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wild-cloud-dev/ai/talos-v1.11/cli-essentials.md
Paul Payne 8947da88eb Initial commit.
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Talosctl CLI Essentials

This guide covers essential talosctl commands and usage patterns for effective Talos cluster administration.

Command Structure and Context

Basic Command Pattern

talosctl [global-flags] <command> [command-flags] [arguments]

# Examples:
talosctl -n <IP> get members
talosctl --nodes <IP1>,<IP2> service kubelet
talosctl -e <endpoint> -n <target-nodes> upgrade --image <image>

Global Flags

  • -e, --endpoints: API endpoints to connect to
  • -n, --nodes: Target nodes for commands (defaults to first endpoint if omitted)
  • --talosconfig: Path to Talos configuration file
  • --context: Configuration context to use

Configuration Management

# Use specific config file
export TALOSCONFIG=/path/to/talosconfig

# List available contexts
talosctl config contexts

# Switch context
talosctl config context <context-name>

# View current config
talosctl config info

Cluster Management Commands

Bootstrap and Node Management

# Bootstrap etcd cluster on first control plane node
talosctl bootstrap --nodes <first-controlplane-ip>

# Apply machine configuration
talosctl apply-config --nodes <IP> --file <config.yaml>
talosctl apply-config --nodes <IP> --file <config.yaml> --mode reboot
talosctl apply-config --nodes <IP> --file <config.yaml> --dry-run

# Reset node (wipe and reboot)
talosctl reset --nodes <IP>
talosctl reset --nodes <IP> --graceful=false --reboot

# Reboot node
talosctl reboot --nodes <IP>

# Shutdown node
talosctl shutdown --nodes <IP>

Configuration Patching

# Patch machine configuration
talosctl -n <IP> patch mc --mode=no-reboot -p '[{"op": "replace", "path": "/machine/logging/destinations/0/endpoint", "value": "tcp://new-endpoint:514"}]'

# Patch with file
talosctl -n <IP> patch mc --patch @patch.yaml --mode reboot

# Edit machine config interactively
talosctl -n <IP> edit mc --mode staged

System Information and Monitoring

Node Status and Health

# Cluster member information
talosctl get members
talosctl get affiliates
talosctl get identities

# Node health check
talosctl -n <IP> health
talosctl -n <IP1>,<IP2>,<IP3> health --control-plane-nodes <IP1>,<IP2>,<IP3>

# System information
talosctl -n <IP> version
talosctl -n <IP> get machineconfig
talosctl -n <IP> get machinetype

Resource Monitoring

# CPU and memory usage
talosctl -n <IP> cpu
talosctl -n <IP> memory

# Disk usage and information
talosctl -n <IP> disks
talosctl -n <IP> df

# Network interfaces
talosctl -n <IP> interfaces
talosctl -n <IP> get addresses
talosctl -n <IP> get routes

# Process information
talosctl -n <IP> processes
talosctl -n <IP> cgroups --preset memory
talosctl -n <IP> cgroups --preset cpu

Service Management

# List all services
talosctl -n <IP> services

# Check specific service status
talosctl -n <IP> service kubelet
talosctl -n <IP> service containerd
talosctl -n <IP> service etcd

# Restart service
talosctl -n <IP> service kubelet restart

# Start/stop service
talosctl -n <IP> service <service-name> start
talosctl -n <IP> service <service-name> stop

Logging and Diagnostics

Log Retrieval

# Kernel logs
talosctl -n <IP> dmesg
talosctl -n <IP> dmesg -f  # Follow mode
talosctl -n <IP> dmesg --tail=100

# Service logs
talosctl -n <IP> logs kubelet
talosctl -n <IP> logs containerd
talosctl -n <IP> logs etcd
talosctl -n <IP> logs machined

# Follow logs
talosctl -n <IP> logs kubelet -f

System Events

# Monitor system events
talosctl -n <IP> events
talosctl -n <IP> events --tail

# Filter events
talosctl -n <IP> events --since=1h
talosctl -n <IP> events --grep=error

File System and Container Operations

File Operations

# List files/directories
talosctl -n <IP> list /var/log
talosctl -n <IP> list /etc/kubernetes

# Copy files to/from node
talosctl -n <IP> copy /local/file /remote/path
talosctl -n <IP> cp /var/log/containers/app.log ./app.log

# Read file contents
talosctl -n <IP> read /etc/resolv.conf
talosctl -n <IP> cat /var/log/audit/audit.log

Container Operations

# List containers
talosctl -n <IP> containers
talosctl -n <IP> containers -k  # Kubernetes containers

# Container logs
talosctl -n <IP> logs --kubernetes <container-name>

# Execute in container
talosctl -n <IP> exec --kubernetes <pod-name> -- <command>

Kubernetes Integration

Kubernetes Cluster Operations

# Get kubeconfig
talosctl kubeconfig
talosctl kubeconfig --nodes <controlplane-ip>
talosctl kubeconfig --force --nodes <controlplane-ip>

