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Apply a configuration to a resource by file name or stdin

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Synopsis

Apply a configuration to a resource by file name or stdin. The resource name must be specified. This resource will be created if it doesn’t exist yet. To use ‘apply’, always create the resource initially with either ‘apply’ or ‘create —save-config’. JSON and YAML formats are accepted. Alpha Disclaimer: the —prune functionality is not yet complete. Do not use unless you are aware of what the current state is. See https://issues.k8s.io/34274. 
datumctl apply (-f FILENAME | -k DIRECTORY)

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Examples

  # Apply the configuration in pod.json to a pod
  kubectl apply -f ./pod.json

  # Apply resources from a directory containing kustomization.yaml - e.g. dir/kustomization.yaml
  kubectl apply -k dir/

  # Apply the JSON passed into stdin to a pod
  cat pod.json | kubectl apply -f -

  # Apply the configuration from all files that end with '.json'
  kubectl apply -f '*.json'

  # Note: --prune is still in Alpha
  # Apply the configuration in manifest.yaml that matches label app=nginx and delete all other resources that are not in the file and match label app=nginx
  kubectl apply --prune -f manifest.yaml -l app=nginx

  # Apply the configuration in manifest.yaml and delete all the other config maps that are not in the file
  kubectl apply --prune -f manifest.yaml --all --prune-allowlist=core/v1/ConfigMap

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Options

FlagTypeDescription
--all—Select all resources in the namespace of the specified resource types.
--allow-missing-template-keys—If true, ignore any errors in templates when a field or map key is missing in the template. Only applies to golang and jsonpath output formats. (default true)
--cascadestringMust be "background", "orphan", or "foreground". Selects the deletion cascading strategy for the dependents. Defaults to background. (default "background")
--dry-runstringMust be "none", "server", or "client". If client strategy, only print the object that would be sent, without sending it. If server strategy, submit server-side request without persisting the resource. (default "none")
--field-managerstringName of the manager used to track field ownership. (default "kubectl-client-side-apply")
-f, --filenamestringsThe files that contain the configurations to apply.
--force—If true, immediately remove resources from API and bypass graceful deletion. Note that immediate deletion of some resources may result in inconsistency or data loss and requires confirmation.
--force-conflicts—If true, server-side apply will force the changes against conflicts.
--grace-periodintPeriod of time in seconds given to the resource to terminate gracefully. Ignored if negative. Set to 1 for immediate shutdown. Can only be set to 0 when --force is true. (default -1)
-h, --help—Help for apply.
-k, --kustomizestringProcess a kustomization directory. This flag can’t be used together with -f or -R.
--openapi-patch—If true, use openapi to calculate diff when the openapi presents and the resource can be found in the openapi spec. Otherwise, fall back to use baked-in types. (default true)
-o, --outputstringOutput format. One of: (json, yaml, kyaml, name, go-template, go-template-file, template, templatefile, jsonpath, jsonpath-as-json, jsonpath-file).
--overwrite—Automatically resolve conflicts between the modified and live configuration by using values from the modified configuration. (default true)
--prune—Automatically delete resource objects that do not appear in the configs and are created by either apply or create --save-config. Should be used with either -l or --all.
--prune-allowliststringArrayOverwrite the default allowlist with <group/version/kind> for --prune.
-R, --recursive—Process the directory used in -f, --filename recursively.
-l, --selectorstringSelector (label query) to filter on, supports =, ==, !=, in, notin.
--server-side—If true, apply runs in the server instead of the client.
--show-managed-fields—If true, keep the managedFields when printing objects in JSON or YAML format.
--subresourcestringIf specified, apply will operate on the subresource of the requested object. Only allowed when using --server-side.
--templatestringTemplate string or path to template file to use when -o=go-template or -o=go-template-file.
--timeoutdurationThe length of time to wait before giving up on a delete, zero means determine a timeout from the size of the object.
--validatestringMust be one of: strict (or true), warn, ignore (or false). (default "strict")
--wait—If true, wait for resources to be gone before returning. This waits for finalizers.

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Options inherited from parent commands

FlagTypeDescription
--asstringUsername to impersonate for the operation. User could be a regular user or a service account in a namespace.
--as-groupstringArrayGroup to impersonate for the operation. Can be repeated to specify multiple groups.
--as-uidstringUID to impersonate for the operation.
--as-user-extrastringArrayUser extras to impersonate for the operation. Can be repeated to specify multiple values for the same key.
--certificate-authoritystringPath to a cert file for the certificate authority.
--disable-compression—If true, opt-out of response compression for all requests to the server.
--insecure-skip-tls-verify—If true, the server’s certificate will not be checked for validity. This will make your HTTPS connections insecure.
--log-flush-frequencydurationMaximum number of seconds between log flushes. (default 5s)
-n, --namespacestringIf present, the namespace scope for this CLI request.
--organizationstringOrganization name.
--platform-wide—Access the platform root instead of a project or organization control plane.
--projectstringProject name.
--request-timeoutstringThe length of time to wait before giving up on a single server request. Non-zero values should contain a corresponding time unit (e.g. 1s, 2m, 3h). A value of zero means don’t timeout requests. (default "0")
-s, --serverstringThe address and port of the Kubernetes API server.
--tls-server-namestringServer name to use for server certificate validation. If not provided, the hostname used to contact the server is used.
--tokenstringBearer token for authentication to the API server.
--userstringThe name of the kubeconfig user to use.
-v, --vLevelNumber for the log level verbosity.
--vmodulemoduleSpecComma-separated list of pattern=N settings for file-filtered logging (only works for the default text log format).

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See also

Auto generated by spf13/cobra on 24-Feb-2026
Last modified on April 9, 2026