Workflow Configuring Kubeconfig file

Enable seamless authentication between kubectl and your Kubernetes cluster by injecting your Kubeconfig into a GitHub Actions workflow. This tutorial covers every step—from adding your Kubeconfig as a secret to verifying cluster connectivity.

1. Base Workflow: No Kubeconfig Context

Below is an example dev-deploy job defined in .github/workflows/ci.yml. It installs kubectl but cannot fetch cluster data until a valid context is configured.

dev-deploy:
  needs: docker
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  steps:
    - name: Checkout repository
      uses: actions/checkout@v4

    - name: Install kubectl CLI
      uses: azure/setup-kubectl@v3
      with:
        version: 'v1.26.0'

    - name: Fetch Kubernetes cluster details
      run: |
        kubectl version --short
        echo '---------------------------'
        kubectl get nodes

2. Store Your Kubeconfig as a Secret

Copy the contents of your local Kubeconfig file. It typically includes your cluster endpoint, certificate data, and user credentials:

apiVersion: v1
clusters:
- cluster:
    certificate-authority-data: <base64-encoded-ca-cert>
    server: https://your-cluster-endpoint:6443
  name: your-cluster
contexts:
- context:
    cluster: your-cluster
    user: your-user
  name: your-context
current-context: your-context
users:
- name: your-user
  user:
    client-certificate-data: <base64-encoded-client-cert>
    client-key-data: <base64-encoded-client-key>

1. In your GitHub repo, navigate to Settings > Secrets and variables > Actions.
2. Click New repository secret.
3. Name it KUBECONFIG and paste the full Kubeconfig content.

3. Choose the azure/k8s-set-context Action

To apply your Kubeconfig in the workflow environment, use the azure/k8s-set-context action. It handles writing the secret to a file and switching the current Kubernetes context.

4. Update Your Workflow with the Kubeconfig Step

Integrate the context-setting action before any kubectl commands:

dev-deploy:
  needs: docker
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  steps:
    - name: Checkout repository
      uses: actions/checkout@v4

    - name: Install kubectl CLI
      uses: azure/setup-kubectl@v3
      with:
        version: 'v1.26.0'

    - name: Configure kubeconfig context
      uses: azure/k8s-set-context@v3
      with:
        method: kubeconfig
        kubeconfig: ${{ secrets.KUBECONFIG }}

    - name: Fetch Kubernetes cluster details
      run: |
        kubectl version --short
        echo '---------------------------------'
        kubectl get nodes

5. Verify the Workflow Run

After pushing the updated workflow, navigate to the Actions tab in GitHub. You should see:

…and the detailed dev-deploy job steps:

You should now see both client and server versions of kubectl as well as node details. This confirms your CI pipeline can authenticate to the Kubernetes cluster using the provided Kubeconfig.

References

• azure/setup-kubectl GitHub Action
• azure/k8s-set-context GitHub Action
• GitHub Actions: Creating and storing encrypted secrets