# WHATPORT(8001)

## NAME

port 8001 — kubectl proxy, HTTP alternate — The default port for `kubectl proxy`, and the next HTTP port people grab after 8000.

Protocol: TCP  
IANA: vcom-tunnel

## DESCRIPTION

IANA registers 8001 as vcom-tunnel, which you will essentially never meet. What you do meet is `kubectl proxy`, whose `--port` flag defaults to 8001 — it opens an authenticated channel to the Kubernetes API server and serves it locally. The rest of the time 8001 is simply the second HTTP port on a box that already used 8000, common in Docker Compose files and multi-service dev setups.

## EXPOSURE

**Do not expose.** `kubectl proxy` authenticates to the cluster on your behalf and applies no authentication of its own, so anyone who reaches it inherits your cluster credentials. It binds 127.0.0.1 by default — leave it there.

## CHECK

```sh
curl -sI http://127.0.0.1:8001/api/
```

## SEE ALSO

- docs — [Kubernetes — kubectl proxy (--port default 8001)](https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/kubectl/generated/kubectl_proxy/) (kubernetes.io)
- iana — [IANA Service Name and Transport Protocol Port Number Registry — 8001](https://www.iana.org/assignments/service-names-port-numbers/service-names-port-numbers.xhtml?search=8001) (iana.org)

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