Apply, Diff, and Delete in Kubernetes

From the Kubernetes Essentials cheat sheet · Declarative Management · verified Aug 2026

Apply, Diff, and Delete

Manage desired state from files.

bash
kubectl diff -f app.yaml
kubectl apply -f app.yaml
📌 Prefer apply for reproducible workloads
⚡ diff previews changes before apply
💡 Server dry runs perform API validation
⚠️ Delete removes every object in the file
applydiffdelete

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