How to find out why a pod is pending or crashing — kubectl describe

A pod is stuck Pending or keeps crashing and you need the events that explain why.

Placeholders follow the cheatsheet: web is a deployment/pod name and app.yaml is your manifest. Most commands act on the current namespace — add -n <ns> to target another one.

kubectl describe pod web-6d9f7c5b4-x2abc   # why pending/crashing? read the Events at the bottom
kubectl describe node node-1               # capacity, allocatable, taints, conditions

Good to know

describe shows full detail plus the Events section at the bottom — troubleshooting station #1.

kubectl Cheatsheet one-page card — commands that actually work — The full one-page card — kubectl Cheatsheet. Get the complete cheatsheet on GitHub