diff --git a/commands/upgrade.go b/commands/upgrade.go
index 1e992ecf4..c66c1de33 100644
--- a/commands/upgrade.go
+++ b/commands/upgrade.go
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ func initUpgradeFlags(cmd *cobra.Command) {
 	cmd.Flags().String("version-metadata-url", "https://check.percona.com", "URL to retrieve version metadata information from")
 	cmd.Flags().BoolP("logs", "l", false, "If set, logs are printed during the upgrade process")
 	cmd.Flags().Bool("dry-run", false, "If set, only executes the pre-upgrade checks")
-
+	cmd.Flags().Bool("in-cluster", false, "If set, uses the in-cluster Kubernetes client configuration")
 	cmd.Flags().Bool(upgrade.FlagSkipEnvDetection, false, "Skip detecting Kubernetes environment where Everest is installed")
 	cmd.Flags().String(upgrade.FlagCatalogNamespace, kubernetes.OLMNamespace,
 		fmt.Sprintf("Namespace where Everest OLM catalog is installed. Implies --%s", upgrade.FlagSkipEnvDetection),
@@ -88,6 +88,7 @@ func initUpgradeViperFlags(cmd *cobra.Command) {
 	viper.BindPFlag("verbose", cmd.Flags().Lookup("verbose"))                           //nolint:errcheck,gosec
 	viper.BindPFlag("json", cmd.Flags().Lookup("json"))                                 //nolint:errcheck,gosec
 	viper.BindPFlag("dry-run", cmd.Flags().Lookup("dry-run"))                           //nolint:errcheck,gosec
+	viper.BindPFlag("in-cluster", cmd.Flags().Lookup("in-cluster"))                     //nolint:errcheck,gosec
 
 	viper.BindPFlag(upgrade.FlagSkipEnvDetection, cmd.Flags().Lookup(upgrade.FlagSkipEnvDetection)) //nolint:errcheck,gosec
 	viper.BindPFlag(upgrade.FlagSkipOLM, cmd.Flags().Lookup(upgrade.FlagSkipOLM))                   //nolint:errcheck,gosec
diff --git a/pkg/upgrade/upgrade.go b/pkg/upgrade/upgrade.go
index ef667c780..099905464 100644
--- a/pkg/upgrade/upgrade.go
+++ b/pkg/upgrade/upgrade.go
@@ -92,6 +92,8 @@ type (
 	Config struct {
 		// KubeconfigPath is a path to a kubeconfig
 		KubeconfigPath string `mapstructure:"kubeconfig"`
+		// InCluster is set if the upgrade process should use in-cluster configuration.
+		InCluster bool `mapstructure:"in-cluster"`
 		// VersionMetadataURL stores hostname to retrieve version metadata information from.
 		VersionMetadataURL string `mapstructure:"version-metadata-url"`
 		// DryRun is set if the upgrade process should only perform pre-upgrade checks and not perform the actual upgrade.
@@ -133,17 +135,32 @@ func NewUpgrade(cfg *Config, l *zap.SugaredLogger) (*Upgrade, error) {
 		cli.l = zap.NewNop().Sugar()
 	}
 
-	k, err := kubernetes.New(cfg.KubeconfigPath, cli.l)
-	if err != nil {
-		var u *url.Error
-		if errors.As(err, &u) {
-			l.Error("Could not connect to Kubernetes. " +
-				"Make sure Kubernetes is running and is accessible from this computer/server.")
+	var kubeClient kubernetes.KubernetesConnector
+	if cfg.InCluster {
+		k, err := kubernetes.NewInCluster(cli.l)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("could not create in-cluster kubernetes client: %w", err)
+		}
+		kubeClient = k
+	}
+	if cfg.KubeconfigPath != "" {
+		k, err := kubernetes.New(cfg.KubeconfigPath, cli.l)
+		if err != nil {
+			var u *url.Error
+			if errors.As(err, &u) {
+				l.Error("Could not connect to Kubernetes. " +
+					"Make sure Kubernetes is running and is accessible from this computer/server.")
+			}
+			return nil, err
 		}
-		return nil, err
+		kubeClient = k
 	}
+	if kubeClient == nil {
+		return nil, errors.New("must provide kubeconfig path or run in-cluster")
+	}
+
 	cli.dryRun = cfg.DryRun
-	cli.kubeClient = k
+	cli.kubeClient = kubeClient
 	cli.versionService = versionservice.New(cfg.VersionMetadataURL)
 	return cli, nil
 }
@@ -174,6 +191,10 @@ func (u *Upgrade) Run(ctx context.Context) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	if u.dryRun {
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	if !u.config.SkipEnvDetection {
 		// Catalog namespace or Skip OLM implies disabled environment detection.
 		if u.config.SkipOLM || u.config.CatalogNamespace != kubernetes.OLMNamespace {
@@ -193,10 +214,6 @@ func (u *Upgrade) Run(ctx context.Context) error {
 		u.config.CatalogNamespace = env.CatalogNamespace
 	}
 
-	if u.dryRun {
-		return nil
-	}
-
 	upgradeSteps := []common.Step{}
 
 	// Start upgrade.