How to Install `kubernetes` in Python

v35.0.0 CLI & Utilities Python >=3.6 Apache License Version 2.0

Kubernetes python client

Install pip install kubernetes

What is kubernetes?

Kubernetes python client

Documentation → PyPI page → Author: Kubernetes

Quick Start

Minimal example to get started with kubernetes:

import kubernetes

print(kubernetes.__version__)

Installation

pip (standard)

pip install kubernetes

Virtual environment (recommended)

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate   # Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
pip install kubernetes

pip3

pip3 install kubernetes

conda

conda install -c conda-forge kubernetes

Poetry

poetry add kubernetes

Dependencies

Installing kubernetes will also install these packages:

certifi six python-dateutil pyyaml websocket-client requests requests-oauthlib urllib3 durationpy

Verify the Installation

After installing, confirm the package is available:

python -c "import kubernetes; print(kubernetes.__version__)"

If this prints a version number, installation succeeded. If you see a ModuleNotFoundError, see the errors section below.

Installation Errors

Common errors when installing kubernetes with pip.

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'kubernetes'

Cause: The package is not installed in the current Python environment.

Fix: Run pip install kubernetes. If using a virtual environment, ensure it is activated first.

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'kubernetes' (installed but still failing)

Cause: pip installed the package into a different Python than the one running your script.

Fix: Use python -m pip install kubernetes to install into the interpreter you are running.

ImportError: cannot import name 'X' from 'kubernetes'

Cause: The function or class does not exist in the installed version.

Fix: Check the version with pip show kubernetes and upgrade with pip install --upgrade kubernetes.

pip: command not found

Cause: pip is not in PATH or Python was not added to PATH during installation.

Fix: Try python -m pip install kubernetes. On macOS/Linux try pip3.

PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied

Cause: No write access to the system Python package directory.

Fix: Use a virtual environment, or add --user: pip install --user kubernetes

SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED

Cause: pip cannot verify PyPI's SSL certificate — common behind corporate proxies.

Fix: Try: pip install --trusted-host pypi.org --trusted-host files.pythonhosted.org kubernetes

Recent Releases

Version	Released
`35.0.0` latest	2026-01-16
`35.0.0b1`	2026-01-12
`35.0.0a1`	2026-01-06
`34.1.0`	2025-09-29
`34.1.0b1`	2025-09-22

Full release history on PyPI →

Manage kubernetes

Upgrade to latest version

pip install --upgrade kubernetes

Install a specific version

pip install kubernetes==35.0.0

Uninstall

pip uninstall kubernetes

Check what is installed

pip show kubernetes

Last updated: 2026-04-11 • Data from PyPI

How to Install kubernetes in Python