Authenticate with the vSphere Supervisor API

apiVersion: soultec.ch/v1kind: Postmetadata: name: how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api locale: en labels: author: matthias-grasmueck capability/containers: 2.39 vendor/vmware: 0.88 annotations: source: blog-content/posts/en/how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api.md route: /en/insights/how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api/ schema: /nerd/schema/posts.json markdown: /en/insights/how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api.mdspec: title: Authenticate with the vSphere Supervisor API date: 2026-07-29 author: matthias-grasmueck locale: en summary: >- Have you always wondered how to log in directly to the vSphere Supervisor API to communicate directly with the Kubernetes API without having to rely on kubectl-vsphere or vcf-cli command line tool? capabilities: [containers] vendors: [vmware] hero: >- /blog-assets/how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api/hero.webp legacySlug: how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api migrated: 2026-08-24 draft: false sections: - body: | Have you always wondered how to log in directly to the **vSphere Supervisor API** to communicate directly with the Kubernetes API without having to rely on **kubectl-vsphere** or **vcf-cli** command line tool? This short example shows quite simply how you can easily log in to the Supervisor API and, for example, retrieve the vSphere namespaces: ```bash # Get the JSON Web Token (JWT) TOKEN=$(curl -sk -u "USER@DOMAIN" \ -X POST https://SUPERVISOR_FQDN_OR_IP/wcp/login | jq -r '.session_id') # Query all vSphere Namespaces curl -k -H "Authorization: Bearer ${TOKEN}" -X GET https://SUPERVISOR_FQDN_OR_IP/api/v1/namespaces | jq -r '.items[].metadata.name' # Output default kube-node-lease kube-public kube-state-metrics-139ce kube-system svc-argocd svc-argocd-service-3srmt svc-auto-attach-1hnu0 svc-cci-ns-xk907 svc-configuration-tbe79 svc-consumption-operator-63v75 svc-contour-m8mn1 svc-harbor-jpft6 svc-metrics-aggregator-rs4er svc-pais-lyk5h svc-secret-store-6rqli svc-supervisor-management-proxy-l4g5n svc-tkg-gf8p0 svc-tmc-c9 svc-velero-od4zi svc-vks-cluster-manager-service-3873a vmware-system-ako vmware-system-appplatform-operator-system vmware-system-cert-manager vmware-system-csi vmware-system-imageregistry vmware-system-kubeimage vmware-system-logging vmware-system-mgmt-proxy vmware-system-mobility-operator vmware-system-monitoring vmware-system-netop vmware-system-network-operations vmware-system-nsop vmware-system-nsx vmware-system-pinniped vmware-system-supervisor-services vmware-system-supervisor-services-vpc vmware-system-vks-public vmware-system-vmop vmware-system-workload-cli vmware-system-zoneop ``` You can also use this token directly and embed it in a kubeconfig file so that you can use the kubectl CLI as well: ```yaml apiVersion: v1 kind: Config clusters: - cluster: insecure-skip-tls-verify: true server: https://SUPERVISOR_IP:443 name: vcf-mgmt-sn91:SUPERVISOR_IP contexts: - context: cluster: vcf-mgmt-sn91:SUPERVISOR_IP user: vcf-mgmt-sn91:USER@[email protected] name: vcf-mgmt-sn91 current-context: vcf-mgmt-sn91 users: - name: vcf-mgmt-sn91:USER@DOMAIN@SUPERVISOR_IP user: token: REDACTED_JWT ``` Many thanks to **Will Arroyo** ([github.com/warroyo](https://github.com/warroyo/supervisor-login-examples)) for his support and contribution. A big thank you also goes to **Louis Baumann** ([github.com/soultecag](https://github.com/soultecag/vks-k8s-auth)), who provided us with a simple Go client that allows us to log in to a vSphere Supervisor and create a Kubernetes client or a kubeconfig file, either for the Supervisor cluster itself or for one of its VKS guest clusters.status: corpus: 267 alsoLike: - {ref: posts/vvf-9-0-supervisor-mit-foundation-load-balancer, score: 1.00} - {ref: posts/how-to-vsphere-supervisor-services, score: 1.00} - {ref: services/virtualization-container, score: 0.74}

