Tools for managing and troubleshooting TLS/SSL certificates and issuers via cert-manager.

Install

mkdir -p .claude/skills/k8s-certs && curl -L -o skill.zip "https://agentskills.codes/api/skills/download/4904" && unzip -o skill.zip -d .claude/skills/k8s-certs && rm skill.zip

Installs to .claude/skills/k8s-certs

Activation

This is the description your AI agent reads to decide when to run this skill — the better it matches your request, the more reliably it fires.

Kubernetes certificate management with cert-manager. Use when managing TLS certificates, configuring issuers, or troubleshooting certificate issues.
148 chars✓ has a “when” trigger
Intermediate

Key capabilities

  • List and describe cluster issuers and certificates
  • Configure Let's Encrypt issuers for TLS
  • Monitor certificate expiry status
  • Troubleshoot certificate and issuer readiness
  • Integrate certificates with Kubernetes Ingress

How it works

The skill interfaces with cert-manager tools to list, describe, and apply certificate and issuer manifests within a Kubernetes cluster.

Inputs & outputs

You give it
Kubernetes namespace and certificate name
You get back
Certificate status and configuration details

When to use k8s-certs

  • Renewing expired certificates
  • Configuring Let's Encrypt issuers
  • Troubleshooting TLS errors

About this skill

Certificate Management with cert-manager

Manage TLS certificates using kubectl-mcp-server's cert-manager tools.

When to Apply

Use this skill when:

  • User mentions: "certificate", "cert-manager", "TLS", "SSL", "issuer", "Let's Encrypt"
  • Operations: creating certificates, configuring issuers, debugging cert issues
  • Keywords: "https", "secure", "encrypt", "renew", "expiring"

Priority Rules

PriorityRuleImpactTools
1Detect cert-manager firstCRITICALcertmanager_detect_tool
2Use staging issuer for testingHIGHTest with letsencrypt-staging
3Check issuer before certHIGHcertmanager_clusterissuers_list_tool
4Monitor certificate expiryMEDIUMcertmanager_certificate_get_tool

Quick Reference

TaskToolExample
Detect cert-managercertmanager_detect_toolcertmanager_detect_tool()
List certificatescertmanager_certificates_list_toolcertmanager_certificates_list_tool(namespace)
Get certificatecertmanager_certificate_get_toolcertmanager_certificate_get_tool(name, namespace)
List issuerscertmanager_clusterissuers_list_toolcertmanager_clusterissuers_list_tool()

Check Installation

certmanager_detect_tool()

Certificates

List Certificates

certmanager_certificates_list_tool(namespace="default")

Get Certificate Details

certmanager_certificate_get_tool(
    name="my-tls",
    namespace="default"
)

Create Certificate

kubectl_apply(manifest="""
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: Certificate
metadata:
  name: my-tls
  namespace: default
spec:
  secretName: my-tls-secret
  issuerRef:
    name: letsencrypt-prod
    kind: ClusterIssuer
  dnsNames:
  - app.example.com
  - www.example.com
""")

Issuers

List Issuers

certmanager_issuers_list_tool(namespace="default")

certmanager_clusterissuers_list_tool()

Get Issuer Details

certmanager_issuer_get_tool(name="my-issuer", namespace="default")
certmanager_clusterissuer_get_tool(name="letsencrypt-prod")

Create Let's Encrypt Issuer

kubectl_apply(manifest="""
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: ClusterIssuer
metadata:
  name: letsencrypt-staging
spec:
  acme:
    server: https://acme-staging-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
    email: [email protected]
    privateKeySecretRef:
      name: letsencrypt-staging-key
    solvers:
    - http01:
        ingress:
          class: nginx
""")

kubectl_apply(manifest="""
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: ClusterIssuer
metadata:
  name: letsencrypt-prod
spec:
  acme:
    server: https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
    email: [email protected]
    privateKeySecretRef:
      name: letsencrypt-prod-key
    solvers:
    - http01:
        ingress:
          class: nginx
""")

Create Self-Signed Issuer

kubectl_apply(manifest="""
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: ClusterIssuer
metadata:
  name: selfsigned
spec:
  selfSigned: {}
""")

Certificate Requests

certmanager_certificaterequests_list_tool(namespace="default")

certmanager_certificaterequest_get_tool(
    name="my-tls-xxxxx",
    namespace="default"
)

Troubleshooting

Certificate Not Ready

certmanager_certificate_get_tool(name, namespace)
certmanager_certificaterequests_list_tool(namespace)
get_events(namespace)

Issuer Not Ready

certmanager_clusterissuer_get_tool(name)
get_events(namespace="cert-manager")

Ingress Integration

kubectl_apply(manifest="""
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: my-ingress
  annotations:
    cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer: letsencrypt-prod
spec:
  tls:
  - hosts:
    - app.example.com
    secretName: app-tls
  rules:
  - host: app.example.com
    http:
      paths:
      - path: /
        pathType: Prefix
        backend:
          service:
            name: my-service
            port:
              number: 80
""")

Prerequisites

  • cert-manager: Required for all certificate tools
    kubectl apply -f https://github.com/cert-manager/cert-manager/releases/latest/download/cert-manager.yaml
    

Related Skills

When not to use it

  • Managing non-Kubernetes TLS certificates
  • Handling non-cert-manager certificate authorities

Prerequisites

cert-manager

Limitations

  • Requires cert-manager installed in the cluster

How it compares

It provides pre-configured tools for cert-manager operations instead of manually running kubectl commands for every resource check.

Compared to similar skills

k8s-certs side by side with the closest alternatives in the catalog.

SkillInstallsUpdatedSafetyDifficulty
k8s-certs (this skill)16moReviewIntermediate
k8s-security16moReviewAdvanced
container-security-testing17moReviewIntermediate
benchmarking-kubernetes-with-kube-bench01moReviewIntermediate

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