kubectl patch

Synopsis

Update fields of a resource using strategic merge patch, a JSON merge patch, or a JSON patch.

JSON and YAML formats are accepted.

Note: Strategic merge patch is not supported for custom resources.

kubectl patch (-f FILENAME | TYPE NAME) [-p PATCH|--patch-file FILE]

Examples

  # Partially update a node using a strategic merge patch, specifying the patch as JSON
  kubectl patch node k8s-node-1 -p '{"spec":{"unschedulable":true}}'
  
  # Partially update a node using a strategic merge patch, specifying the patch as YAML
  kubectl patch node k8s-node-1 -p $'spec:\n unschedulable: true'
  
  # Partially update a node identified by the type and name specified in "node.json" using strategic merge patch
  kubectl patch -f node.json -p '{"spec":{"unschedulable":true}}'
  
  # Update a container's image; spec.containers[*].name is required because it's a merge key
  kubectl patch pod valid-pod -p '{"spec":{"containers":[{"name":"kubernetes-serve-hostname","image":"new image"}]}}'
  
  # Update a container's image using a JSON patch with positional arrays
  kubectl patch pod valid-pod --type='json' -p='[{"op": "replace", "path": "/spec/containers/0/image", "value":"new image"}]'
  
  # Update a deployment's replicas through the 'scale' subresource using a merge patch
  kubectl patch deployment nginx-deployment --subresource='scale' --type='merge' -p '{"spec":{"replicas":2}}'

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.
--dry-run string[="unchanged"]     Default: "none"

Must be "none", "server", or "client". If client strategy, only print the object that would be sent, without sending it. If server strategy, submit server-side request without persisting the resource.
--field-manager string     Default: "kubectl-patch"

Name of the manager used to track field ownership.
-f, --filename strings

Filename, directory, or URL to files identifying the resource to update
-h, --help

help for patch
-k, --kustomize string

Process the kustomization directory. This flag can't be used together with -f or -R.
--local

If true, patch will operate on the content of the file, not the server-side resource.
-o, --output string

Output format. One of: (json, yaml, name, go-template, go-template-file, template, templatefile, jsonpath, jsonpath-as-json, jsonpath-file).
-p, --patch string

The patch to be applied to the resource JSON file.
--patch-file string

A file containing a patch to be applied to the resource.
-R, --recursive

Process the directory used in -f, --filename recursively. Useful when you want to manage related manifests organized within the same directory.
--show-managed-fields

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

If specified, patch will operate on the subresource of the requested object.
--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].
--type string     Default: "strategic"

The type of patch being provided; one of [json merge strategic]

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

  • kubectl - kubectl controls the Kubernetes cluster manager

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