{ "apiVersion": "soultec.ch/v1", "kind": "Post", "metadata": { "name": "how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api", "locale": "en", "labels": { "author": "matthias-grasmueck", "capability/containers": "2.39", "vendor/vmware": "0.88" }, "annotations": { "source": "blog-content/posts/en/how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api.md", "route": "/en/insights/how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api/", "schema": "/nerd/schema/posts.json", "markdown": "/en/insights/how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api.md" } }, "spec": { "title": "Authenticate with the vSphere Supervisor API", "date": "2026-07-29", "author": "matthias-grasmueck", "locale": "en", "summary": "Have you always wondered how to log in directly to the vSphere Supervisor API to communicate directly with the Kubernetes API without having to rely on kubectl-vsphere or vcf-cli command line tool?", "capabilities": [ "containers" ], "vendors": [ "vmware" ], "hero": "/blog-assets/how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api/hero.webp", "legacySlug": "how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api", "migrated": "2026-08-24", "draft": false }, "sections": [ { "body": "Have you always wondered how to log in directly to the **vSphere Supervisor API** to communicate directly with the Kubernetes API without having to rely on **kubectl-vsphere** or **vcf-cli** command line tool?\n\nThis short example shows quite simply how you can easily log in to the Supervisor API and, for example, retrieve the vSphere namespaces:\n\n```bash\n# Get the JSON Web Token (JWT)\nTOKEN=$(curl -sk -u \"USER@DOMAIN\" \\\n-X POST https://SUPERVISOR_FQDN_OR_IP/wcp/login | jq -r '.session_id')\n\n# Query all vSphere Namespaces\ncurl -k -H \"Authorization: Bearer ${TOKEN}\" -X GET https://SUPERVISOR_FQDN_OR_IP/api/v1/namespaces | jq -r '.items[].metadata.name'\n\n# Output\ndefault\nkube-node-lease\nkube-public\nkube-state-metrics-139ce\nkube-system\nsvc-argocd\nsvc-argocd-service-3srmt\nsvc-auto-attach-1hnu0\nsvc-cci-ns-xk907\nsvc-configuration-tbe79\nsvc-consumption-operator-63v75\nsvc-contour-m8mn1\nsvc-harbor-jpft6\nsvc-metrics-aggregator-rs4er\nsvc-pais-lyk5h\nsvc-secret-store-6rqli\nsvc-supervisor-management-proxy-l4g5n\nsvc-tkg-gf8p0\nsvc-tmc-c9\nsvc-velero-od4zi\nsvc-vks-cluster-manager-service-3873a\nvmware-system-ako\nvmware-system-appplatform-operator-system\nvmware-system-cert-manager\nvmware-system-csi\nvmware-system-imageregistry\nvmware-system-kubeimage\nvmware-system-logging\nvmware-system-mgmt-proxy\nvmware-system-mobility-operator\nvmware-system-monitoring\nvmware-system-netop\nvmware-system-network-operations\nvmware-system-nsop\nvmware-system-nsx\nvmware-system-pinniped\nvmware-system-supervisor-services\nvmware-system-supervisor-services-vpc\nvmware-system-vks-public\nvmware-system-vmop\nvmware-system-workload-cli\nvmware-system-zoneop\n```\n\nYou can also use this token directly and embed it in a kubeconfig file so that you can use the kubectl CLI as well:\n\n```yaml\n\napiVersion: v1\nkind: Config\nclusters:\n- cluster:\n insecure-skip-tls-verify: true\n server: https://SUPERVISOR_IP:443\n name: vcf-mgmt-sn91:SUPERVISOR_IP\ncontexts:\n- context:\n cluster: vcf-mgmt-sn91:SUPERVISOR_IP\n user: vcf-mgmt-sn91:USER@[email protected]\n name: vcf-mgmt-sn91\ncurrent-context: vcf-mgmt-sn91\nusers:\n- name: vcf-mgmt-sn91:USER@DOMAIN@SUPERVISOR_IP\n user:\n token: REDACTED_JWT\n```\n\nMany thanks to **Will Arroyo** ([github.com/warroyo](https://github.com/warroyo/supervisor-login-examples)) for his support and contribution.\n\nA big thank you also goes to **Louis Baumann** ([github.com/soultecag](https://github.com/soultecag/vks-k8s-auth)), who provided us with a simple Go client that allows us to log in to a vSphere Supervisor and create a Kubernetes client or a kubeconfig file, either for the Supervisor cluster itself or for one of its VKS guest clusters." } ], "status": { "corpus": 267, "alsoLike": [ { "ref": "posts/vvf-9-0-supervisor-mit-foundation-load-balancer", "score": "1.00" }, { "ref": "posts/how-to-vsphere-supervisor-services", "score": "1.00" }, { "ref": "services/virtualization-container", "score": "0.74" } ] }}

