kubectl scale

Synopsis

Set a new size for a deployment, replica set, replication controller, or stateful set.

Scale also allows users to specify one or more preconditions for the scale action.

If --current-replicas or --resource-version is specified, it is validated before the scale is attempted, and it is guaranteed that the precondition holds true when the scale is sent to the server.

kubectl scale [--resource-version=version] [--current-replicas=count] --replicas=COUNT (-f FILENAME | TYPE NAME)

Examples

  # Scale a replica set named 'foo' to 3
  kubectl scale --replicas=3 rs/foo
  
  # Scale a resource identified by type and name specified in "foo.yaml" to 3
  kubectl scale --replicas=3 -f foo.yaml
  
  # If the deployment named mysql's current size is 2, scale mysql to 3
  kubectl scale --current-replicas=2 --replicas=3 deployment/mysql
  
  # Scale multiple replication controllers
  kubectl scale --replicas=5 rc/example1 rc/example2 rc/example3
  
  # Scale stateful set named 'web' to 3
  kubectl scale --replicas=3 statefulset/web

Options

--all

Select all resources in the namespace of the specified resource types
--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.
--current-replicas int     Default: -1

Precondition for current size. Requires that the current size of the resource match this value in order to scale. -1 (default) for no condition.
--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.
-f, --filename strings

Filename, directory, or URL to files identifying the resource to set a new size
-h, --help

help for scale
-k, --kustomize string

Process the kustomization directory. This flag can't be used together with -f or -R.
-o, --output string

Output format. One of: (json, yaml, name, go-template, go-template-file, template, templatefile, jsonpath, jsonpath-as-json, jsonpath-file).
-R, --recursive

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

The new desired number of replicas. Required.
--resource-version string

Precondition for resource version. Requires that the current resource version match this value in order to scale.
-l, --selector string

Selector (label query) to filter on, supports '=', '==', '!=', 'in', 'notin'.(e.g. -l key1=value1,key2=value2,key3 in (value3)). Matching objects must satisfy all of the specified label constraints.
--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].
--timeout duration

The length of time to wait before giving up on a scale operation, zero means don't wait. Any other values should contain a corresponding time unit (e.g. 1s, 2m, 3h).

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)