Complete K9s keyboard shortcuts reference — 23 shortcuts across 3 categories. Quick reference cheat sheet for Windows & Mac.
K9s is a terminal UI for Kubernetes that lets you navigate, observe, and manage your clusters without typing long kubectl commands. Learning its keyboard shortcuts can dramatically speed up your workflow — studies show shortcut users save an average of 8 days per year compared to mouse-only users.
This page covers all 23 K9s shortcuts across 3 categories: Navigation & Views (8), Resource Actions (10), Sorting & Session (5). Each shortcut includes a description to help you understand when and how to use it effectively.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| : | Command mode |
| / | Filter resources |
| Esc | Back / clear filter |
| ? | Show keyboard help |
| Enter | Drill down |
| 0 | Show all namespaces |
| G | Go to bottom |
| Ctrl + A | List resource aliases |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| D | Describe resource |
| Y | View YAML |
| E | Edit resource |
| L | View logs |
| S | Open shell |
| A | Attach to container |
| Shift + F | Port-forward |
| Ctrl + D | Delete resource |
| Ctrl + K | Kill resource |
| Space | Mark item |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Shift + C | Sort by CPU |
| Shift + M | Sort by memory |
| Shift + N | Sort by name |
| Shift + A | Sort by age |
| Ctrl + C | Quit K9s |
K9s's 23 shortcuts on this page are organized into 3 categories: Navigation & Views (8), Resource Actions (10), Sorting & Session (5). Resource Actions is the largest group with 10 shortcuts — a good place to focus first if you're building muscle memory from scratch.
A few of these aren't K9s-specific — they're shared across tools: Ctrl + A (List resource aliases, also in Windows); Shift + F (Port-forward, also in Unity); Ctrl + D (Delete resource, also in Chrome). Learning them here pays off well beyond K9s itself.
New to K9s? Start with Navigation & Views above — it's usually where the shortcuts you'll reach for constantly live. Once those feel automatic, work through Sorting & Session to round out your workflow.
Want this on paper? The printable cheat sheet turns these 23 shortcuts into a one-page PDF you can pin above your desk. Prefer to learn by doing? Shortcut Speedrun turns memorization into a timed typing challenge with a global leaderboard, so you find out which K9s shortcuts you actually remember under pressure.
The most essential K9s shortcuts are: : (Command mode), / (Filter resources), Esc (Back / clear filter). These cover the most frequent actions and can significantly speed up your workflow.
K9s has 23 keyboard shortcuts across 3 categories on shortcut-tools.com.
Simply press the key combination while K9s is focused. Most shortcuts work immediately. On Mac, replace Ctrl with Cmd and Alt with Option for most shortcuts.
The K9s shortcut for command mode is :.
K9s includes 10 Resource Actions shortcuts, including D (Describe resource) and Y (View YAML). See the full list in the Resource Actions section above.
Print the K9s cheat sheet and keep it next to your keyboard for the first week, then switch to active recall: open Shortcut Speedrun and practice K9s shortcuts against the clock until they're automatic.
Yes — use My Stack to combine K9s shortcuts with any other platform on this site into one printable reference, which is useful if your daily workflow spans several tools.
Most do not — the underlying key is the same, but K9s (like most software) maps Ctrl on Windows/Linux to Cmd on Mac for standard operations. Where a shortcut is platform-specific, this page notes the Mac variant next to the Windows one.
Start with the essentials: Learn : (Command mode) and / (Filter resources) first — these are the most commonly used.
Practice daily: Pick 2–3 new shortcuts each day and consciously use them instead of the mouse. Within a week, they become muscle memory.
Print this cheat sheet: Keep a reference nearby until shortcuts become automatic. Focus on the Resource Actions category first.
CLI tip: Create shell aliases for the commands you use most. Combine them with these shortcuts for maximum efficiency.