Linkerd CLI

Linkerd is the command-line control surface for installing and operating the Linkerd service mesh on Kubernetes. It generates manifests for mesh lifecycle changes, inspects control plane and policy state, and exposes traffic, authorization, and multicluster workflows from the terminal.

• Generate manifests to install, upgrade, prune, or uninstall Linkerd and its viz or multicluster extensions.
• Inject or remove Linkerd sidecars in Kubernetes manifests, run preflight or runtime health checks, and inspect policy or endpoint state.
• Query live mesh behavior with traffic stats, routes, taps, authorization views, and cross-cluster link resources.

• Many high-value commands support --output json or jsonpath, which makes follow-up parsing and verification practical in shell loops.
• Most workflows are non-interactive and compose cleanly with kubectl, but the CLI assumes kubeconfig access and often a running Linkerd control plane or extension APIs.
• Agents should prefer the JSON-capable subcommands over human helpers like viz dashboard and the termbox-based viz top view.

• Many lifecycle commands emit YAML or JSON for kubectl apply rather than mutating cluster state directly.
• Traffic, authorization, and multicluster workflows depend on Linkerd already being installed, and some require optional extensions such as viz.