---
name: "kubectl-config-set-credentials"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "kubectl"
version: "1.37.2-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/kubectl-config-set-credentials"
---

# kubectl-config-set-credentials(1)

Set a user entry in kubeconfig

Eric Paris Jan 2015

## NAME

kubectl config set-credentials - Set a user entry in kubeconfig

## SYNOPSIS

**kubectl config set-credentials** \[OPTIONS\]

## DESCRIPTION

Set a user entry in kubeconfig.

Specifying a name that already exists will merge new fields on top of existing values.

```
    Client-certificate flags:
    --client-certificate=certfile --client-key=keyfile
    Bearer token flags:
    --token=bearer_token
    Basic auth flags:
    --username=basic_user --password=basic_password
```

Bearer token and basic auth are mutually exclusive.

## OPTIONS

**--auth-provider**=""\
 	Auth provider for the user entry in kubeconfig

**--auth-provider-arg**=\[\]\
 	'key=value' arguments for the auth provider

**--client-certificate**=""\
 	Path to client-certificate file for the user entry in kubeconfig

**--client-key**=""\
 	Path to client-key file for the user entry in kubeconfig

**--embed-certs**=false\
 	Embed client cert/key for the user entry in kubeconfig

**--exec-api-version**=""\
 	API version of the exec credential plugin for the user entry in kubeconfig

**--exec-arg**=\[\]\
 	New arguments for the exec credential plugin command for the user entry in kubeconfig

**--exec-command**=""\
 	Command for the exec credential plugin for the user entry in kubeconfig

**--exec-env**=\[\]\
 	'key=value' environment values for the exec credential plugin

**--exec-interactive-mode**=""\
 	InteractiveMode of the exec credentials plugin for the user entry in kubeconfig

**--exec-provide-cluster-info**=false\
 	ProvideClusterInfo of the exec credentials plugin for the user entry in kubeconfig

**--password**=""\
 	password for the user entry in kubeconfig

**--token**=""\
 	token for the user entry in kubeconfig

**--username**=""\
 	username for the user entry in kubeconfig

## OPTIONS INHERITED FROM PARENT COMMANDS

**--as**=""\
 	Username to impersonate for the operation. User could be a regular user or a service account in a namespace.

**--as-group**=\[\]\
 	Group to impersonate for the operation, this flag can be repeated to specify multiple groups.

**--as-uid**=""\
 	UID to impersonate for the operation.

**--as-user-extra**=\[\]\
 	User extras to impersonate for the operation, this flag can be repeated to specify multiple values for the same key.

**--cache-dir**="/home/username/.kube/cache"\
 	Default cache directory

**--certificate-authority**=""\
 	Path to a cert file for the certificate authority

**--cluster**=""\
 	The name of the kubeconfig cluster to use

**--context**=""\
 	The name of the kubeconfig context to use

**--disable-compression**=false\
 	If true, opt-out of response compression for all requests to the server

**--insecure-skip-tls-verify**=false\
 	If true, the server's certificate will not be checked for validity. This will make your HTTPS connections insecure

**--kubeconfig**=""\
 	use a particular kubeconfig file

**--kuberc**=""\
 	Path to the kuberc file to use for preferences. This can be disabled by exporting KUBECTL\_KUBERC=false feature gate or turning off the feature KUBERC=off.

**--match-server-version**=false\
 	Require server version to match client version

**-n**, **--namespace**=""\
 	If present, the namespace scope for this CLI request

**--profile**="none"\
 	Name of profile to capture. One of (none\|cpu\|heap\|goroutine\|threadcreate\|block\|mutex\|trace)

**--profile-output**="profile.pprof"\
 	Name of the file to write the profile to

**--proxy-url**=""\
 	Proxy URL to use for requests to the API server

**--request-timeout**="0"\
 	The length of time to wait before giving up on a single server request. Non-zero values should contain a corresponding time unit (e.g. 1s, 2m, 3h). A value of zero means don't timeout requests.

**-s**, **--server**=""\
 	The address and port of the Kubernetes API server

**--tls-server-name**=""\
 	Server name to use for server certificate validation. If it is not provided, the hostname used to contact the server is used

**--user**=""\
 	The name of the kubeconfig user to use

**--version**=false\
 	\--version, --version=raw prints version information and quits; --version=vX.Y.Z... sets the reported version

**--warnings-as-errors**=false\
 	Treat warnings received from the server as errors and exit with a non-zero exit code

## EXAMPLE

```
  # Set only the "client-key" field on the "cluster-admin"
  # entry, without touching other values
  kubectl config set-credentials cluster-admin --client-key=~/.kube/admin.key
  # Set basic auth for the "cluster-admin" entry
  kubectl config set-credentials cluster-admin --username=admin --password=uXFGweU9l35qcif
  # Embed client certificate data in the "cluster-admin" entry
  kubectl config set-credentials cluster-admin --client-certificate=~/.kube/admin.crt --embed-certs=true
  # Enable the Google Compute Platform auth provider for the "cluster-admin" entry
  kubectl config set-credentials cluster-admin --auth-provider=gcp
  # Enable the OpenID Connect auth provider for the "cluster-admin" entry with additional arguments
  kubectl config set-credentials cluster-admin --auth-provider=oidc --auth-provider-arg=client-id=foo --auth-provider-arg=client-secret=bar
  # Remove the "client-secret" config value for the OpenID Connect auth provider for the "cluster-admin" entry
  kubectl config set-credentials cluster-admin --auth-provider=oidc --auth-provider-arg=client-secret-
  # Enable new exec auth plugin for the "cluster-admin" entry
  kubectl config set-credentials cluster-admin --exec-command=/path/to/the/executable --exec-api-version=client.authentication.k8s.io/v1beta1
  # Enable new exec auth plugin for the "cluster-admin" entry with interactive mode
  kubectl config set-credentials cluster-admin --exec-command=/path/to/the/executable --exec-api-version=client.authentication.k8s.io/v1beta1 --exec-interactive-mode=Never
  # Define new exec auth plugin arguments for the "cluster-admin" entry
  kubectl config set-credentials cluster-admin --exec-arg=arg1 --exec-arg=arg2
  # Create or update exec auth plugin environment variables for the "cluster-admin" entry
  kubectl config set-credentials cluster-admin --exec-env=key1=val1 --exec-env=key2=val2
  # Remove exec auth plugin environment variables for the "cluster-admin" entry
  kubectl config set-credentials cluster-admin --exec-env=var-to-remove-
```

## SEE ALSO

**[kubectl-config(1)](/kubectl-config/1.md)**,

## HISTORY

January 2015, Originally compiled by Eric Paris (eparis at redhat dot com) based on the kubernetes source material, but hopefully they have been automatically generated since!