apiVersion = "soultec.ch/v1"kind = "Post"[metadata]name = "how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api"locale = "en"[metadata.labels]author = "matthias-grasmueck""capability/containers" = "2.39""vendor/vmware" = "0.88"[metadata.annotations]source = "blog-content/posts/en/how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api.md"route = "/en/insights/how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api/"schema = "/nerd/schema/posts.json"markdown = "/en/insights/how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api.md"[spec]title = "Authenticate with the vSphere Supervisor API"date = 2026-07-29author = "matthias-grasmueck"locale = "en"summary = "Have you always wondered how to log in directly to the vSphere Supervisor API to communicate directly with the Kubernetes API without having to rely on kubectl-vsphere or vcf-cli command line tool?"capabilities = ["containers"]vendors = ["vmware"]hero = "/blog-assets/how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api/hero.webp"legacySlug = "how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api"migrated = 2026-08-24draft = false[[sections]]body = '''Have you always wondered how to log in directly to the **vSphere Supervisor API** to communicate directly with the Kubernetes API without having to rely on **kubectl-vsphere** or **vcf-cli** command line tool?This short example shows quite simply how you can easily log in to the Supervisor API and, for example, retrieve the vSphere namespaces:```bash# Get the JSON Web Token (JWT)TOKEN=$(curl -sk -u "USER@DOMAIN" \-X POST https://SUPERVISOR_FQDN_OR_IP/wcp/login | jq -r '.session_id')# Query all vSphere Namespacescurl -k -H "Authorization: Bearer ${TOKEN}" -X GET https://SUPERVISOR_FQDN_OR_IP/api/v1/namespaces | jq -r '.items[].metadata.name'# Outputdefaultkube-node-leasekube-publickube-state-metrics-139cekube-systemsvc-argocdsvc-argocd-service-3srmtsvc-auto-attach-1hnu0svc-cci-ns-xk907svc-configuration-tbe79svc-consumption-operator-63v75svc-contour-m8mn1svc-harbor-jpft6svc-metrics-aggregator-rs4ersvc-pais-lyk5hsvc-secret-store-6rqlisvc-supervisor-management-proxy-l4g5nsvc-tkg-gf8p0svc-tmc-c9svc-velero-od4zisvc-vks-cluster-manager-service-3873avmware-system-akovmware-system-appplatform-operator-systemvmware-system-cert-managervmware-system-csivmware-system-imageregistryvmware-system-kubeimagevmware-system-loggingvmware-system-mgmt-proxyvmware-system-mobility-operatorvmware-system-monitoringvmware-system-netopvmware-system-network-operationsvmware-system-nsopvmware-system-nsxvmware-system-pinnipedvmware-system-supervisor-servicesvmware-system-supervisor-services-vpcvmware-system-vks-publicvmware-system-vmopvmware-system-workload-clivmware-system-zoneop```You can also use this token directly and embed it in a kubeconfig file so that you can use the kubectl CLI as well:```yamlapiVersion: v1kind: Configclusters:- cluster: insecure-skip-tls-verify: true server: https://SUPERVISOR_IP:443 name: vcf-mgmt-sn91:SUPERVISOR_IPcontexts:- context: cluster: vcf-mgmt-sn91:SUPERVISOR_IP user: vcf-mgmt-sn91:USER@[email protected] name: vcf-mgmt-sn91current-context: vcf-mgmt-sn91users:- name: vcf-mgmt-sn91:USER@DOMAIN@SUPERVISOR_IP user: token: REDACTED_JWT```Many thanks to **Will Arroyo** ([github.com/warroyo](https://github.com/warroyo/supervisor-login-examples)) for his support and contribution.A big thank you also goes to **Louis Baumann** ([github.com/soultecag](https://github.com/soultecag/vks-k8s-auth)), who provided us with a simple Go client that allows us to log in to a vSphere Supervisor and create a Kubernetes client or a kubeconfig file, either for the Supervisor cluster itself or for one of its VKS guest clusters.'''[status]corpus = 267[[status.alsoLike]]ref = "posts/vvf-9-0-supervisor-mit-foundation-load-balancer"score = "1.00"[[status.alsoLike]]ref = "posts/how-to-vsphere-supervisor-services"score = "1.00"[[status.alsoLike]]ref = "services/virtualization-container"score = "0.74"

