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Clanker provides comprehensive Kubernetes cluster management across EKS, GKE, and kubeadm. You can create clusters, deploy applications, and query resources using natural language.

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Supported platforms

  • Amazon EKS: Managed Kubernetes on AWS
  • Google GKE: Managed Kubernetes on GCP
  • Kubeadm: Self-managed clusters on EC2/GCE instances
1

Create your first EKS cluster

Create an Amazon EKS cluster with worker nodes:
clanker k8s create eks my-cluster --nodes 2 --node-type t3.small
Clanker will:
  1. Generate an execution plan
  2. Show estimated costs and resources
  3. Prompt for confirmation
  4. Create the EKS cluster and node group
  5. Update your kubeconfig automatically
Example output:
=== Kubernetes Cluster Plan ===

Cluster: my-cluster (EKS)
Region: us-east-1
Kubernetes Version: 1.29

Resources:
  - EKS Cluster Control Plane
  - Managed Node Group (2 nodes)
  - Node Type: t3.small
  - VPC with public/private subnets
  - Security groups
  - IAM roles (cluster, node)

Estimated monthly cost: ~$75
  - EKS control plane: $73/month
  - 2x t3.small nodes: ~$30/month

Do you want to create this cluster? [y/N]: y

[eks] creating cluster control plane...
[eks] creating managed node group...
[eks] waiting for nodes to be ready...

=== Cluster Created Successfully ===

Name:       my-cluster
Status:     ACTIVE
Endpoint:   https://ABC123.eks.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
Version:    1.29

Nodes:
  - ip-10-0-1-45.ec2.internal (Ready)
  - ip-10-0-2-67.ec2.internal (Ready)

Kubeconfig: ~/.kube/config

Next steps:
  kubectl get nodes
  kubectl get pods -A
Use --plan to preview the cluster configuration without creating it:
clanker k8s create eks my-cluster --nodes 3 --plan
2

Create a GKE cluster

Create a Google Kubernetes Engine cluster:
clanker k8s create gke my-gke-cluster \
  --gcp-project my-project \
  --nodes 2 \
  --node-type e2-standard-2 \
  --gcp-region us-central1
GKE-specific options:
  • --preemptible: Use preemptible VMs for cost savings
  • --gcp-region: Specify GCP region (default: us-central1)
  • --version: Kubernetes version (default: GKE default)
3

Create a kubeadm cluster

Create a self-managed cluster using kubeadm on EC2:
clanker k8s create kubeadm my-kubeadm-cluster \
  --workers 2 \
  --key-pair my-key \
  --node-type t3.medium
Kubeadm clusters give you full control:
  • Manual CNI selection (Calico, Flannel)
  • Custom Kubernetes versions
  • Direct access via SSH
  • Lower cost than managed services
Kubeadm workflow:
[k8s] checking SSH key configuration...
[k8s] SSH key 'my-key' exists in region us-east-1
[k8s] private key: ~/.ssh/my-key.pem

=== Kubernetes Cluster Plan ===

Cluster: my-kubeadm-cluster (kubeadm)
Control Plane: 1x t3.medium
Worker Nodes: 2x t3.medium
CNI: Calico

[k8s] launching control plane instance...
[k8s] installing kubeadm, kubectl, kubelet...
[k8s] initializing cluster with kubeadm...
[k8s] installing Calico CNI...
[k8s] launching worker nodes...
[k8s] joining workers to cluster...

=== Cluster Created Successfully ===

Control Plane:
  master-node: 10.0.1.45 (Public: 54.234.123.45)

Workers:
  worker-1: 10.0.1.67 (Public: 54.234.123.67)
  worker-2: 10.0.1.89 (Public: 54.234.123.89)

Kubeconfig: ~/.kube/kubeadm-my-kubeadm-cluster.conf

SSH access:
  ssh -i ~/.ssh/my-key.pem [email protected]
4

List clusters

View all clusters of a specific type:
# List EKS clusters
clanker k8s list eks

# List GKE clusters
clanker k8s list gke --gcp-project my-project

# List kubeadm clusters
clanker k8s list kubeadm
Output:
=== EKS Clusters ===

Name:     my-cluster
Status:   ACTIVE
Region:   us-east-1
Version:  1.29
Endpoint: https://ABC123.eks.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
Workers:  2

Name:     prod-cluster
Status:   ACTIVE
Region:   us-east-1
Version:  1.28
Endpoint: https://DEF456.eks.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
Workers:  5
5

Deploy an application

Deploy a containerized application to your cluster:
clanker k8s deploy nginx --name my-nginx --port 80 --replicas 3
This creates:
  • A Deployment with 3 replicas
  • A Service of type LoadBalancer
  • Automatic pod scheduling across nodes
Deployment output:
=== Deployment Plan ===

Name: my-nginx
Image: nginx
Replicas: 3
Port: 80
Namespace: default
Service Type: LoadBalancer

Do you want to deploy this application? [y/N]: y

[k8s] deploying application...
deployment.apps/my-nginx created
service/my-nginx created

=== Deployment Successful ===

Endpoint: http://a1b2c3d4e5f6-1234567890.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com

Next steps:
  kubectl get pods -l app=my-nginx
  kubectl logs -f deployment/my-nginx
  kubectl scale deployment/my-nginx --replicas=5
6

Get cluster resources

Retrieve all cluster resources as JSON or YAML:
# Get resources from specific cluster (JSON)
clanker k8s resources --cluster my-cluster

