brew / rank 3351

Install kn with Homebrew, Nix

Command-line interface for managing Knative Serving and Eventing resources. Version 1.23.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-29. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#kn.

Install command Security notes

install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install kn

local Homebrew formula metadata

Linux

Nixverified · 92%

nix profile install nixpkgs#kn

nixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/kn/kn/package.nix · source: api.github.com

overview

Package summary

Command-line interface for managing Knative Serving and Eventing resources

Project links

Homepage

Commands and aliases

history

Project history and usage

`kn` is the official Knative command-line client, built to let users create and manage Knative Serving and Eventing resources without writing Kubernetes YAML by hand.

Project history

Knative was released by Google in July 2018 as a serverless application layer on Kubernetes, with early collaboration from VMware, IBM, Red Hat, and SAP. The `kn` client emerged as the developer-facing command surface for that ecosystem; GitHub release data shows Knative Client v0.1.0 published on 2019-05-18.

The client documentation describes `kn` as an interface for Knative Services and Event Sources, including higher-level operations such as autoscaling and traffic splitting. The repository README also documents support for Serving resources, growing Eventing support, plugin architecture, and use from scripts or Tekton tasks.

Adoption history

The client tracks Knative's own maturation. Knative 1.0 was announced in 2021 with over 600 contributors and described Knative as the most widely installed serverless layer on Kubernetes. CNCF accepted Knative as an incubating project on 2022-03-02 and later listed it as graduated on 2025-09-11, which strengthened `kn` as the default CLI interface for a vendor-neutral cloud-native project.

How it is used

Users run `kn` to create services, list and inspect resources, split traffic between revisions, work with Eventing sources and triggers, and script Knative workflows. Its documented configuration uses `~/.config/kn/config.yaml` on Unix systems, while cluster credentials usually come from Kubernetes kubeconfig handling such as `~/.kube/config` or `KUBECONFIG`.

Why package nerds care

`kn` matters because it packages a complex Kubernetes CRD ecosystem into a small Go CLI. For package maintainers, it is part of the broader pattern where cloud-native projects ship a narrowly scoped binary that wraps Kubernetes APIs while still relying on kubeconfig and shell completion conventions users already know.

Timeline

2018-07: Google released Knative, later described by Knative 1.0 materials as developed with VMware, IBM, Red Hat, and SAP.
2019-05-18: Knative Client v0.1.0 published on GitHub.
2020-10-07: Knative Client v0.18.0 released with additional Eventing support.
2021: Knative 1.0 announced as a production-readiness milestone with over 600 contributors.
2022-03-02: CNCF accepted Knative as an incubating project.
2025-09-11: CNCF project page lists Knative as moving to graduated maturity.

Related projects

`kn` is related to Knative Serving, Knative Eventing, Kubernetes, kubectl plugin conventions, Tekton, CloudEvents, and distribution-specific serverless platforms such as OpenShift Serverless.

Sources

security posture

Risk level: green

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

Risk classifier

green risk · low confidence · appliance

Why

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals

Signals

metadata:no-higher-risk-signals

Install behavior

No Homebrew bottle metadata was recorded.

Recommended review

Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.

local files

Configuration and credential file locations

These source-backed paths show where this package keeps local settings or durable credentials. Automic Vault can use them as review targets for secret scanning, migration, and command approval.

Configuration files

Config paths the tool may read or write during local use.

Unix: ~/.config/kn/config.yaml

Credential files

Credential-bearing paths to review before unattended agent runs.

Unix: ~/.kube/config

executables

Installed executables

Command	Kind	Exposure	Note
`kn`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.

freshness

Version and freshness

These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.

page generated2026-08-03

manager version1.23.0

manager updated2026-07-29

local dataunknown

upstreamnot available

latest detectednot detected

okNo freshness warnings were generated.

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:kn
Version	1.23.0
Package manager	Homebrew
Homepage	https://github.com/knative/client
Repository	https://github.com/knative/client
Last updated	2026-07-29T18:10:56Z
Pulse	updated
Bottle	not recorded
Service	none declared

source database matches

Other package-manager records

Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.

Nix95%

kn

nix profile install nixpkgs#kn

normalized package name match
Matched by: Kn

nixpkgs package indexes · api.github.com · nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/kn/kn/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

source trail

Generated from repository data

This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.

Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub.

combined/kn.yml

Used sources

Geiger risk classifier
cross-ecosystem install command graph
curated configuration and credential file locations
curated package history
external package-manager database matches
pkg.so package database
pkgdb category and tag curation