kubectl-mft

The simplest way to manage Kubernetes manifests

kubectl-mft is a kubectl plugin that makes manifest management as simple as managing container images. No complex templating, no overlay structures—just save, version, and retrieve your manifests.

Why kubectl-mft?

Simpler than Helm

• No chart structure or templating syntax to learn
• No values.yaml files to maintain
• Just plain Kubernetes YAML

Simpler than Kustomize

• No base/overlay directory structure
• No patches or strategic merge logic
• Store and retrieve manifests directly

As simple as Docker images

kubectl mft pack -f deployment.yaml myregistry/app:v1.0.0
kubectl mft push myregistry/app:v1.0.0
kubectl mft pull myregistry/app:v1.0.0
kubectl mft dump myregistry/app:v1.0.0 | kubectl apply -f -

Under the hood, it uses OCI registries—the same technology that stores your container images.

Features

• Simple workflow - Pack, push, pull, and apply—just like Docker
• Version control - Tag and version your manifests like container images
• Any OCI registry - Works with Docker Hub, GitHub Container Registry, Google Artifact Registry, etc.
• Local caching - Efficiently manage locally stored manifests

Quick Start

# Package a Kubernetes manifest
kubectl mft pack -f deployment.yaml localhost:5000/myapp/config:v1.0.0

# Push to OCI registry
kubectl mft push localhost:5000/myapp/config:v1.0.0

# Pull from OCI registry
kubectl mft pull localhost:5000/myapp/config:v1.0.0

# Dump and apply to cluster
kubectl mft dump localhost:5000/myapp/config:v1.0.0 | kubectl apply -f -

Installation

Using Krew (Recommended)

Krew is the plugin manager for kubectl.

# Add the custom index
kubectl krew index add mft https://github.com/chez-shanpu/kubectl-mft.git

# Install kubectl-mft
kubectl krew install mft/mft

# Verify installation
kubectl mft --help

To update:

kubectl krew upgrade mft/mft

Download Binary from GitHub Releases

Download the latest release for your platform from GitHub Releases.

Linux / macOS

# Download and extract (replace VERSION, OS, and ARCH as needed)
curl -L https://github.com/chez-shanpu/kubectl-mft/releases/download/VERSION/kubectl-mft_VERSION_OS_ARCH.tar.gz | tar xz

# Move to a directory in your PATH
sudo mv kubectl-mft /usr/local/bin/

# Verify installation
kubectl mft --help

Windows

Download the .zip file for your architecture from the releases page, extract it, and add the binary to your PATH.

Using Go

go install github.com/chez-shanpu/kubectl-mft@latest

From Source

git clone https://github.com/chez-shanpu/kubectl-mft.git
cd kubectl-mft
make build
# Binary will be in bin/kubectl-mft

Usage Examples

Basic Workflow

1. Pack a manifest into OCI layout

kubectl mft pack -f my-deployment.yaml ghcr.io/myorg/manifests:v1.0.0

2. Push to a registry

# Authenticate first (if needed)
docker login ghcr.io

# Push the manifest
kubectl mft push ghcr.io/myorg/manifests:v1.0.0

3. Pull from a registry

kubectl mft pull ghcr.io/myorg/manifests:v1.0.0

4. Apply to cluster

kubectl mft dump ghcr.io/myorg/manifests:v1.0.0 | kubectl apply -f -

Simple Tag Names

You can use simple tag names without a registry prefix. They are automatically stored under the local/ namespace:

# These are equivalent:
kubectl mft pack -f deployment.yaml myapp:v1.0.0
kubectl mft pack -f deployment.yaml local/myapp:v1.0.0

# List shows them without the "local/" prefix
kubectl mft list
# REPOSITORY   TAG      SIZE   CREATED
# myapp        v1.0.0   694B   2025-01-15 10:30

# Dump using simple tag
kubectl mft dump myapp:v1.0.0 | kubectl apply -f -

Managing Local Manifests

List all locally stored manifests

# Table format (default)
kubectl mft list

# JSON format
kubectl mft list -o json

# YAML format
kubectl mft list -o yaml

Get file path to manifest blob

# Get the file path
kubectl mft path localhost:5000/myapp:v1.0.0

# Use with kubectl debug --custom
kubectl debug mypod -it --image busyboz --custom=$(kubectl mft path localhost:5000/debug-container)

Delete a manifest

# With confirmation prompt
kubectl mft delete localhost:5000/myapp:v1.0.0

# Skip confirmation
kubectl mft delete localhost:5000/myapp:v1.0.0 --force

Save manifest to file

kubectl mft dump ghcr.io/myorg/manifests:v1.0.0 -o my-manifest.yaml

Copy a manifest to a new tag

# Copy within the same repository
kubectl mft cp ghcr.io/myorg/manifests:v1.0.0 ghcr.io/myorg/manifests:latest

# Copy to a different repository
kubectl mft cp ghcr.io/myorg/manifests:v1.0.0 ghcr.io/myorg/prod-manifests:v1.0.0

Command Reference

Command	Description
pack	Package a Kubernetes manifest into OCI layout format
push	Push a manifest to an OCI registry
pull	Pull a manifest from an OCI registry
dump	Output a manifest from local storage
list	List all locally stored manifests
path	Get the file path to a manifest blob
delete	Delete a manifest from local storage
cp	Copy a manifest to a new tag in local storage

For detailed usage of each command, run kubectl mft <command> --help.

Authentication

kubectl-mft uses Docker's credential store for registry authentication. Log in using Docker:

docker login registry.example.com

License

Apache License 2.0 - see LICENSE for details.

Copyright Authors of kubectl-mft