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Install the CLI

How-to guide Operate a cluster

Check resource status

Use kix status to compare a cluster definition with the resources currently running in Kubernetes and see their readiness state.

Show the cluster status

Section titled “Show the cluster status”

Run the command with the cluster name:

kix-examples/ 
❱ kix status how-to-application
Kubernetes cluster ID: 273d1992-4151-4e27-b64e-d3cab7e00d1f
Kubernetes version: v1.35.0

 NAME                             NAMESPACE    KIND                      READY  STATUS    AGE 
 how-to-application-6rhi3wpk9iml  _cluster     Activation                True   Active    56s 
 activations.kix.run              _cluster     CustomResourceDefinition  True   Active    57s 
 packageinstances.kix.run         _cluster     CustomResourceDefinition  True   Active    57s 
 how-to-app                       _cluster     Namespace                 True   Active    57s 
 kube-system                      _cluster     Namespace                 True   Active    1m  
 preview                          how-to-app   ConfigMap                 True   Active    57s 
 production                       how-to-app   ConfigMap                 True   Active    57s 
 production-health-script         how-to-app   ConfigMap                 True   Active    57s 
 preview                          how-to-app   Deployment                True   1/1       57s 
 production                       how-to-app   Deployment                True   2/2       57s 
 production-health                how-to-app   Job                       True   Complete  21s 
 preview                          how-to-app   PackageInstance           True   Active    25s 
 production                       how-to-app   PackageInstance           True   Active    1s  
 preview                          how-to-app   Service                   True   Active    25s 
 production                       how-to-app   Service                   True   Active    21s 
 platform-dns                     kube-system  PackageInstance           True   Active    56s 
 platform-storage                 kube-system  PackageInstance           True   Active    56s

Kix reads the cluster using the selected kubectl context. The output groups resources by package and reports the state Kix observes for each one.

Use this after a deployment to confirm that workloads remain ready, Jobs have completed, and the active cluster resources are still present.

Select a Kubernetes context

Section titled “Select a Kubernetes context”

Pass --context when the desired cluster is not the current kubectl context:

kix-examples/ 
❱ kix status how-to-application --context kind-kix-demo

The context controls which Kubernetes API Kix reads. The --flake option independently controls which cluster definition it evaluates:

❱ kix status how-to-application --flake ./infrastructure --context kind-kix-demo

Investigate an unhealthy resource

Section titled “Investigate an unhealthy resource”

Status is a summary. When a resource is not ready:

  1. Note its kind, name, and namespace in the status output.
  2. Inspect it with kubectl describe.
  3. Read Pod or Job logs where applicable.
  4. Run kix diff to determine whether the live resource differs from the desired manifest.

For example:

kix-examples/ live capture 
❱ kubectl describe deployment production -n how-to-app
Show outputHide output · 54 lines 
Name:                   production
Namespace:              how-to-app
CreationTimestamp:      Wed, 11 Nov 2026 08:44:08 +0000
Labels:                 app.kubernetes.io/instance=production
                        app.kubernetes.io/managed-by=kix
                        app.kubernetes.io/name=production
Annotations:            deployment.kubernetes.io/revision: 1
                        kix.run/activations: 6rhi3wpk9imlx73n8kbcwbmkxmry1744
                        kix.run/applied-hash: 33eaf440514fdd2ed6853582b8fb62609fe0f2a4ecfc1e351c288fae7fe1b7d7
                        kix.run/depends-on: 4x75h2z7rsj3dvrdg9vzqc8l789xvm4w,8767b7nzgc1x5bpfa9gv71cpk9z8h0iw
                        kix.run/identity-hash: kr7i34wz1ja58c0vf9gizx8161ji0idk
                        kix.run/package: production
                        kix.run/package-namespace: how-to-app
Selector:               app.kubernetes.io/instance=production,app.kubernetes.io/name=production
Replicas:               2 desired | 2 updated | 2 total | 2 available | 0 unavailable
StrategyType:           RollingUpdate
MinReadySeconds:        0
RollingUpdateStrategy:  25% max unavailable, 25% max surge
Pod Template:
  Labels:  app.kubernetes.io/instance=production
           app.kubernetes.io/name=production
  Containers:
   nginx:
    Image:      docker.io/library/nginx:1.27-alpine
    Port:       80/TCP (http)
    Host Port:  0/TCP (http)
    Limits:
      memory:  64Mi
    Requests:
      cpu:      10m
      memory:   16Mi
    Readiness:  http-get http://:http/ delay=0s timeout=1s period=10s #success=1 #failure=3
    Environment:
      APP_ENV:  production
    Mounts:
      /usr/share/nginx/html from content (ro)
  Volumes:
   content:
    Type:          ConfigMap (a volume populated by a ConfigMap)
    Name:          production
    Optional:      false
  Node-Selectors:  <none>
  Tolerations:     <none>
Conditions:
  Type           Status  Reason
  ----           ------  ------
  Available      True    MinimumReplicasAvailable
  Progressing    True    NewReplicaSetAvailable
OldReplicaSets:  <none>
NewReplicaSet:   production-85577f7474 (2/2 replicas created)
Events:
  Type    Reason             Age   From                   Message
  ----    ------             ----  ----                   -------
  Normal  ScalingReplicaSet  52s   deployment-controller  Scaled up replica set production-85577f7474 from 0 to 2

The health-check Job’s logs say whether the post-deploy probe passed:

kix-examples/ 
❱ kubectl logs job/production-health -n how-to-app
ok    GET http://production.how-to-app.svc.cluster.local:80

status reports observed health. It does not reapply resources or change the active activation.