> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://datum-4926dda5-mintlify-style-consistency-1774830500.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# datumctl explain

Get documentation for a resource

### Synopsis

Describe fields and structure of various resources.

This command describes the fields associated with each supported API resource. Fields are identified via a simple JSONPath identifier:

`<type>.<fieldName>[.<fieldName>]`

Information about each field is retrieved from the server in OpenAPI format.

Use "datumctl api-resources" for a complete list of supported resources.

```
datumctl explain TYPE [--recursive=FALSE|TRUE] [--api-version=api-version-group] [-o|--output=plaintext|plaintext-openapiv2]
```

### Examples

```
  # Get the documentation of the resource and its fields
  kubectl explain pods

  # Get all the fields in the resource
  kubectl explain pods --recursive

  # Get the explanation for deployment in supported api versions
  kubectl explain deployments --api-version=apps/v1

  # Get the documentation of a specific field of a resource
  kubectl explain pods.spec.containers

  # Get the documentation of resources in different format
  kubectl explain deployment --output=plaintext-openapiv2
```

### Options

| Flag             | Type   | Description                                                                                        |
| ---------------- | ------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `--api-version`  | string | Get different explanations for particular API version (API group/version).                         |
| `-h`, `--help`   | —      | Help for explain.                                                                                  |
| `-o`, `--output` | string | Format in which to render the schema (`plaintext`, `plaintext-openapiv2`). (default `"plaintext"`) |
| `--recursive`    | —      | Print the fields of fields (Currently only 1 level deep).                                          |

### Options inherited from parent commands

| Flag                         | Type        | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
| ---------------------------- | ----------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `--as`                       | string      | Username to impersonate for the operation. User could be a regular user or a service account in a namespace.                                                                                                            |
| `--as-group`                 | stringArray | Group to impersonate for the operation. Can be repeated to specify multiple groups.                                                                                                                                     |
| `--as-uid`                   | string      | UID to impersonate for the operation.                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| `--as-user-extra`            | stringArray | User extras to impersonate for the operation. Can be repeated to specify multiple values for the same key.                                                                                                              |
| `--certificate-authority`    | string      | Path to a cert file for the certificate authority.                                                                                                                                                                      |
| `--disable-compression`      | —           | If true, opt-out of response compression for all requests to the server.                                                                                                                                                |
| `--insecure-skip-tls-verify` | —           | If true, the server's certificate will not be checked for validity. This will make your HTTPS connections insecure.                                                                                                     |
| `--log-flush-frequency`      | duration    | Maximum number of seconds between log flushes. (default `5s`)                                                                                                                                                           |
| `-n`, `--namespace`          | string      | If present, the namespace scope for this CLI request.                                                                                                                                                                   |
| `--organization`             | string      | Organization name.                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| `--platform-wide`            | —           | Access the platform root instead of a project or organization control plane.                                                                                                                                            |
| `--project`                  | string      | Project name.                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| `--request-timeout`          | string      | The length of time to wait before giving up on a single server request. Non-zero values should contain a corresponding time unit (e.g. `1s`, `2m`, `3h`). A value of zero means don't timeout requests. (default `"0"`) |
| `-s`, `--server`             | string      | The address and port of the Kubernetes API server.                                                                                                                                                                      |
| `--tls-server-name`          | string      | Server name to use for server certificate validation. If not provided, the hostname used to contact the server is used.                                                                                                 |
| `--token`                    | string      | Bearer token for authentication to the API server.                                                                                                                                                                      |
| `--user`                     | string      | The name of the kubeconfig user to use.                                                                                                                                                                                 |
| `-v`, `--v`                  | Level       | Number for the log level verbosity.                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| `--vmodule`                  | moduleSpec  | Comma-separated list of `pattern=N` settings for file-filtered logging (only works for the default text log format).                                                                                                    |

### See also

* [datumctl](/docs/datumctl/cli-reference/)	 - A CLI for interacting with the Datum platform

###### Auto generated by spf13/cobra on 24-Feb-2026