Get a Shell to a Running Container
Archived: 2026-04-05 19:14:22 UTC
This page shows how to use kubectl exec to get a shell to a running container.
Before you begin
You need to have a Kubernetes cluster, and the kubectl command-line tool must be configured to communicate
with your cluster. It is recommended to run this tutorial on a cluster with at least two nodes that are not acting as
control plane hosts. If you do not already have a cluster, you can create one by using minikube or you can use one
of these Kubernetes playgrounds:
iximiuz Labs
Killercoda
KodeKloud
Getting a shell to a container
In this exercise, you create a Pod that has one container. The container runs the nginx image. Here is the
configuration file for the Pod:
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
 name: shell-demo
spec:
 volumes:
 - name: shared-data
 emptyDir: {}
 containers:
 - name: nginx
 image: nginx
 volumeMounts:
 - name: shared-data
 mountPath: /usr/share/nginx/html
 hostNetwork: true
 dnsPolicy: Default
Create the Pod:
kubectl apply -f https://k8s.io/examples/application/shell-demo.yaml
https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/debug-application-cluster/get-shell-running-container/
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Verify that the container is running:
kubectl get pod shell-demo
Get a shell to the running container:
kubectl exec --stdin --tty shell-demo -- /bin/bash
Note:
The double dash ( -- ) separates the arguments you want to pass to the command from the kubectl arguments.
In your shell, list the root directory:
# Run this inside the container
ls /
In your shell, experiment with other commands. Here are some examples:
# You can run these example commands inside the container
ls /
cat /proc/mounts
cat /proc/1/maps
apt-get update
apt-get install -y tcpdump
tcpdump
apt-get install -y lsof
lsof
apt-get install -y procps
ps aux
ps aux | grep nginx
Writing the root page for nginx
Look again at the configuration file for your Pod. The Pod has an emptyDir volume, and the container mounts
the volume at /usr/share/nginx/html .
In your shell, create an index.html file in the /usr/share/nginx/html directory:
# Run this inside the container
echo 'Hello shell demo' > /usr/share/nginx/html/index.html
In your shell, send a GET request to the nginx server:
https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/debug-application-cluster/get-shell-running-container/
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# Run this in the shell inside your container
apt-get update
apt-get install curl
curl http://localhost/
The output shows the text that you wrote to the index.html file:
Hello shell demo
When you are finished with your shell, enter exit .
exit # To quit the shell in the container
Running individual commands in a container
In an ordinary command window, not your shell, list the environment variables in the running container:
kubectl exec shell-demo -- env
Experiment with running other commands. Here are some examples:
kubectl exec shell-demo -- ps aux
kubectl exec shell-demo -- ls /
kubectl exec shell-demo -- cat /proc/1/mounts
Opening a shell when a Pod has more than one container
If a Pod has more than one container, use --container or -c to specify a container in the kubectl exec
command. For example, suppose you have a Pod named my-pod, and the Pod has two containers named main-app
and helper-app. The following command would open a shell to the main-app container.
kubectl exec -i -t my-pod --container main-app -- /bin/bash
Note:
The short options -i and -t are the same as the long options --stdin and --tty
What's next
Read about kubectl exec
https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/debug-application-cluster/get-shell-running-container/
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Last modified September 19, 2023 at 11:12 PM PST: fix: update deprecated command (448734c716)
Source: https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/debug-application-cluster/get-shell-running-container/
https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/debug-application-cluster/get-shell-running-container/
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