# How To SSH Into Minikube VM

<a href="https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/start/" target="_blank">Minikube</a> is a lightweight implementation of Kubernetes that runs on your local machine. It essentially creates a VM and deploys a cluster consisting of one node only.

While using Minikube, there may come a time when you need to update the kube-apiserver manifest file or perform some other maintenance that requires you to SSH into the VM, itself.

Let's look at how we can easily SSH into the Minikube VM.

### 1. First, You'll Need The Name Of The Node:

Remember, Minikube is a single node.

Run the following command to get the _name_ of the node.

```bash
kubectl get nodes
```

It happens to be, brace yourself, **_minikube_**.

### 2. Now SSH Into The VM

Next, the Minikube CLI gives us a `minikube ssh` command that takes a `--node-string` argument (or -n for short).

(More info in the <a href="https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/commands/ssh/" target="_blank">docs</a>.)

So to SSH into the Minikube VM, you'll simply need to run the following to get a shell:

```bash
minikube ssh -n minikube
```

<p><img data-rjs="2" loading="lazy" src="https://travismedia.gumlet.io/public/images/2022/11/minikube-ssh.jpg" /></p>

### 3. Explore

From there, have at it.

For example, to access the manifest files, head to `/etc/kubernetes/manifests` and make your changes.

That's it!