diff --git a/core/src/plugins/kubernetes/api.ts b/core/src/plugins/kubernetes/api.ts
index 207d5380a9..a8835c7edd 100644
--- a/core/src/plugins/kubernetes/api.ts
+++ b/core/src/plugins/kubernetes/api.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@
 // tslint:disable-next-line:no-unused
 import { IncomingMessage } from "http"
 import { Agent } from "https"
+import chalk from "chalk"
+import httpStatusCodes from "http-status-codes"
 import { ReadStream } from "tty"
 import {
   KubeConfig,
@@ -51,7 +53,7 @@ import {
 } from "./types"
 import { LogEntry } from "../../logger/log-entry"
 import { kubectl } from "./kubectl"
-import { urlJoin } from "../../util/string"
+import { deline, urlJoin } from "../../util/string"
 import { KubernetesProvider } from "./config"
 import { StringMap } from "../../config/common"
 import { PluginContext } from "../../plugin-context"
@@ -178,7 +180,7 @@ export class KubeApi {
   public policy: WrappedApi<PolicyV1beta1Api>
   public rbac: WrappedApi<RbacAuthorizationV1Api>
 
-  constructor(public context: string, private config: KubeConfig) {
+  constructor(public log: LogEntry, public context: string, private config: KubeConfig) {
     const cluster = this.config.getCurrentCluster()
 
     if (!cluster) {
@@ -190,13 +192,13 @@ export class KubeApi {
 
     for (const [name, cls] of Object.entries(apiTypes)) {
       const api = new cls(cluster.server)
-      this[name] = this.wrapApi(api, this.config)
+      this[name] = this.wrapApi(log, api, this.config)
     }
   }
 
   static async factory(log: LogEntry, ctx: PluginContext, provider: KubernetesProvider) {
     const config = await getContextConfig(log, ctx, provider)
-    return new KubeApi(provider.config.context, config)
+    return new KubeApi(log, provider.config.context, config)
   }
 
   async getApiInfo(): Promise<ApiInfo> {
@@ -341,12 +343,14 @@ export class KubeApi {
     // apply auth
     await this.config.applyToRequest(requestOpts)
 
-    try {
-      log.silly(`${requestOpts.method.toUpperCase()} ${url}`)
-      return await request(requestOpts)
-    } catch (err) {
-      throw handleRequestPromiseError(err)
-    }
+    return await requestWithRetry(log, path, async () => {
+      try {
+        log.silly(`${requestOpts.method.toUpperCase()} ${url}`)
+        return await request(requestOpts)
+      } catch (err) {
+        throw handleRequestPromiseError(err)
+      }
+    })
   }
 
   /**
@@ -593,7 +597,7 @@ export class KubeApi {
   /**
    * Wrapping the API objects to deal with bugs.
    */
-  private wrapApi<T extends K8sApi>(api: T, config: KubeConfig): T {
+  private wrapApi<T extends K8sApi>(log: LogEntry, api: T, config: KubeConfig): T {
     api.setDefaultAuthentication(config)
 
     api.addInterceptor((opts) => {
@@ -615,28 +619,30 @@ export class KubeApi {
             target["defaultHeaders"] = { ...defaultHeaders, "content-type": "application/merge-patch+json" }
           }
 
-          const output = target[name](...args)
-          target["defaultHeaders"] = defaultHeaders
-
-          if (typeof output.then === "function") {
-            return (
-              output
-                // return the result body directly if applicable
-                .then((res: any) => {
-                  if (isPlainObject(res) && res.hasOwnProperty("body")) {
-                    return res["body"]
-                  } else {
-                    return res
-                  }
-                })
-                // the API errors are not properly formed Error objects
-                .catch((err: Error) => {
-                  throw wrapError(err)
-                })
-            )
-          }
-
-          return output
+          return requestWithRetry(log, name, () => {
+            const output = target[name](...args)
+            target["defaultHeaders"] = defaultHeaders
+
+            if (typeof output.then === "function") {
+              return (
+                output
+                  // return the result body directly if applicable
+                  .then((res: any) => {
+                    if (isPlainObject(res) && res.hasOwnProperty("body")) {
+                      return res["body"]
+                    } else {
+                      return res
+                    }
+                  })
+                  // the API errors are not properly formed Error objects
+                  .catch((err: Error) => {
+                    throw wrapError(err)
+                  })
+              )
+            }
+
+            return output
+          })
         }
       },
     })
@@ -881,3 +887,70 @@ function handleRequestPromiseError(err: Error) {
     return wrapError(err)
   }
 }
+
+/**
+ * Helper function for retrying failed k8s API requests, using exponential backoff.
+ *
+ * Only retries the request when it fails with an error that matches certain status codes and/or error
+ * message contents (see the `shouldRetry` helper for details).
+ *
+ * The rationale here is that some errors occur because of network issues, intermittent timeouts etc.
+ * and should be retried automatically.
+ */
+async function requestWithRetry<R>(
+  log: LogEntry,
+  description: string,
+  req: () => Promise<R>,
+  opts?: { maxRetries?: number; minTimeoutMs?: number }
+): Promise<R> {
+  const maxRetries = opts?.maxRetries || 5
+  const minTimeoutMs = opts?.minTimeoutMs || 500
+  let retryLog: LogEntry | undefined = undefined
+  const retry = async (usedRetries: number): Promise<R> => {
+    try {
+      return await req()
+    } catch (err) {
+      if (shouldRetry(err)) {
+        retryLog = retryLog || log.warn("")
+        if (usedRetries <= maxRetries) {
+          const sleepMsec = minTimeoutMs + usedRetries * minTimeoutMs
+          retryLog.setState(deline`
+            Kubernetes API: ${description} failed with error ${err.message}, retrying in ${sleepMsec}ms
+            (#${usedRetries}/${maxRetries})
+          `)
+          await sleep(sleepMsec)
+          return await retry(usedRetries + 1)
+        } else {
+          if (usedRetries === maxRetries) {
+            retryLog.setState(chalk.red(`Kubernetes API: Maximum retry count exceeded`))
+          }
+          throw err
+        }
+      } else {
+        throw err
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  const result = await retry(1)
+  return result
+}
+
+/**
+ * This helper determines whether an error thrown by a k8s API request should result in the request being retried.
+ *
+ * Add more error codes / regexes / filters etc. here as needed.
+ */
+function shouldRetry(err: any): boolean {
+  const code = err.statusCode
+  const msg = err.message || ""
+  return (code && statusCodesForRetry.includes(code)) || !!errorMessageRegexesForRetry.find((regex) => msg.match(regex))
+}
+
+const statusCodesForRetry: number[] = [
+  httpStatusCodes.BAD_GATEWAY,
+  httpStatusCodes.GATEWAY_TIMEOUT,
+  httpStatusCodes.REQUEST_TIMEOUT,
+  httpStatusCodes.SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE,
+]
+
+const errorMessageRegexesForRetry = [/getaddrinfo ENOTFOUND/, /getaddrinfo EAI_AGAIN/]