bitnami-kubectl

What is bitnami-kubectl?

The Bitnami Kubectl image packages kubectl, the official Kubernetes CLI, in a container maintained by Bitnami. It allows users to interact with Kubernetes clusters from any environment without needing to install kubectl on the host machine.

Bitnami’s version is built with a focus on reproducibility, portability, and security, and is frequently used in CI/CD pipelines, automation scripts, and containerized toolchains. Because the image is updated regularly, it aligns with Kubernetes version releases and includes security patches.

This image is especially useful in restricted or minimal environments where installing binaries directly is not possible.

How to use this image

The bitnami-kubectl image can be run directly to issue Kubernetes commands.

Examples:

<code># Check cluster info using a mounted kubeconfig
docker run --rm -v $HOME/.kube/config:/root/.kube/config bitnami/kubectl:1.30 get nodes</code>

<code># Run an interactive shell with kubectl
docker run -it --rm -v $HOME/.kube/config:/root/.kube/config bitnami/kubectl:1.30 bash</code>

<code># Execute a rollout restart
docker run --rm -v $HOME/.kube/config:/root/.kube/config bitnami/kubectl:1.30 rollout restart deployment my-app</code>

In CI/CD systems, this image is often combined with service account tokens or in-cluster configs for automated deployments and maintenance.

Image variants

The Bitnami Kubectl image is published under bitnami/kubectl with the following forms:

bitnami/kubectl:<k8s-version>

Version-pinned images (e.g., bitnami/kubectl:1.30.1) aligned with specific Kubernetes releases. Recommended for production pipelines.

bitnami/kubectl:latest

Tracks the most recent stable release maintained by Bitnami. Convenient for quick testing but less predictable in production.

bitnami/kubectl:minor-version

Tags like bitnami/kubectl:1.30 track the latest patch release for a given minor version of Kubernetes.