Vim For Managing Kubernetes Clusters

By Ash Thomas April 7, 2026 #LINUX ADMINISTATION

Essential Vim commands for editing Kubernetes YAML on the server.

Open and Exit

vi filename.yaml      # open file
vim filename.yaml     # open file (better)

Command	What it does
`:w`	Save
`:q`	Quit
`:wq`	Save and quit
`:q!`	Quit without saving
`:wq!`	Force save and quit

Navigation (Normal mode)

Key	What it does
`h j k l`	Left, down, up, right
`gg`	Go to top of file
`G`	Go to bottom of file
`Ctrl+F`	Page down
`Ctrl+B`	Page up
`0`	Start of line
`$`	End of line
`:10`	Go to line 10

Editing (Normal mode)

Key	What it does
`i`	Insert before cursor
`a`	Insert after cursor
`o`	New line below
`O`	New line above
`dd`	Delete line
`yy`	Copy line
`p`	Paste below
`u`	Undo
`Ctrl+R`	Redo
`x`	Delete character

Search and Replace

/text           " search forward
?text           " search backward
n               " next match
N               " previous match
:%s/old/new/g   " replace all

YAML Specific

>>              " indent line right
<<              " indent line left

Useful for Kubernetes

# Open and go straight to line 10
vi +10 file.yaml

# Open and search for a term
vi +/image file.yaml

The .vimrc for YAML

Add to ~/.vimrc for correct YAML behaviour from our GitHub or Forgejo

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By Ash Thomas

Ash Thomas is a seasoned IT professional with extensive experience as a technical expert, complemented by a keen interest in blockchain technology.