Is k9s in the official Debian repositories?

No, k9s is not packaged in the official Debian archives. This repository is currently the only apt source, serving k9s 0.51.0.

How do I install the latest k9s on Debian?

Add the deb.griffo.io repository once using the instructions above, then run: sudo apt install k9s. New releases arrive through the normal sudo apt upgrade.

Are the packages signed and how are they built?

Every package is signed with the repository's GPG key (EA0F721D231FDD3A0A17B9AC7808B4DD62C41256) and built from upstream releases in public GitHub packaging repositories that anyone can inspect.

Which Debian releases are supported?

Debian 12 Bookworm, Debian 13 Trixie, Forky and Sid.

Install Latest k9s on Debian via apt

Source	Version
deb.griffo.io	0.51.0 ✅
Official Debian	🚫 not packaged

← Back to home

What is k9s?

k9s is a terminal UI for managing Kubernetes clusters. It provides a fast, keyboard-driven interface to observe and interact with your running clusters in real time (navigating resources, viewing logs, executing into pods and applying changes) without constantly typing long kubectl commands.

            🚀 Why Latest Versions Matter: k9s ships frequent updates with new views, plugins and Kubernetes API support. Keeping it current ensures compatibility with the latest cluster versions and features.
        

⚡ Key Features of k9s

⌨️ Keyboard-driven

Navigate and manage cluster resources quickly with intuitive shortcuts.

📜 Live Logs & Exec

Stream pod logs and shell into containers directly from the UI.

🔍 Resource Views

Browse deployments, pods, services and more with real-time status.

🧩 Extensible

Custom skins, aliases and plugins to tailor your workflow.

🎯 Why k9s?

Faster than kubectl: Observe and act on resources without long commands
Real-time: Live view of cluster state and resource health
Powerful navigation: Jump between related resources instantly
Customizable: Skins, hotkeys and plugins to fit your team

🆕 Highlights

Cluster Navigation: Browse all Kubernetes resource types
Logs & Shell: Tail logs and exec into pods
Resource Actions: Scale, delete and edit from the UI
Plugins: Extend with custom commands

📦 Installation from deb.griffo.io

Run the commands

Step 1: Add Repository

sudo install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://deb.griffo.io/EA0F721D231FDD3A0A17B9AC7808B4DD62C41256.asc | sudo gpg --dearmor --yes -o /etc/apt/keyrings/deb.griffo.io.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/deb.griffo.io.gpg] https://deb.griffo.io/apt $(lsb_release -sc 2>/dev/null) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/deb.griffo.io.list > /dev/null
sudo apt update

install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://deb.griffo.io/EA0F721D231FDD3A0A17B9AC7808B4DD62C41256.asc | gpg --dearmor --yes -o /etc/apt/keyrings/deb.griffo.io.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/deb.griffo.io.gpg] https://deb.griffo.io/apt $(lsb_release -sc 2>/dev/null) main" | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/deb.griffo.io.list > /dev/null
apt update

sudo apt install extrepo
sudo extrepo enable griffo
sudo apt update

🆓 There is an always-free mirror. deb-free.griffo.io serves packages free forever, no account, no subscription, at most 2 months behind upstream, security fixes immediately. It currently carries cliamp, Ghostty, lazydocker, Oh My Posh and Zed; k9s is not one of them, so the repository above is the only way to get it today, ask and it can be enrolled.

How the free mirror works →

🧩 About the extrepo option. extrepo is Debian's own tool for external repositories: it writes the sources file and installs the signing key for you, checking the key against signed metadata first. This repository is registered with it as griffo, and the always-free mirror as griffo-free, so on Debian (bookworm, trixie, forky and sid) the commands above are the whole setup.

extrepo sets up the sources file and the key only, so a subscription's credentials still go in /etc/apt/auth.conf.d/deb.griffo.io.conf. Ubuntu is not covered, because extrepo publishes metadata for Debian suites only: there, use the sudo or root commands.

Step 2: Install k9s

# Install latest k9s
sudo apt install k9s

# Verify installation
k9s version

# Install latest k9s
apt install k9s

# Verify installation
k9s version

🎯 Basic Usage Examples

# Show version
k9s version

# Launch k9s against your current kubeconfig context
k9s

# Launch in a specific namespace
k9s -n kube-system

# Use a specific context
k9s --context production

# Launch in read-only mode
k9s --readonly

🚀 Why Choose deb.griffo.io?

📊 Repository Comparison:

Official Debian: Often months behind, missing latest features
deb.griffo.io: Latest version within hours of release
Manual Installation: Manual downloads and PATH setup required
Our Repository: Pre-built, ready-to-use packages

✅ Latest Features: Get newest k9s features and improvements immediately
✅ No Manual Setup: Pre-built binaries, installed and updated through apt
✅ Automatic Updates: Packages updated within hours of upstream releases
✅ Proper Dependencies: Correctly packaged with all required libraries
✅ Multi-Distribution: Works on Bookworm, Trixie, and Sid
✅ Easy Maintenance: Simple apt commands for updates

📦 Package Build Repository

The Debian packages are automatically built and maintained in this GitHub repository:

📁 k9s-debian - Latest release builds

🔗 Related Packages

Also available from deb.griffo.io:

lazydocker - Terminal UI for Docker management
Headscale - Self-hosted Tailscale control server
Garage - S3-compatible distributed object storage

            🎯 Perfect for: DevOps engineers and developers who work with Kubernetes daily and want a fast, real-time terminal interface to observe and manage their clusters.
        

💝 Support This Project

If this repository saves you time and effort, please consider supporting it!

⭐ Star on GitHub 🐦 Share on Twitter

🐕 Install Latest k9s on Debian