Docker and Kubernetes DevKit

Give Claude Code a careful, practical DevOps teammate for Docker and Kubernetes work.

Docker and Kubernetes DevKit helps turn the moments that normally send you hunting through logs into a short, evidence-backed conversation: a failing build, a pod that never starts, a Service with no endpoints, a chart that is almost ready to ship, or a manifest that needs to be safe by default.

It is designed to be useful on a laptop with Docker Desktop just as much as in a production-oriented repository. It reads first, explains what it found, and asks before doing anything destructive.

flowchart LR
    A["Your Docker or Kubernetes question"] --> B["Claude Code"]
    B --> C["Docker and Kubernetes DevKit"]
    C --> D["Docker: builds, Compose, containers"]
    C --> E["Kubernetes: pods, events, manifests, RBAC"]
    C --> F["Helm: chart review and rendering"]
    D --> G["Clear diagnosis or safe next step"]
    E --> G
    F --> G

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Install on macOS or Windows

This plugin is designed for direct use from GitHub - no marketplace approval, API key, or MCP configuration required. Download the release ZIP, unzip it, and point Claude Code at the extracted folder.

First, make sure Claude Code is installed and current:

• macOS: brew install --cask claude-code, or use Anthropic's native installer.
• Windows PowerShell: winget install Anthropic.ClaudeCode, or use Anthropic's native installer.

Install through Claude Code

For an install that Claude Code can update later, run these commands inside a Claude Code session:

/plugin marketplace add mohitkale/docker-kubernetes
/plugin install docker-kubernetes@docker-kubernetes-marketplace
/reload-plugins

Choose the install scope that suits you: user for every local project, project for collaborators, or local for this repository only. To get a later release, run /plugin marketplace update docker-kubernetes-marketplace, then use /reload-plugins.

macOS (Terminal)

mkdir -p "$HOME/Downloads/claude-plugins"
cd "$HOME/Downloads/claude-plugins"
curl -L -o docker-kubernetes-v1.1.1.zip \
  https://github.com/mohitkale/docker-kubernetes/archive/refs/tags/v1.1.1.zip
unzip docker-kubernetes-v1.1.1.zip
claude --plugin-dir "$PWD/docker-kubernetes-1.1.1"

Windows (PowerShell)

$pluginHome = Join-Path $HOME 'Downloads\claude-plugins'
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $pluginHome | Out-Null
$zipPath = Join-Path $pluginHome 'docker-kubernetes-v1.1.1.zip'
Invoke-WebRequest `
  -Uri 'https://github.com/mohitkale/docker-kubernetes/archive/refs/tags/v1.1.1.zip' `
  -OutFile $zipPath
Expand-Archive -Path $zipPath -DestinationPath $pluginHome -Force
claude --plugin-dir (Join-Path $pluginHome 'docker-kubernetes-1.1.1')

The plugin is active for that Claude Code session. Keep the extracted folder in a stable location and reuse the final command whenever you want it.

Load the ZIP directly (optional)

Claude Code v2.1.128 or later can load the ZIP without extracting it:

# macOS Terminal
claude --plugin-dir "$HOME/Downloads/claude-plugins/docker-kubernetes-v1.1.1.zip"

# Windows PowerShell
claude --plugin-dir (Join-Path $HOME 'Downloads\claude-plugins\docker-kubernetes-v1.1.1.zip')

If you cloned the repository instead, open a terminal at its root and run claude --plugin-dir .. Only download and load plugin code from a source you trust.

What you can ask for

When you say…	DevKit helps by…
“Why does this Docker build fail?”	Reading the build context, image metadata, logs, and Dockerfile to identify the root cause.
“Add Postgres and Redis locally.”	Creating or improving a safe, health-checked Compose setup.
“This pod is not starting.”	Pulling status, describe output, events, and the right logs without changing the cluster.
“Make this app deployable.”	Writing production-minded Kubernetes manifests with resource limits, probes, labels, and security defaults.
“Is this Helm chart ready?”	Reviewing chart metadata, templates, RBAC, resources, probes, and image practices.
“Is this access too broad?”	Auditing Roles, ClusterRoles, bindings, and service-account permissions for least privilege.

A few real-world workflows

Find a broken container quickly

/docker-kubernetes:docker-debug payments-api

Typical response:

Root cause: the container exits because PORT is unset at startup.

Evidence:
- docker inspect shows exit code 1.
- Container logs report: "PORT must be set".

