Tkn

tkn is the command-line interface for Tekton Pipelines, a Kubernetes-native continuous integration and delivery framework. It provides a lightweight, scriptable way to manage Tekton resources from a terminal, enabling developers and operators to inspect, trigger, and observe pipelines without directly querying the Kubernetes API. The tool communicates with the Tekton CustomResourceDefinitions installed in a Kubernetes cluster and uses kubeconfig to connect to the desired cluster and namespace.

Using tkn, users can list and describe Tekton resources such as Tasks, Pipelines, TaskRuns, and PipelineRuns, start new executions of pipelines, and fetch logs from running or completed builds. It also supports monitoring progress, canceling or retrying failed runs, and debugging pipeline configurations. While it abstracts away much of the Kubernetes boilerplate, tkn remains focused on Tekton concepts and workflows, making common tasks available through concise commands.

Installation is via a standalone binary that can be downloaded from the project releases or built from source. It runs on common platforms and can be used locally for development or within CI systems. The CLI is designed to integrate with automation scripts and other tooling commonly used in CI/CD pipelines.

tkn is part of the Tekton project, a Kubernetes-native CI/CD technology developed by the Tekton community and maintained as an open-source project under the Continuous Delivery Foundation. Documentation covers installation, commands, and common workflows, and the tool is widely used in cloud-native pipelines and Kubernetes-based automation.