✨ feat(cli): mark resource flags as required to improve completion by vitorfloriano · Pull Request #5647 · kubernetes-sigs/kubebuilder

vitorfloriano · 2026-04-18T03:54:59Z

This PR mark the kind and version as required.

This makes tab completion suggest those flags when completing the create api and create webhooks commands, instead of showing the files in the current directory.

👎🏻 Current behavior:

$ kubebuilder create api<TAB><TAB>  (shows files)
.agents/            dist/               hack/               OWNERS_ALIASES      test_e2e.sh
AGENTS.md           docs/               internal/           pkg/                test.sh
bin/                .git/               kubebuilder         README.md           VERSIONING.md
build/              .github/            LICENSE             RELEASE.md          .yamllint
code-of-conduct.md  .gitignore          main.go             roadmap/            .yamllint-helm
CONTRIBUTING.md     .golangci.yml       Makefile            SECURITY_CONTACTS   
DESIGN.md           go.mod              netlify.toml        test/               
designs/            go.sum              OWNERS              testdata/

👍🏻 New behavior:

$ kubebuilder create api<TAB><TAB> (does not show files)
$ kubebuilder create api --<TAB> (shows resource flags instead)
--kind     (Resource Kind (e.g., CronJob, Deployment))        --version  (Resource Version (e.g., v1, v1beta1))

Edit: Only version and kind are marked as required, so completion shows them proactively.

After the two flags are passed, tab completion shows a hint at other flags (Cobra's ActiveHelp):

$ kubebuilder create api --kind MyKind --version v1alpha 
Type '--' and press TAB to list more flags

Just a nice little polish in UX. 💅🏻

Relates to #5446

camilamacedo86 · 2026-04-18T04:12:43Z

 	var options *resourceOptions
 	if requiresResource {
 		options = bindResourceFlags(cmd.Flags())
+		cobra.CheckErr(cmd.MarkFlagRequired("group"))


I think there might be an edge case where group can be nil for core types—could we add a check for that?

That said, I really like this idea. It should help us enforce consistency across the whole project. 🎉

We could add a check IF the validation occurred before flag binding, which is not the case. We mark the flags as required in the initialization hook, and only then the plugin validates the input.

So I don't think it is possible...can't think of a way to make this happen.

But, MarkFlagRequired() does not validate the input, it only check if it is present, so --group "" would still work fine.

k8s-triage-robot · 2026-04-18T06:19:52Z

Unknown CLA label state. Rechecking for CLA labels.

Send feedback to sig-contributor-experience at kubernetes/community.

/check-cla
/easycla

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR aims to improve kubebuilder CLI UX by making the resource identity flags (--group, --version, --kind) show up as required in shell completion for commands that scaffold resources (notably create api and create webhook), preventing default completion from listing files in the current directory.

Changes:

Marks group, version, and kind flags as required for commands whose plugins implement plugin.RequiresResource.

vitorfloriano · 2026-04-18T23:26:54Z

+	) ([]cobra.Completion, cobra.ShellCompDirective) {
+		completions := []cobra.Completion{}
+		if len(args) == 0 && toComplete == "" {
+			completions = cobra.AppendActiveHelp(completions, "Type '--' and press TAB to list more flags")


@camilamacedo86 I removed the group flag requirement and added ActiveHelp to hint users about other flags. It's going to work like this:

Only version and kind are marked as required, so completion shows them proactively:

$ kubebuilder create api<TAB> --kind (Resource Kind (e.g., CronJob, Deployment)) --version (Resource Version (e.g., v1, v1beta1))

After the two flags are passed, tab completion shows a hint at other flags (Cobra's ActiveHelp):

$ kubebuilder create api --kind MyKind --version v1alpha Type '--' and press TAB to list more flags

I'm not 100% happy with the hint message, though. We can change that.

vitorfloriano · 2026-04-18T23:28:25Z

+		if err := cmd.MarkFlagRequired("version"); err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to mark 'version' flag as required: %w", err)
+		}
+		if err := cmd.MarkFlagRequired("kind"); err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to mark 'kind' flag as required: %w", err)
+		}


Also added proper err check, as pointed by @copilot.

camilamacedo86 · 2026-04-19T06:34:41Z

 */

 //nolint:dupl
 package cli


We need to fix the lint issue here, run make lint-fix to check it out.

The kind and version are now required.This makes completion suggest those flags when completing the create api and create webhooks commands. Just a nice little improvement in UX.

camilamacedo86

/lgtm

k8s-ci-robot · 2026-04-19T16:56:32Z

[APPROVALNOTIFIER] This PR is APPROVED

This pull-request has been approved by: camilamacedo86, vitorfloriano

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k8s-ci-robot requested review from camilamacedo86 and varshaprasad96 April 18, 2026 03:55

k8s-ci-robot added the size/XS Denotes a PR that changes 0-9 lines, ignoring generated files. label Apr 18, 2026

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k8s-ci-robot added size/S Denotes a PR that changes 10-29 lines, ignoring generated files. and removed size/XS Denotes a PR that changes 0-9 lines, ignoring generated files. labels Apr 18, 2026

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vitorfloriano requested a review from camilamacedo86 April 18, 2026 23:33

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feat(cli): mark kind and version flags as required

c896d0d

The kind and version are now required.This makes completion suggest those flags when completing the create api and create webhooks commands. Just a nice little improvement in UX.

vitorfloriano force-pushed the create-api-mark-flags-required branch from f57f1f3 to c896d0d Compare April 19, 2026 13:50

camilamacedo86 approved these changes Apr 19, 2026

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k8s-ci-robot added the lgtm "Looks good to me", indicates that a PR is ready to be merged. label Apr 19, 2026

k8s-ci-robot added the approved Indicates a PR has been approved by an approver from all required OWNERS files. label Apr 19, 2026

k8s-ci-robot merged commit 4ef6a45 into kubernetes-sigs:master Apr 19, 2026
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camilamacedo86 mentioned this pull request Apr 24, 2026

Release v4.14.0: Help test changes and review before the release + planner #5658

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✨ feat(cli): mark resource flags as required to improve completion#5647

✨ feat(cli): mark resource flags as required to improve completion#5647
k8s-ci-robot merged 1 commit intokubernetes-sigs:masterfrom
vitorfloriano:create-api-mark-flags-required

vitorfloriano commented Apr 18, 2026 •

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vitorfloriano commented Apr 18, 2026 •

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