Any kubectl command throws “Unhandled Error” err=”couldn’t get current server API group list: Get \”http://localhost:8080/api?timeout=32s\”: dial tcp [::1]:8080: connect: connection refused” – what do?

This article explains a fix to a – frankly possibly a little bit dumb – problem, where all kubectl commands suddenly throw an error along the lines of “couldn’t get current server API group list: Get \”http://localhost:8080/api?timeout=32s\”: dial tcp [::1]:8080: connect: connection refused”.

Since I don’t ever have Kubernetes running locally, and I actually don’t even change kubectl connections, I was quite confused by this.

But read on to find out how I resolved my dumb mistake!

Problem

You could be running any kubectl command to query any data from the service – even this:

kubectl cluster-info

But you get this:

E0527 09:44:02.891142   59546 memcache.go:265] "Unhandled Error" err="couldn't get current server API group list: Get \"http://localhost:8080/api?timeout=32s\": dial tcp [::1]:8080: connect: connection refused"
E0527 09:44:02.892976   59546 memcache.go:265] "Unhandled Error" err="couldn't get current server API group list: Get \"http://localhost:8080/api?timeout=32s\": dial tcp [::1]:8080: connect: connection refused"
E0527 09:44:02.894616   59546 memcache.go:265] "Unhandled Error" err="couldn't get current server API group list: Get \"http://localhost:8080/api?timeout=32s\": dial tcp [::1]:8080: connect: connection refused"
E0527 09:44:02.896234   59546 memcache.go:265] "Unhandled Error" err="couldn't get current server API group list: Get \"http://localhost:8080/api?timeout=32s\": dial tcp [::1]:8080: connect: connection refused"
E0527 09:44:02.898040   59546 memcache.go:265] "Unhandled Error" err="couldn't get current server API group list: Get \"http://localhost:8080/api?timeout=32s\": dial tcp [::1]:8080: connect: connection refused"

What do?

Reason

I recently switched over to a new daily driver at work – my first mac – and while I’ve had to become pretty good at backing up, migrating and restoring my stuff (including configuration) on Windows (since it kept crashing and burning all the time), I have little experience setting things up on a mac.

But set things up I did, and soon I had all of my usual tools set up to run in -zsh, in iTerm2. But the first time I was running a good old “kubectl logs podname | Set-Content /Users/koskila/mystuff/logs/250527-94226.log”, I realized none of my usual PowerShell goodness works in -zsh.

Go figure, right?

So I switched over to PowerShell. Because I had it installed. And suddenly kubectl couldn’t connect.

…

Can you see the problem already?

Solution

Now, I know this might be a bit stupid. There’s a good chance you’re smarter than me, so your issue might also be more advanced than mine.

But if you’re exactly as smart as I am, and your problem is the same as mine, here’s what to do:

1. Make sure you’ve run

az account set --subscription <your-guid-here>
az aks get-credentials --resource-group <rg-name-here> --name <AKS-cluster-name> --overwrite-existing

I had, of course, ran them. But not in the right console window, and the context isn’t shared.

I don’t know why and how I have literally never – not even once – made this mistake on my Windows machine, but ran into it on a mac. Maybe I just didn’t have my $KUBECONFIG set up in PowerShell, but running the az cli commands fixed it…?

Perhaps I’ll never know – but at least it’s working now!

Hope it helps you as well 😅

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Antti K. Koskela

Developer / Speaker / Consultant at Koskila / Precio Fishbone / Norppandalotti Software Co / Alter - Experience Ideas Ltd

Antti Koskela is a proud digital native nomadic millennial full stack developer (is that enough funny buzzwords? That's definitely enough funny buzzwords!), who works as Solutions Architect for Precio Fishbone, building delightful Digital Workplaces.

He's been a developer from 2004 (starting with PHP and Java), and he's been working on .NET projects, Azure, Office 365, SharePoint and a lot of other stuff. He's also Microsoft MVP for Azure.

This is his personal professional (e.g. professional, but definitely personal) blog.

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• Any kubectl command throws “Unhandled Error” err=”couldn’t get current server API group list: Get \”http://localhost:8080/api?timeout=32s\”: dial tcp [::1]:8080: connect: connection refused” – what do? - July 1, 2025