Installation

Kubecolor can be installed in various ways through a number of package managers. If you don’t have any of the package managers available, then consider downloading the binary.

The badges below each section show the latest version available for that package repository. Green means that it’s up-to-date, while red means outdated.

Prerequisites

As a prerequisite, you must first install kubectl. Some packages listed below will install it for you. But some won’t.

Caution

Because kubecolor internally calls kubectl command, if you are using unsupported kubectl version, it’s also not supported by kubecolor. Kubernetes version support policy can be found in official doc.

Homebrew

For MacOS (and some Linux) users using the Homebrew package manager.

brew install kubecolor

Note

If you previously installed kubecolor using the old brew install kubecolor/tap/kubecolor command, remove it first:

brew uninstall kubecolor
brew untap kubecolor/tap
brew update
brew install kubecolor

MacPorts New

For MacOS users using the MacPorts package manager.

sudo port install kubecolor

DEB New

Applies to: Debian, Ubuntu, Pop!_OS, Linux Mint, Elementary OS

Do not use the kubecolor package from debian-unstable or Ubuntu’s repositories as it is very outdated. Instead, use our custom repo.

Graphical install

Our .deb files are self-bootstrapping, meaning you just have to install it and it will set up the repository for you so that you will get any future updates in your package manager.

1. Download the deb file for your architecture from the latest release (found down at the “Assets”)

2. Install it using your package manager by opening the downloaded deb file

3. Done 🎉

Scripted install

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https wget --yes
wget -O /tmp/kubecolor.deb https://kubecolor.github.io/packages/deb/pool/main/k/kubecolor/kubecolor_$(wget -q -O- https://kubecolor.github.io/packages/deb/version)_$(dpkg --print-architecture).deb
sudo dpkg -i /tmp/kubecolor.deb
sudo apt update

RPM New

Applies to: Fedora, CentOS, RHEL, openSUSE, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux

dnf5

sudo dnf install dnf5-plugins
sudo dnf config-manager addrepo --from-repofile https://kubecolor.github.io/packages/rpm/kubecolor.repo
sudo dnf install kubecolor

DNF5 is found in Fedora 41 and later. Run dnf --version to see which version you have.

OpenPGP key fingerprint: 5BC8E65EEE2DB9CBCD44A91762ACB02733C915F1

dnf4

sudo dnf install 'dnf-command(config-manager)'
sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo https://kubecolor.github.io/packages/rpm/kubecolor.repo
sudo dnf install kubecolor

DNF5 is found in Fedora 40 and earlier. Run dnf --version to see which version you have.

GPG key fingerprint: 5BC8 E65E EE2D B9CB CD44 A917 62AC B027 33C9 15F1

zypper

sudo zypper addrepo https://kubecolor.github.io/packages/rpm/kubecolor.repo
sudo zypper install kubecolor

Zypper is found in openSUSE

Key fingerprint: 5BC8 E65E EE2D B9CB CD44 A917 62AC B027 33C9 15F1

yum

type -p yum-config-manager >/dev/null || sudo yum install yum-utils
sudo yum-config-manager --add-repo https://kubecolor.github.io/packages/rpm/kubecolor.repo
sudo yum install kubecolor

GPG key fingerprint: 5BC8 E65E EE2D B9CB CD44 A917 62AC B027 33C9 15F1

Scoop

For Windows users using the Scoop package manager.

scoop install kubecolor

winget

For Windows users using the winget package manager.

winget install --id Kubecolor.kubecolor

Nix

nix-shell

nix-shell -p kubecolor

nix shell

nix shell nixpkgs#kubecolor

flox

Flox is a package manager built on top of Nix.

flox install kubecolor

AUR (Arch User Repositories)

Applies to: Manjaro, ChimeraOS, EndeavourOS

yay -Syu kubecolor

Termux (Android)

For Android users using the Termux app.

pkg install kubecolor

mise

For users using the mise-en-place package manager.

mise install kubecolor

This installs the aqua package behind the scenes.

asdf

For users using the asdf package manager.

asdf install kubecolor latest

In asdf-plugins this refers to dex4er/asdf-kubecolor, which in turn just uses the latest version of kubecolor from our GitHub releases.

aqua

For users using the aqua package manager.

aqua g -i kubecolor/kubecolor

Download binary via GitHub release

Go to Release page then download the binary which fits your environment.

Compile from source

Requires Go 1.22 (or later)

go install github.com/kubecolor/kubecolor@latest

Docker

Running it via Docker can be nice for just trying out kubecolor:

docker run --rm -it -v $HOME/.kube:/home/nonroot/.kube:ro --env COLORTERM ghcr.io/kubecolor/kubecolor get pods

Note

If you’re getting the error permission denied (common in environments like WSL):

error: error loading config file "/home/nonroot/.kube/config": open /home/nonroot/.kube/config: permission denied

then try changing the permission of your ~/.kube/config file:

chmod 644 ~/.kube/config

Missing a repository?

We only add new repositories and ways to install kubecolor on demand. If you feel like your favorite package manager is missing, then please file a feature request.