diff --git a/internal/controllers/core/kubernetesapply/reconciler.go b/internal/controllers/core/kubernetesapply/reconciler.go
index b223e30627..1a434f39f0 100644
--- a/internal/controllers/core/kubernetesapply/reconciler.go
+++ b/internal/controllers/core/kubernetesapply/reconciler.go
@@ -361,17 +361,18 @@ func (r *Reconciler) runYAMLDeploy(ctx context.Context, spec v1alpha1.Kubernetes
 	return deployed, nil
 }
 
-func (r *Reconciler) maybeInjectKubeconfig(cmd *model.Cmd, cluster *v1alpha1.Cluster) {
+func (r *Reconciler) maybeInjectKubeconfig(cmd *model.Cmd, cluster *v1alpha1.Cluster) error {
 	if cluster == nil ||
 		cluster.Status.Connection == nil ||
 		cluster.Status.Connection.Kubernetes == nil {
-		return
+		return errors.New("no kubernetes connection")
 	}
 	kubeconfig := cluster.Status.Connection.Kubernetes.ConfigPath
 	if kubeconfig == "" {
-		return
+		return fmt.Errorf("missing kubeconfig in cluster %s", cluster.Name)
 	}
 	cmd.Env = append(cmd.Env, fmt.Sprintf("KUBECONFIG=%s", kubeconfig))
+	return nil
 }
 
 func (r *Reconciler) runCmdDeploy(ctx context.Context, spec v1alpha1.KubernetesApplySpec,
@@ -395,7 +396,10 @@ func (r *Reconciler) runCmdDeploy(ctx context.Context, spec v1alpha1.KubernetesA
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	r.maybeInjectKubeconfig(&cmd, cluster)
+	err = r.maybeInjectKubeconfig(&cmd, cluster)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
 
 	logger.Get(ctx).Infof("Running cmd: %s", cmd.String())
 	exitCode, err := r.execer.Run(ctx, cmd, runIO)
@@ -889,7 +893,10 @@ func (r *Reconciler) bestEffortDelete(ctx context.Context, nn types.NamespacedNa
 
 	if toDelete.deleteCmd != nil {
 		deleteCmd := toModelCmd(*toDelete.deleteCmd)
-		r.maybeInjectKubeconfig(&deleteCmd, toDelete.cluster)
+		err := r.maybeInjectKubeconfig(&deleteCmd, toDelete.cluster)
+		if err != nil {
+			l.Errorf("Error %s: %v", reason, err)
+		}
 		if err := localexec.OneShotToLogger(ctx, r.execer, deleteCmd); err != nil {
 			l.Errorf("Error %s: %v", reason, err)
 		}
diff --git a/internal/controllers/core/kubernetesapply/reconciler_test.go b/internal/controllers/core/kubernetesapply/reconciler_test.go
index a9fb97b10d..85c98e1ce2 100644
--- a/internal/controllers/core/kubernetesapply/reconciler_test.go
+++ b/internal/controllers/core/kubernetesapply/reconciler_test.go
@@ -179,6 +179,7 @@ func TestApplyCmdWithImages(t *testing.T) {
 		assert.Equal(t, []string{
 			"TILT_IMAGE_MAP_0=image-a",
 			"TILT_IMAGE_0=image-a:my-tag",
+			"KUBECONFIG=/path/to/default/kubeconfig",
 		}, call.Cmd.Env)
 	}
 }
@@ -800,7 +801,8 @@ func newFixture(t *testing.T) *fixture {
 		Status: v1alpha1.ClusterStatus{
 			Connection: &v1alpha1.ClusterConnectionStatus{
 				Kubernetes: &v1alpha1.KubernetesClusterConnectionStatus{
-					Context: "default",
+					Context:    "default",
+					ConfigPath: "/path/to/default/kubeconfig",
 				},
 			},
 		},