# Bootstrap manifests
talosctl -n <IP> get manifests
talosctl -n <IP> get manifests -o yaml | yq eval-all '.spec | .[] | splitDoc' - > manifests.yaml

# Upgrade Kubernetes
talosctl --nodes <controlplane> upgrade-k8s --to v1.34.1
talosctl --nodes <controlplane> upgrade-k8s --to v1.34.1 --dry-run

Resource Inspection

# Control plane component configs
talosctl -n <IP> get apiserverconfig -o yaml
talosctl -n <IP> get controllermanagerconfig -o yaml
talosctl -n <IP> get schedulerconfig -o yaml

# etcd configuration
talosctl -n <IP> get etcdconfig -o yaml

etcd Management

etcd Operations

# etcd cluster status
talosctl -n <IP1>,<IP2>,<IP3> etcd status

# etcd members
talosctl -n <IP> etcd members

# etcd snapshots
talosctl -n <IP> etcd snapshot db.snapshot

# etcd maintenance
talosctl -n <IP> etcd defrag
talosctl -n <IP> etcd alarm list
talosctl -n <IP> etcd alarm disarm

# Leadership management
talosctl -n <IP> etcd forfeit-leadership

Disaster Recovery

# Bootstrap from snapshot
talosctl -n <IP> bootstrap --recover-from=./db.snapshot
talosctl -n <IP> bootstrap --recover-from=./db.snapshot --recover-skip-hash-check

Upgrade and Maintenance

OS Upgrades

# Upgrade Talos OS
talosctl upgrade --nodes <IP> --image ghcr.io/siderolabs/installer:v1.11.x
talosctl upgrade --nodes <IP> --image ghcr.io/siderolabs/installer:v1.11.x --stage

# Monitor upgrade progress
talosctl upgrade --nodes <IP> --image <image> --wait
talosctl upgrade --nodes <IP> --image <image> --wait --debug

# Rollback
talosctl rollback --nodes <IP>

Resource System Commands

Resource Management

# List resource types
talosctl get rd

# Get specific resources
talosctl get <resource-type>
talosctl get <resource-type> -o yaml
talosctl get <resource-type> --namespace=<namespace>

# Watch resources
talosctl get <resource-type> --watch

# Common resource types
talosctl get machineconfig
talosctl get members
talosctl get services
talosctl get networkconfig
talosctl get secrets

Local Development

Local Cluster Management

# Create local cluster
talosctl cluster create
talosctl cluster create --controlplanes 3 --workers 2

# Destroy local cluster
talosctl cluster destroy

# Show local cluster status
talosctl cluster show

Advanced Usage Patterns

Multi-Node Operations

# Run command on multiple nodes
talosctl -e <endpoint> -n <node1>,<node2>,<node3> <command>

# Different endpoint and target nodes
talosctl -e <public-endpoint> -n <internal-node1>,<internal-node2> <command>

Output Formatting

# JSON output
talosctl -n <IP> get members -o json

# YAML output
talosctl -n <IP> get machineconfig -o yaml

# Table output (default)
talosctl -n <IP> get members -o table

# Custom column output
talosctl -n <IP> get members -o columns=HOSTNAME,MACHINE\ TYPE,OS

Filtering and Selection

# Filter resources
talosctl get members --search <hostname>
talosctl get services --search kubelet

# Namespace filtering
talosctl get secrets --namespace=secrets
talosctl get affiliates --namespace=cluster-raw

Common Command Workflows

Initial Cluster Setup

# 1. Generate configurations
talosctl gen config cluster-name https://cluster-endpoint:6443

# 2. Apply to nodes
talosctl apply-config --nodes <controlplane-1> --file controlplane.yaml
talosctl apply-config --nodes <worker-1> --file worker.yaml

# 3. Bootstrap cluster
talosctl bootstrap --nodes <controlplane-1>

# 4. Get kubeconfig
talosctl kubeconfig --nodes <controlplane-1>

Cluster Health Check

# Check all aspects of cluster health
talosctl -n <IP1>,<IP2>,<IP3> health --control-plane-nodes <IP1>,<IP2>,<IP3>
talosctl -n <IP1>,<IP2>,<IP3> etcd status
talosctl -n <IP1>,<IP2>,<IP3> service kubelet
kubectl get nodes
kubectl get pods --all-namespaces

Node Troubleshooting

# System diagnostics
talosctl -n <IP> dmesg | tail -100
talosctl -n <IP> services | grep -v Running
talosctl -n <IP> logs kubelet | tail -50
talosctl -n <IP> events --since=1h

# Resource usage
talosctl -n <IP> memory
talosctl -n <IP> df
talosctl -n <IP> processes | head -20

This CLI reference provides the essential commands and patterns needed for day-to-day Talos cluster administration and troubleshooting.