Fix: set PORT=3000 in the runtime environment, then run the image again.

Understand a pod that cannot start

/docker-kubernetes:k8s-debug api-7c4d8b9f5d-xzq4p staging

Typical response:

Root cause: the pod cannot start because its configured command does not exist in the image.

Evidence:
- State: StartError
- exec: "/app/serve": stat /app/serve: no such file or directory

Fix: change command/args to match the image ENTRYPOINT and CMD.

Start with safer manifests

/docker-kubernetes:manifest a Node API called catalog with 3 replicas and an Ingress

DevKit will use consistent Kubernetes labels, a pinned image tag, resource requests and limits, probes, non-root execution, and a PodDisruptionBudget when appropriate.

Check a chart before a release

/docker-kubernetes:helm-review ./charts/catalog

The review is read-only. It points out concerns such as latest tags, missing probes, broad RBAC, absent NetworkPolicies, or template patterns that make a chart hard to operate.

Commands

Use commands from inside Claude Code with the docker-kubernetes: prefix.

Command	Use it when…
/docker-kubernetes:doctor	You want a quick local Docker and Kubernetes health check.
/docker-kubernetes:runtime-check	You need to know which host, WSL, Docker Desktop, Kubernetes, Helm, or local-cluster path is available.
/docker-kubernetes:smoke-test	You explicitly want to verify Docker, Compose, Helm, and kubectl locally.
/docker-kubernetes:events [namespace] [Warning|Normal]	You need a recent, ordered event snapshot.
/docker-kubernetes:cluster-audit [namespace]	You want one opt-in, read-only Docker/Kubernetes/RBAC/Helm review.
/docker-kubernetes:dockerfile [framework]	You want a production-minded Dockerfile and .dockerignore.
/docker-kubernetes:compose [services]	You want a local multi-service Compose setup.
/docker-kubernetes:docker-debug [container-or-error]	A build, image, or container is failing.
/docker-kubernetes:k8s-debug <pod> [namespace]	A pod or workload is not healthy.
/docker-kubernetes:manifest <description>	You want Kubernetes YAML from a plain-English description.
/docker-kubernetes:helm-review [chart-path]	You want a static Helm chart review.
/docker-kubernetes:rbac-review [namespace]	You want a least-privilege RBAC audit.

Built to be safe around real infrastructure

• Diagnostic commands use read-only Docker and Kubernetes operations by default.
• Changes such as kubectl apply, delete, patch, edit, image removal, or pruning require your explicit approval.
• The plugin does not print values from .env files or Kubernetes Secrets.
• Session hooks only look for project markers such as Dockerfiles, Compose files, charts, and manifest folders. They do not send project data to a separate service.
• The optional smoke test creates a temporary scratch image and temporary files, then removes them. It does not apply Kubernetes resources or install a Helm release.

Optional local tools

The plugin itself has no package installation step. These tools unlock the matching capabilities:

Capability	What you need
Docker and Compose workflows	Docker Desktop or Docker Engine with docker compose
Kubernetes workflows	kubectl and a valid context, such as Docker Desktop’s docker-desktop
Helm rendering smoke checks	Helm on your PATH (brew install helm on macOS; winget install Helm.Helm on Windows)
Hooks	Node.js on your PATH

Start with:

/docker-kubernetes:runtime-check
/docker-kubernetes:doctor

To run the deliberate local verification path:

/docker-kubernetes:smoke-test --target host

What the smoke test proves

When the tools are available, it checks all of the following without leaving a workload behind:

1. Docker daemon access.
2. A no-network FROM scratch image build, inspection, and cleanup.
3. Compose configuration rendering.
4. Helm linting and template rendering for a generated temporary chart.
5. kubectl client access and local object generation with an isolated kubeconfig.
6. Kubernetes API reachability.

Current boundaries

• Helm review is intentionally static; it never runs helm install or helm upgrade.
• The plugin does not yet include image scanning, Kustomize workflows, or Helm chart generation.
• Windows container scenarios are not specifically tuned.

Developing the plugin

node tests/run.js
claude plugin validate .
node bin/runtime-check.js
node bin/smoke-test.js --target host

The offline test suite does not need Docker, Kubernetes, Helm, or a live cluster. The runtime and smoke commands are explicit opt-in checks.

Privacy and support

See PRIVACY.md for the data-handling summary. For questions, feature requests, or bug reports, use the repository’s GitHub Issues page.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.