CLI Tools#
SDC ships two official command-line tools that complement the Kubernetes-based control plane.
| sdc-lite | kubectl-sdc | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Standalone CLI for YANG-based config work | kubectl plugin for SDC on Kubernetes |
| Requires Kubernetes | No | Yes |
| Requires a live device | No | No (reads from data-server) |
| Primary audience | Network engineers, CI pipelines, offline workflows | Operators managing live SDC-managed targets |
| Key capabilities | Schema loading, config validation, format conversion, diffing, blame | Running config retrieval, blame, deviation inspection and revert |
When to use which#
Use sdc-lite when you want to work with YANG schemas and device configurations without a running Kubernetes cluster — for example, to validate a config file in CI, convert between formats (JSON, XML, JSON-IETF), or explore what a set of intents produces before pushing them.
Use kubectl-sdc when you have a live cluster with SDC installed and want to inspect the state of managed targets — for example, to trace which intent owns a given config leaf, retrieve the running config from a device, or detect and revert deviations.