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><manifest kind="Post"> <apiVersion>soultec.ch/v1</apiVersion> <metadata> <name>how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api</name> <locale>en</locale> <labels> <author>matthias-grasmueck</author> <entry key="capability/containers">2.39</entry> <entry key="vendor/vmware">0.88</entry> </labels> <annotations> <source>blog-content/posts/en/how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api.md</source> <route>/en/insights/how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api/</route> <schema>/nerd/schema/posts.json</schema> <markdown>/en/insights/how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api.md</markdown> </annotations> </metadata> <spec> <title>Authenticate with the vSphere Supervisor API</title> <date>2026-07-29</date> <author>matthias-grasmueck</author> <locale>en</locale> <summary>Have you always wondered how to log in directly to the vSphere Supervisor API to communicate directly with the Kubernetes API without having to rely on kubectl-vsphere or vcf-cli command line tool?</summary> <capabilities> <item>containers</item> </capabilities> <vendors> <item>vmware</item> </vendors> <hero>/blog-assets/how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api/hero.webp</hero> <legacySlug>how-to-authenticate-with-the-vsphere-supervisor-api</legacySlug> <migrated>2026-08-24</migrated> <draft>false</draft> </spec> <sections> <section> <body>Have you always wondered how to log in directly to the **vSphere Supervisor API** to communicate directly with the Kubernetes API without having to rely on **kubectl-vsphere** or **vcf-cli** command line tool?This short example shows quite simply how you can easily log in to the Supervisor API and, for example, retrieve the vSphere namespaces:```bash# Get the JSON Web Token (JWT)TOKEN=$(curl -sk -u "USER@DOMAIN" \-X POST https://SUPERVISOR_FQDN_OR_IP/wcp/login | jq -r '.session_id')# Query all vSphere Namespacescurl -k -H "Authorization: Bearer ${TOKEN}" -X GET https://SUPERVISOR_FQDN_OR_IP/api/v1/namespaces | jq -r '.items[].metadata.name'# Outputdefaultkube-node-leasekube-publickube-state-metrics-139cekube-systemsvc-argocdsvc-argocd-service-3srmtsvc-auto-attach-1hnu0svc-cci-ns-xk907svc-configuration-tbe79svc-consumption-operator-63v75svc-contour-m8mn1svc-harbor-jpft6svc-metrics-aggregator-rs4ersvc-pais-lyk5hsvc-secret-store-6rqlisvc-supervisor-management-proxy-l4g5nsvc-tkg-gf8p0svc-tmc-c9svc-velero-od4zisvc-vks-cluster-manager-service-3873avmware-system-akovmware-system-appplatform-operator-systemvmware-system-cert-managervmware-system-csivmware-system-imageregistryvmware-system-kubeimagevmware-system-loggingvmware-system-mgmt-proxyvmware-system-mobility-operatorvmware-system-monitoringvmware-system-netopvmware-system-network-operationsvmware-system-nsopvmware-system-nsxvmware-system-pinnipedvmware-system-supervisor-servicesvmware-system-supervisor-services-vpcvmware-system-vks-publicvmware-system-vmopvmware-system-workload-clivmware-system-zoneop```You can also use this token directly and embed it in a kubeconfig file so that you can use the kubectl CLI as well:```yamlapiVersion: v1kind: Configclusters:- cluster: insecure-skip-tls-verify: true server: https://SUPERVISOR_IP:443 name: vcf-mgmt-sn91:SUPERVISOR_IPcontexts:- context: cluster: vcf-mgmt-sn91:SUPERVISOR_IP user: vcf-mgmt-sn91:USER@[email protected] name: vcf-mgmt-sn91current-context: vcf-mgmt-sn91users:- name: vcf-mgmt-sn91:USER@DOMAIN@SUPERVISOR_IP user: token: REDACTED_JWT```Many thanks to **Will Arroyo** ([github.com/warroyo](https://github.com/warroyo/supervisor-login-examples)) for his support and contribution.A big thank you also goes to **Louis Baumann** ([github.com/soultecag](https://github.com/soultecag/vks-k8s-auth)), who provided us with a simple Go client that allows us to log in to a vSphere Supervisor and create a Kubernetes client or a kubeconfig file, either for the Supervisor cluster itself or for one of its VKS guest clusters. </body> </section> </sections> <status> <corpus>267</corpus> <alsoLike> <item> <ref>posts/vvf-9-0-supervisor-mit-foundation-load-balancer</ref> <score>1.00</score> </item> <item> <ref>posts/how-to-vsphere-supervisor-services</ref> <score>1.00</score> </item> <item> <ref>services/virtualization-container</ref> <score>0.74</score> </item> </alsoLike> </status></manifest>

Authenticate with the vSphere Supervisor API

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