development

To build and test changes:

# Build
make build

# Run tests
make test

# Install to $GOPATH/bin
make install