diff --git a/Sources/ContainerK8s/Commands/K8sStart.swift b/Sources/ContainerK8s/Commands/K8sStart.swift
deleted file mode 100644
index ae792ba4..00000000
--- a/Sources/ContainerK8s/Commands/K8sStart.swift
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,74 +0,0 @@
-//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
-// Copyright © 2026 Apple Inc. and the container project authors.
-//
-// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-// You may obtain a copy of the License at
-//
-//   https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-//
-// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-// limitations under the License.
-//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
-
-import ArgumentParser
-import ContainerAPIClient
-import ContainerLog
-import ContainerResource
-import ContainerizationError
-import Foundation
-import Logging
-
-public struct K8sStart: AsyncParsableCommand {
-    public init() {}
-
-    public static let configuration = CommandConfiguration(
-        commandName: "start",
-        abstract: "Start a stopped Kubernetes cluster"
-    )
-
-    @Option(name: .long, help: "Cluster name (default: \(K8sHelper.defaultName))")
-    var name: String = K8sHelper.defaultName
-
-    public func run() async throws {
-        LoggingSystem.bootstrap { _ in StderrLogHandler() }
-        let log = Logger(label: K8sHelper.pluginName)
-
-        let client = ContainerClient()
-        let container = try await client.get(id: name)
-
-        guard container.configuration.labels[ResourceLabelKeys.plugin] == K8sHelper.pluginName else {
-            log.error("container is not a k8s cluster, refusing start", metadata: ["name": "\(name)"])
-            throw ContainerizationError(.invalidArgument, message: "\(name) is not a k8s cluster")
-        }
-
-        if container.status == .running {
-            print(name)
-            return
-        }
-
-        let io = try ProcessIO.create(tty: false, interactive: false, detach: true)
-        defer { try? io.close() }
-        let process = try await client.bootstrap(id: name, stdio: io.stdio)
-        try await process.start()
-        try io.closeAfterStart()
-
-        try await K8sHelper.waitForNodeBooted(containerId: name, client: client, log: log)
-        try await K8sHelper.waitForReady(containerId: name, client: client, log: log)
-
-        do {
-            let fqdn = await K8sHelper.detectFQDN(name: name)
-            let rawConfig = try await K8sHelper.fetchConfig(containerId: name, client: client, log: log)
-            let config = try await K8sHelper.transformConfig(rawConfig, containerId: name, fqdn: fqdn, client: client)
-            try K8sHelper.mergeConfig(config, containerId: name, log: log)
-        } catch {
-            log.warning("failed to write kubeconfig", metadata: ["name": "\(name)", "error": "\(error)"])
-            log.info("cluster is running; use 'container k8s write-config --name \(name)' to write the kubeconfig")
-        }
-
-        print(name)
-    }
-}
diff --git a/Sources/Plugins/K8s/K8sCommand.swift b/Sources/Plugins/K8s/K8sCommand.swift
index af2e184f..285828c8 100644
--- a/Sources/Plugins/K8s/K8sCommand.swift
+++ b/Sources/Plugins/K8s/K8sCommand.swift
@@ -52,7 +52,6 @@ public struct K8sCommand: AsyncParsableCommand {
             K8sDelete.self,
             K8sList.self,
             K8sLoadImage.self,
-            K8sStart.self,
             K8sWriteConfig.self,
         ]
     )
diff --git a/docs/command-reference.md b/docs/command-reference.md
index 9361036a..827b18f2 100644
--- a/docs/command-reference.md
+++ b/docs/command-reference.md
@@ -1649,30 +1649,6 @@ container k8s create --name temp-cluster --rm
 container k8s create --cni ./my-cni.yaml
 ```
 
-### `container k8s start`
-
-Starts a stopped Kubernetes cluster and refreshes its entry in `~/.kube/config` (the container IP can change between starts).
-
-**Usage**
-
-```bash
-container k8s start [--name <name>] [--debug]
-```
-
-**Options**
-
-*   `--name <name>`: Cluster name (default: `k8s-dev`)
-
-**Examples**
-
-```bash
-# start the default cluster
-container k8s start
-
-# start a named cluster
-container k8s start --name my-cluster
-```
-
 ### `container k8s delete (rm)`
 
 Stops and deletes a Kubernetes cluster container and removes its entry from `~/.kube/config`.
@@ -1749,7 +1725,7 @@ container k8s load-image --platform linux/amd64 my-app:latest
 
 ### `container k8s write-config`
 
-Fetches the current kubeconfig from a running cluster and merges its context into a kubeconfig file. Use this to refresh credentials after a cluster restart or to write to an alternate config file.
+Fetches the current kubeconfig from a running cluster and merges its context into a kubeconfig file. Use this to write to an alternate config file.
 
 **Usage**
 
diff --git a/docs/kubernetes.md b/docs/kubernetes.md
index 9e3e73a8..36fb2b84 100644
--- a/docs/kubernetes.md
+++ b/docs/kubernetes.md
@@ -199,6 +199,15 @@ To have a cluster automatically remove itself when stopped, create it with `--rm
 container k8s create --name temp-cluster --rm
 ```
 
+### Recovering a stopped cluster
+
+If a cluster's control plane node stops (for example, after `container stop`), delete and re-create the cluster:
+
+```bash
+container k8s delete --name my-cluster
+container k8s create --name my-cluster
+```
+
 ## Common workflows
 
 ### Test a deployment locally before production