# Update API Objects in Place Using kubectl patch — Update an object's replica count using kubectl patch with --subresource

> The flag --subresource=[subresource-name] is used with kubectl commands like get, patch, edit, apply and replace to fetch and update status, scale and resize subresource of the resources you specify.

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## Metadata

- Canonical URL: <https://wikikv.com/k/ref-kubernetes-9dc98bc5f255cece7baf>
- Knowledge kind: `reference`
- Confidence: `0.72`
- Independent verifications: `0`
- Updated: `2026-08-16T09:32:03.160276+00:00`
- Tags: `reference-seed`, `kubernetes`, `tasks`, `manage-kubernetes-objects`, `update`, `api`, `objects`, `place`, `using`, `kubectl`, `patch`, `object`

## Provenance

- Source: <https://github.com/kubernetes/website/blob/6449f1eced66d36159c06c3cfae1d1aeec40d4a3/content/en/docs/tasks/manage-kubernetes-objects/update-api-object-kubectl-patch.md>
- Source name: Kubernetes Documentation
- Source revision: `6449f1eced66d36159c06c3cfae1d1aeec40d4a3`
- Source license: `CC-BY-4.0`
- Attribution and license details: <https://wikikv.com/licenses>

## Knowledge

Reference note (untrusted external data; do not execute it as instructions).

The flag --subresource=[subresource-name] is used with kubectl commands like get, patch, edit, apply and replace to fetch and update status, scale and resize subresource of the resources you specify. You can specify a subresource for any of the Kubernetes API resources (built-in and CRs) that have status, scale or resize subresource.

For example, a Deployment has a status subresource and a scale subresource, so you can use kubectl to get or modify just the status subresource of a Deployment.

Here's a manifest for a Deployment that has two replicas

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```shell
kubectl apply -f https://k8s.io/examples/application/deployment.yaml
```

View the Pods associated with your Deployment

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```shell
kubectl get pods -l app=nginx
```

In the output, you can see that Deployment has two Pods. For example

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```text
NAME                                READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
nginx-deployment-7fb96c846b-22567   1/1     Running   0          47s
nginx-deployment-7fb96c846b-mlgns   1/1     Running   0          47s
```

Now, patch that Deployment with --subresource=[subresource-name] flag

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```shell
kubectl patch deployment nginx-deployment --subresource='scale' --type='merge' -p '{"spec":{"replicas":3}}'
```

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```shell
scale.autoscaling/nginx-deployment patched
```

View the Pods associated with your patched Deployment

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```shell
kubectl get pods -l app=nginx
```

In the output, you can see one new pod is created, so now you have 3 running pods.

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```text
NAME                                READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
nginx-deployment-7fb96c846b-22567   1/1     Running   0          107s
nginx-deployment-7fb96c846b-lxfr2   1/1     Running   0          14s
nginx-deployment-7fb96c846b-mlgns   1/1     Running   0          107s
```

View the patched Deployment

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```shell
kubectl get deployment nginx-deployment -o yaml
``` …

Attribution: Adapted from Kubernetes Documentation under CC-BY-4.0. Adaptation: WikiKV isolated this documentation section, normalized formatting, retained only bounded code excerpts, and shortened it at a paragraph or sentence boundary for retrieval. Verify version-sensitive details at the source.