Kubernetes: Where is my default Kubeconfig file? - Marc Nuri (2024)

Kubeconfig is the file used by kubectl to retrieve the required configuration to access your Kubernetes cluster.

You can override the default Kubeconfig location by providing kubectl with the --kubeconfig flag or by setting a $KUBECONFIG environment variable.

The default lookup order would be:

1. --kubeconfig command-line flag. If set, only this file will be considered. n.b. only one instance of this flag is allowed (i.e. only one file can be loaded for a command execution).
2. $KUBECONFIG environment variable. In this case, a list of files can be provided and kubectl will merge them. A list of paths can be provided, delimited with your filesystem's default path separator.
3. Default .kube/config file located in the local user's directory. If none of the other options is active, kubectl will only use this file with no merging.

Where is the default Kubeconfig in Linux?

The default location of .kube/config file is:

~/.kube/config

Where is the default Kubeconfig in Windows?

The default location of .kube/config file is:

%USERPROFILE%\.kube\config

Where is the default Kubeconfig in Mac?

Just like in Linux, the default location of .kube/config file is:

~/.kube/config

References

• Kubernetes Documentation: Concepts > Configuration > Merging kubeconfig files