This plugin allows for easy secret decoding. Useful if you want to see what's inside of a secret without always go through the following:

1. kubectl get secret <secret> -o yaml
2. Copy base64 encoded secret
3. echo "b64string" | base64 -d

Instead you can now do:

# print secret keys
kubectl view-secret <secret>

# decode specific entry
kubectl view-secret <secret> <key>

# decode all contents
kubectl view-secret <secret> -a/--all

# print keys for secret in different namespace
kubectl view-secret <secret> -n/--namespace <ns>

# print keys for secret in different context
kubectl view-secret <secret> -c/--context <ctx>

# print keys for secret by providing kubeconfig
kubectl view-secret <secret> -k/--kubeconfig <cfg>

# suppress info output
kubectl view-secret <secret> -q/--quiet

# output in JSON format
kubectl view-secret <secret> -o json

# output in YAML format
kubectl view-secret <secret> -o yaml

This plugin supports bash completion for kubectl versions 1.26 and later. To enable completion:

Follow the Kubernetes docs to install shell completion.

# Place the following completion script somewhere in your $PATH, e.g. /usr/local/bin in this context
cat << "EOF" | sudo tee /usr/local/bin/kubectl_complete-view_secret > /dev/null
#!/bin/bash
kubectl view-secret __complete "$@"
EOF

# Make it executable
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/kubectl_complete-view_secret

Then restart your shell or run:

source ~/.bashrc

# Check bash-completion is loaded
type _get_comp_words_by_ref

# Check kubectl completion is loaded
type _kubectl

# Test completion
kubectl view-secret <TAB>

Now you can use Tab completion for:

• Secret names: kubectl view-secret <TAB>
• Secret keys: kubectl view-secret <secret> <TAB>
• Namespaces: kubectl view-secret <secret> -n <TAB>

• Text: Default human-readable format
• JSON: Structured output for automation and scripting
• YAML: Alternative structured format

Supports decoding various Kubernetes secret types:

• Opaque: Standard base64 encoded secrets
• Helm: Double base64 encoded + gzip compressed Helm release data
• TLS: PEM encoded certificates and private keys
• Docker Config: JSON configuration for Docker registries
• SSH Auth: SSH private keys
• Basic Auth: Username/password credentials
• Service Account Tokens: JWT tokens

• Secret Selection: When no secret is specified, provides an interactive list to choose from
• Key Selection: When multiple keys exist, allows selecting specific keys or viewing all

This plugin is available through krew via:

kubectl krew install view-secret

You can find the latest binaries in the releases section.
To install it, place it somewhere in your $PATH for kubectl to pick it up.

Note: If you build from source or download the binary, you'll have to change the name of the binary to kubectl-view_secret (- to _ in view-secret) due to the enforced naming convention for plugins by kubectl. More on this here.

Thanks to external contributions the plugin is available in the Arch user repository.

You can install the latest version from Nixpkgs (25.05, unstable) or try it via a temporary nix-shell:

nix-shell -p kubectl-view-secret

# Clone this repository (or your fork)
git clone https://github.com/elsesiy/kubectl-view-secret
cd kubectl-view-secret
make

This repository is available under the MIT license.