client-go

Go clients for talking to a kubernetes cluster.

We recommend using the v0.x.y tags for Kubernetes releases >= v1.17.0 and kubernetes-1.x.y tags for Kubernetes releases < v1.17.0.

The fastest way to add this library to a project is to run go get k8s.io/client-go@latest with go1.16+. See INSTALL.md for detailed installation instructions and troubleshooting.

Table of Contents

• What's included
• Versioning
  • Compatibility: your code <-> client-go
  • Compatibility: client-go <-> Kubernetes clusters
  • Compatibility matrix
  • Why do the 1.4 and 1.5 branch contain top-level folder named after the version?
• Kubernetes tags
• How to get it
• How to use it
• Dependency management
• Contributing code

What's included

• The kubernetes package contains the clientset to access Kubernetes API.
• The discovery package is used to discover APIs supported by a Kubernetes API server.
• The dynamic package contains a dynamic client that can perform generic operations on arbitrary Kubernetes API objects.
• The plugin/pkg/client/auth packages contain optional authentication plugins for obtaining credentials from external sources.
• The transport package is used to set up auth and start a connection.
• The tools/cache package is useful for writing controllers.

Versioning

• For each v1.x.y Kubernetes release, the major version (first digit) would remain 0.

• Bugfixes will result in the patch version (third digit) changing. PRs that are cherry-picked into an older Kubernetes release branch will result in an update to the corresponding branch in client-go, with a corresponding new tag changing the patch version.

Branches and tags.

We will create a new branch and tag for each increment in the minor version number. We will create only a new tag for each increment in the patch version number. See semver for definitions of major, minor, and patch.

The HEAD of the master branch in client-go will track the HEAD of the master branch in the main Kubernetes repo.

Compatibility: your code <-> client-go

The v0.x.y tags indicate that go APIs may change in incompatible ways in different versions.

See INSTALL.md for guidelines on requiring a specific version of client-go.

Compatibility: client-go <-> Kubernetes clusters

Since Kubernetes is backwards compatible with clients, older client-go versions will work with many different Kubernetes cluster versions.

We will backport bugfixes--but not new features--into older versions of client-go.

Compatibility matrix

	Kubernetes 1.23	Kubernetes 1.24	Kubernetes 1.25	Kubernetes 1.26	Kubernetes 1.27	Kubernetes 1.28
kubernetes-1.23.0/v0.23.0	✓	+-	+-	+-	+-	+-
kubernetes-1.24.0/v0.24.0	+-	✓	+-	+-	+-	+-
kubernetes-1.25.0/v0.25.0	+-	+-	✓	+-	+-	+-
kubernetes-1.26.0/v0.26.0	+-	+-	+-	✓	+-	+-
kubernetes-1.27.0/v0.27.0	+-	+-	+-	+-	✓	+-
kubernetes-1.28.0/v0.28.0	+-	+-	+-	+-	+-	✓
HEAD	+-	+-	+-	+-	+-	+-

Key:

• ✓ Exactly the same features / API objects in both client-go and the Kubernetes version.
• + client-go has features or API objects that may not be present in the Kubernetes cluster, either due to that client-go has additional new API, or that the server has removed old API. However, everything they have in common (i.e., most APIs) will work. Please note that alpha APIs may vanish or change significantly in a single release.
• - The Kubernetes cluster has features the client-go library can't use, either due to the server has additional new API, or that client-go has removed old API. However, everything they share in common (i.e., most APIs) will work.

See the CHANGELOG for a detailed description of changes between client-go versions.

Branch	Canonical source code location	Maintenance status
release-1.19	Kubernetes main repo, 1.19 branch	=-
release-1.20	Kubernetes main repo, 1.20 branch	=-
release-1.21	Kubernetes main repo, 1.21 branch	=-
release-1.22	Kubernetes main repo, 1.22 branch	=-
release-1.23	Kubernetes main repo, 1.23 branch	=-
release-1.24	Kubernetes main repo, 1.24 branch	=-
release-1.25	Kubernetes main repo, 1.25 branch	✓
release-1.26	Kubernetes main repo, 1.26 branch	✓
release-1.27	Kubernetes main repo, 1.27 branch	✓
release-1.28	Kubernetes main repo, 1.28 branch	✓
client-go HEAD	Kubernetes main repo, master branch	✓

Key:

• ✓ Changes in main Kubernetes repo are actively published to client-go by a bot
• = Maintenance is manual, only severe security bugs will be patched.
• - Deprecated; please upgrade.

Deprecation policy

We will maintain branches for at least six months after their first stable tag is cut. (E.g., the clock for the release-2.0 branch started ticking when we tagged v2.0.0, not when we made the first alpha.) This policy applies to every version greater than or equal to 2.0.

Why do the 1.4 and 1.5 branch contain top-level folder named after the version?

For the initial release of client-go, we thought it would be easiest to keep separate directories for each minor version. That soon proved to be a mistake. We are keeping the top-level folders in the 1.4 and 1.5 branches so that existing users won't be broken.

Kubernetes tags

This repository is still a mirror of k8s.io/kubernetes/staging/src/client-go, the code development is still done in the staging area.

Since Kubernetes v1.8.0, when syncing the code from the staging area, we also sync the Kubernetes version tags to client-go, prefixed with kubernetes-. From Kubernetes v1.17.0, we also create matching semver v0.x.y tags for each v1.x.y Kubernetes release.

For example, if you check out the kubernetes-1.17.0 or the v0.17.0 tag in client-go, the code you get is exactly the same as if you check out the v1.17.0 tag in Kubernetes, and change directory to staging/src/k8s.io/client-go.

The purpose is to let users quickly find matching commits among published repos, like sample-apiserver, apiextension-apiserver, etc. The Kubernetes version tag does NOT claim any backwards compatibility guarantees for client-go. Please check the semantic versions if you care about backwards compatibility.

How to get it

To get the latest version, use go1.16+ and fetch using the go get command. For example:

go get k8s.io/client-go@latest

To get a specific version, use go1.11+ and fetch the desired version using the go get command. For example:

go get k8s.io/[email protected]

See INSTALL.md for detailed instructions and troubleshooting.

How to use it

If your application runs in a Pod in the cluster, please refer to the in-cluster example, otherwise please refer to the out-of-cluster example.

Dependency management

For details on how to correctly use a dependency management for installing client-go, please see INSTALL.md.

Contributing code

Please send pull requests against the client packages in the Kubernetes main repository. Changes in the staging area will be published to this repository every day.