a generic name for configuration file that holds info on how to communicate with a cluster
contains one or more clusters, users, namespaces and authentication mechanisms
kubectl configuration loading order: 1. --kubeconfig 2. KUBECONFIG 3. $HOME/.kube/config (default)
KUBECONGIG can hold multiple kubeconfigs (separated by : on Linux/Mac) that get merged
to see your configuration - kubectl config view
cluster/user/namespace combination is a context
to see to contexts - kubectl config get-contexts
by default, kubectl uses parameters from the current context
to choose the current context - kubectl config use-context