# Install kubecm with Homebrew, Nix

KubeConfig Manager. Version 0.35.1 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-27. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#kubecm.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:kubecm
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install kubecm
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#kubecm
```

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

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:kubecm
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 0.35.1
- **Source summary:** KubeConfig Manager
- **Homepage:** <https://kubecm.cloud>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/sunny0826/kubecm>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-27T21:58:43+02:00
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- kubecm (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 0.35.1
## Project history and usage

KubeCM is a kubeconfig manager for Kubernetes users who work with multiple clusters, namespaces, and context files. It wraps common kubeconfig chores such as listing, switching, merging, deleting, and distributing configurations behind an interactive CLI.

### Project history

The sunny0826/kubecm repository was created on 2019-07-23, and the first GitHub release, v0.0.1, was published on 2019-07-25. The README describes the project plainly as a way to manage kubeconfig more easily.

As the project evolved, its README highlighted context management, kubeconfig merging, interactive selection, a Git-backed registry for team distribution, multi-platform support, and shell completion.

### Adoption history

KubeCM sits in the same everyday-operator niche as kubectx and kubens: tools that reduce friction around switching clusters and namespaces. Its documented install paths include Homebrew, GitHub release binaries, and Krew as the kc plugin, which covers both standalone CLI users and kubectl-plugin users.

### How it is used

The tool is centered on ~/.kube/config and related kubeconfig files. Users employ it to switch contexts, merge files, clean up entries, and share cluster access definitions through the registry feature.

Because kubeconfig files may contain sensitive access material, KubeCM is operationally adjacent to credentials even though it does not define a separate credentials store of its own.

### Why package nerds care

KubeCM is package-nerd-significant as a quality-of-life CLI rather than as infrastructure plumbing. It packages a pile of tiny kubeconfig edits into one cross-platform binary that can be installed with Homebrew or Krew and carried across developer machines.

Its popularity reflects a Kubernetes reality: once users touch many clusters, the kubeconfig file becomes a database they need tools to query, merge, and prune.

### Timeline

- 2019-07-23: GitHub repository created.
- 2019-07-25: GitHub release v0.0.1 published.
- 2019-07-26: GitHub release v0.0.2 published.
- 2026-03-09: GitHub release v0.35.1 published.

### Related projects

- kubectl is the command-line client whose kubeconfig state KubeCM helps manage.
- Krew distributes KubeCM as the kc kubectl plugin.
- kubectx and kubens are adjacent context and namespace switching tools in the same operator-workflow space.

### Sources

- <https://api.github.com/repos/sunny0826/kubecm>
- <https://api.github.com/repos/sunny0826/kubecm/releases>
- <https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/kubecm>
- <https://github.com/sunny0826/kubecm>
- <https://krew.sigs.k8s.io/plugins/>
- <https://kubecm.cloud>


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

- **Geiger risk:** green / low
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals


## 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

- Unix: ~/.kube/config
## Other Package-Manager Records

- Nix - kubecm: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/ku/kubecm/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/kubecm.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/kubecm.yml)


## Sources

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