Port Forward to a Pod¶

When to Use This Guide¶

Use this guide when you want to access an application running inside a pod from your local machine.

Port forwarding is useful for:

• debugging services
• testing APIs
• accessing internal dashboards

kubectl port-forward pod/<pod-name> 8080:80

Step 1 — Find the Pod¶

List running pods.

kubectl get pods

Example:

web-app-6f9c8c7b7d-xk92

Step 2 — Forward the Port¶

Forward a local port to the pod.

kubectl port-forward pod/web-app-6f9c8c7b7d-xk92 8080:80

Now access the application locally:

http://localhost:8080

Step 3 — Test the Application¶

Open a browser or run:

curl http://localhost:8080

Common Issues¶

Port Already in Use

Choose a different local port.

kubectl port-forward pod/web-app 9090:80

Pod Not Running

Verify pod status.

kubectl get pods

Related Guides¶

Networking

• Expose a Service
• Expose a Service with Ingress