The container repeatedly starts and exits while Kubernetes progressively increases the restart delay.
Likely causes
- Application startup failure
- Missing secret, variable, or volume
- Overly aggressive probe
- Memory limit exceeded
Checks in priority order
- Use kubectl describe pod for events
- Use kubectl logs –previous for the prior crash
- Review probes and resource limits
- Check the Deployment configuration
When to escalate
Escalate when the failure affects multiple users, a production dependency is unavailable, or logs show a component outside your control. Include timestamps, scope, tests already performed, and the last known working state.