# Get resources in YAML format
clanker k8s resources --cluster my-cluster -o yaml

# Get resources from all EKS clusters
clanker k8s resources
This returns comprehensive cluster state:
  • Nodes (capacity, status, labels)
  • Pods (all namespaces)
  • Services (ClusterIP, LoadBalancer, NodePort)
  • PersistentVolumes and PersistentVolumeClaims
  • ConfigMaps and Secrets
  • Deployments, StatefulSets, DaemonSets

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Monitoring and debugging

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View pod logs

# Get logs from a pod
clanker k8s logs my-pod

# Logs from specific container
clanker k8s logs my-pod -c my-container

# Follow logs in real-time
clanker k8s logs my-pod -f

# Last 100 lines
clanker k8s logs my-pod --tail 100

# Logs from last 1 hour
clanker k8s logs my-pod --since 1h

# With timestamps
clanker k8s logs my-pod --timestamps

# All containers in pod
clanker k8s logs my-pod --all-containers

# Previous container (after restart)
clanker k8s logs my-pod -p

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Resource metrics

# Node metrics
clanker k8s stats nodes
clanker k8s stats nodes --sort-by cpu
clanker k8s stats nodes -o json

# Pod metrics  
clanker k8s stats pods
clanker k8s stats pods -n kube-system
clanker k8s stats pods -A  # All namespaces
clanker k8s stats pods --sort-by memory

# Specific pod metrics
clanker k8s stats pod my-pod -n production
clanker k8s stats pod my-pod --containers

# Cluster-wide metrics
clanker k8s stats cluster
Example metrics output: 
NAME                CPU(cores)   CPU%   MEMORY(bytes)   MEMORY%
ip-10-0-1-45        245m         12%    1456Mi          45%
ip-10-0-2-67        189m         9%     1123Mi          35%

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Natural language queries

Use k8s ask for natural language Kubernetes queries: 
# Basic queries
clanker k8s ask "how many pods are running"
clanker k8s ask "list all deployments and their replica counts"
clanker k8s ask "tell me the health of my cluster"

# With specific cluster
clanker k8s ask --cluster my-cluster "show me all pods"

# Resource metrics
clanker k8s ask "which pods are using the most memory"
clanker k8s ask "show node resource usage"
clanker k8s ask "top 10 pods by cpu usage"

# Troubleshooting
clanker k8s ask "show me recent logs from nginx"
clanker k8s ask "why is my pod crashing"
clanker k8s ask "get warning events from the cluster"

# Follow-up questions (maintains context)
clanker k8s ask "show me the nginx deployment"
clanker k8s ask "now show me its logs"
How k8s ask works:
  1. LLM analyzes your question
  2. Determines required kubectl operations
  3. Executes operations in parallel
  4. Synthesizes results into markdown response
  5. Maintains conversation context per cluster

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Cluster management

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Get kubeconfig

# EKS
clanker k8s kubeconfig eks my-cluster

# GKE
clanker k8s kubeconfig gke my-gke-cluster --gcp-project my-project

# Kubeadm
clanker k8s kubeconfig kubeadm my-kubeadm-cluster

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Delete clusters

# Delete EKS cluster
clanker k8s delete eks my-cluster

# Delete GKE cluster
clanker k8s delete gke my-gke-cluster --gcp-project my-project

# Delete kubeadm cluster (terminates all EC2 instances)
clanker k8s delete kubeadm my-kubeadm-cluster
Deleting a cluster is permanent and will remove all workloads, data, and configuration.

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Advanced configurations

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Custom EKS cluster

clanker k8s create eks production-cluster \
  --nodes 5 \
  --node-type m5.large \
  --version 1.29 \
  --profile prod-aws

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GKE with preemptible nodes

clanker k8s create gke staging-cluster \
  --gcp-project my-project \
  --nodes 3 \
  --node-type e2-standard-4 \
  --preemptible \
  --gcp-region us-west1

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Multi-zone kubeadm

clanker k8s create kubeadm multi-zone-cluster \
  --workers 3 \
  --node-type t3.large \
  --key-pair my-key \
  --version 1.28

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Best practices

Use managed services

Prefer EKS/GKE for production workloads. They provide automatic upgrades, security patches, and HA control planes.

Right-size nodes

Start with smaller node types (t3.medium) and scale up based on actual usage. Monitor with k8s stats.

Plan before creating

Use --plan to review cluster configuration and costs before provisioning.

Namespace isolation

Deploy applications to dedicated namespaces for better organization and resource quotas.

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Troubleshooting

Common issues:Insufficient IAM permissions
# Verify your AWS user has EKS permissions
aws iam get-user --profile my-profile
VPC quota exceeded
# Check VPC limits
aws ec2 describe-account-attributes --attribute-names vpc-max-elastic-ips
Invalid instance type for region
# List available instance types
aws ec2 describe-instance-type-offerings --location-type availability-zone
If kubectl commands fail:
# Verify kubeconfig is set
echo $KUBECONFIG

# Re-fetch kubeconfig
clanker k8s kubeconfig eks my-cluster

# Test connection
kubectl cluster-info

# Check AWS credentials
aws sts get-caller-identity --profile my-profile
For kubeadm clusters:
# SSH to master node
ssh -i ~/.ssh/my-key.pem ubuntu@<master-ip>

# Check cluster status
kubectl get nodes

# View join token
sudo kubeadm token list

# SSH to worker and check logs
ssh -i ~/.ssh/my-key.pem ubuntu@<worker-ip>
sudo journalctl -u kubelet -f

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Next steps

Monitoring resources

Set up comprehensive cluster monitoring

Kubernetes debugging

Debug pods, services, and networking issues

Multi-environment

Manage dev, staging, and prod clusters

Cost optimization

Optimize Kubernetes costs with right-sizing

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