Eks Pod Ops

EKS Pod Operations

Read logs, find pods, exec into containers, and restart deployments across EKS environments.

When to use this skill

Use this skill when the user wants to:

• View logs from a pod or service
• List or find pods in an EKS environment
• Execute a command inside a running pod
• Restart (rollout restart) a deployment
• Debug a pod (describe, check status, view previous logs)
• Check if a service is running in a specific environment

Prerequisites

1. kubectl: installed and available in PATH
2. AWS CLI: installed with SSO profiles configured per environment
3. Kubeconfigs: generated per environment at ~/.kube/config_
4. Config: ~/.eks-config.json — auto-generated on first run by scanning kubeconfigs and AWS profiles. See [CONFIG.md](references/CONFIG.md) for manual setup.

Pre-flight checks

Run the pre-flight script before the first operation in a conversation:

python3 /scripts/eks_preflight.py

To also verify a specific environment (kubeconfig + SSO):

python3 /scripts/eks_preflight.py --env stg

If SSO is expired, tell the user: aws sso login --sso-session (session name is in the preflight output).

Operations

pods — List or describe pods

# Find pods for a service
python3 /scripts/eks_ops.py pods --env stg --service my-service

# List all pods in environment
python3 /scripts/eks_ops.py pods --env stg --all

# Describe a pod (events, conditions, mounts)
python3 /scripts/eks_ops.py pods --env stg --service my-service --describe

logs — Read pod logs

# Last 100 lines (default)
python3 /scripts/eks_ops.py logs --env stg --service my-service

# Custom tail size and time window
python3 /scripts/eks_ops.py logs --env stg --service my-service --tail 500 --since 1h

# Previous container (after crash/restart)
python3 /scripts/eks_ops.py logs --env stg --service my-service --previous

# All replicas at once (uses stern if installed)
python3 /scripts/eks_ops.py logs --env stg --service my-service --all-pods

# Stream logs in real-time
python3 /scripts/eks_ops.py logs --env stg --service my-service --follow

# Specific pod by name (skip service resolution)
python3 /scripts/eks_ops.py logs --env stg --pod my-service-abc123-xyz --tail 200

exec — Run a command inside a pod

Show the exact command to the user and get approval before running.

python3 /scripts/eks_ops.py exec --env dev --service my-service -- ls /app/conf
python3 /scripts/eks_ops.py exec --env dev --service my-service -- cat /app/conf/application.conf
python3 /scripts/eks_ops.py exec --env stg --service my-service -- env | grep -i heap
python3 /scripts/eks_ops.py exec --env stg --service my-service -- df -h

restart — Rollout restart a deployment

Show the restart command to the user and get approval before running.

python3 /scripts/eks_ops.py restart --env dev --service my-service
python3 /scripts/eks_ops.py restart --env dev --service my-service --watch

Important rules

1. exec and restart require explicit user approval. Show the exact command and wait for confirmation.
2. pods and logs are read-only. Run them directly without approval.
3. All output is automatically redacted — secrets, tokens, keys, and credentials are replaced with [REDACTED]. See [references/REDACTION.md](references/REDACTION.md).
4. Bare env, printenv, or set commands are blocked inside exec. Use env | grep -i instead.
5. Reading files under /secrets/, /vault/, or credential paths is blocked inside exec.
6. If [REDACTED] appears in output, do not attempt to retrieve the original value.
7. The script auto-selects the app container in multi-container pods (skips sidecars like statsite, istio-proxy).
8. Multiple replicas: when a service has multiple pods, --service picks the first running one. If the user wants a specific replica, run pods --env --service first to list all replicas, ask the user which one, then use --pod instead of --service.
9. Prefer Grafana or Splunk for production log investigation — use this skill as a complement.
10. Developers typically have read-only EKS access — restart may fail on production clusters.

Error handling

| Error | Cause | Fix | |---|---|---| | SSO session may be expired | AWS SSO token expired | aws sso login --sso-session | | Kubeconfig not found | Missing kubeconfig file | aws eks update-kubeconfig --profile --name --kubeconfig ~/.kube/config_ | | No pods found for service | Wrong service name or no pods running | pods --env --all to see available pods | | Blocked: Dumps all environment variables | Exec blocklist triggered | Use env \| grep -i instead | | connection refused localhost:8080 | Rancher Desktop kubectl conflict | Script auto-detects this. If persists, check which kubectl |

Troubleshooting

| Problem | Fix | |---|---| | kubectl: command not found | brew install kubectl | | aws: command not found | brew install awscli | | Config not found | Create ~/.eks-config.json — see Prerequisites | | Wrong namespace | Set namespace in environment config | | Logs empty | Try --previous for crashed containers, or increase --since | | stern not found | brew install stern (optional — falls back to sequential kubectl) |

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: sagy101
• Source: sagy101/DotSkills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.