kubectl create token

Synopsis

Request a service account token.

kubectl create token SERVICE_ACCOUNT_NAME

Examples

  # Request a token to authenticate to the kube-apiserver as the service account "myapp" in the current namespace
  kubectl create token myapp
  
  # Request a token for a service account in a custom namespace
  kubectl create token myapp --namespace myns
  
  # Request a token with a custom expiration
  kubectl create token myapp --duration 10m
  
  # Request a token with a custom audience
  kubectl create token myapp --audience https://example.com
  
  # Request a token bound to an instance of a Secret object
  kubectl create token myapp --bound-object-kind Secret --bound-object-name mysecret
  
  # Request a token bound to an instance of a Secret object with a specific UID
  kubectl create token myapp --bound-object-kind Secret --bound-object-name mysecret --bound-object-uid 0d4691ed-659b-4935-a832-355f77ee47cc

Options

--allow-missing-template-keys     Default: true

If true, ignore any errors in templates when a field or map key is missing in the template. Only applies to golang and jsonpath output formats.
--audience strings

Audience of the requested token. If unset, defaults to requesting a token for use with the Kubernetes API server. May be repeated to request a token valid for multiple audiences.
--bound-object-kind string

Kind of an object to bind the token to. Supported kinds are Node, Pod, Secret. If set, --bound-object-name must be provided.
--bound-object-name string

Name of an object to bind the token to. The token will expire when the object is deleted. Requires --bound-object-kind.
--bound-object-uid string

UID of an object to bind the token to. Requires --bound-object-kind and --bound-object-name. If unset, the UID of the existing object is used.
--duration duration

Requested lifetime of the issued token. If not set or if set to 0, the lifetime will be determined by the server automatically. The server may return a token with a longer or shorter lifetime.
-h, --help

help for token
-o, --output string

Output format. One of: (json, yaml, name, go-template, go-template-file, template, templatefile, jsonpath, jsonpath-as-json, jsonpath-file).
--show-managed-fields

If true, keep the managedFields when printing objects in JSON or YAML format.
--template string

Template string or path to template file to use when -o=go-template, -o=go-template-file. The template format is golang templates [http://golang.org/pkg/text/template/#pkg-overview].

Parent Options Inherited

--as string

Username to impersonate for the operation. User could be a regular user or a service account in a namespace.
--as-group strings

Group to impersonate for the operation, this flag can be repeated to specify multiple groups.
--as-uid string

UID to impersonate for the operation.
--cache-dir string     Default: "$HOME/.kube/cache"

Default cache directory
--certificate-authority string

Path to a cert file for the certificate authority
--client-certificate string

Path to a client certificate file for TLS
--client-key string

Path to a client key file for TLS
--cluster string

The name of the kubeconfig cluster to use
--context string

The name of the kubeconfig context to use
--disable-compression

If true, opt-out of response compression for all requests to the server
--insecure-skip-tls-verify

If true, the server's certificate will not be checked for validity. This will make your HTTPS connections insecure
--kubeconfig string

Path to the kubeconfig file to use for CLI requests.
--kuberc string

Path to the kuberc file to use for preferences. This can be disabled by exporting KUBECTL_KUBERC=false feature gate or turning off the feature KUBERC=off.
--match-server-version

Require server version to match client version
-n, --namespace string

If present, the namespace scope for this CLI request
--password string

Password for basic authentication to the API server
--profile string     Default: "none"

Name of profile to capture. One of (none|cpu|heap|goroutine|threadcreate|block|mutex)
--profile-output string     Default: "profile.pprof"

Name of the file to write the profile to
--request-timeout string     Default: "0"

The length of time to wait before giving up on a single server request. Non-zero values should contain a corresponding time unit (e.g. 1s, 2m, 3h). A value of zero means don't timeout requests.
-s, --server string

The address and port of the Kubernetes API server
--storage-driver-buffer-duration duration     Default: 1m0s

Writes in the storage driver will be buffered for this duration, and committed to the non memory backends as a single transaction
--storage-driver-db string     Default: "cadvisor"

database name
--storage-driver-host string     Default: "localhost:8086"

database host:port
--storage-driver-password string     Default: "root"

database password
--storage-driver-secure

use secure connection with database
--storage-driver-table string     Default: "stats"

table name
--storage-driver-user string     Default: "root"

database username
--tls-server-name string

Server name to use for server certificate validation. If it is not provided, the hostname used to contact the server is used
--token string

Bearer token for authentication to the API server
--user string

The name of the kubeconfig user to use
--username string

Username for basic authentication to the API server
--version version[=true]

--version, --version=raw prints version information and quits; --version=vX.Y.Z... sets the reported version
--warnings-as-errors

Treat warnings received from the server as errors and exit with a non-zero exit code

See Also


Last modified September 04, 2025 at 3:30 PM PST: Update kubectl reference for v1.34 (bdc4bba2a5)