diff --git a/src/Microsoft.Tye.Core/DeployApplicationKubernetesManifestStep.cs b/src/Microsoft.Tye.Core/DeployApplicationKubernetesManifestStep.cs
index 8e8d51400..991b46f69 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.Tye.Core/DeployApplicationKubernetesManifestStep.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.Tye.Core/DeployApplicationKubernetesManifestStep.cs
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ public override async Task ExecuteAsync(OutputContext output, ApplicationBuilder
                 throw new CommandException($"Cannot apply manifests because kubectl is not installed.");
             }
 
-            if (!await KubectlDetector.IsKubectlConnectedToClusterAsync(output))
+            if (!await KubectlDetector.IsKubectlConnectedToClusterAsync(output, application.Namespace))
             {
                 throw new CommandException($"Cannot apply manifests because kubectl is not connected to a cluster.");
             }
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.Tye.Core/ValidateIngressStep.cs b/src/Microsoft.Tye.Core/ValidateIngressStep.cs
index 357877b7a..cb628166d 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.Tye.Core/ValidateIngressStep.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.Tye.Core/ValidateIngressStep.cs
@@ -54,17 +54,17 @@ public override async Task ExecuteAsync(OutputContext output, ApplicationBuilder
                 throw new CommandException($"Cannot validate ingress because kubectl is not installed.");
             }
 
-            if (!await KubectlDetector.IsKubectlConnectedToClusterAsync(output))
-            {
-                throw new CommandException($"Cannot validate ingress because kubectl is not connected to a cluster.");
-            }
-
             output.WriteDebugLine($"Validating ingress class '{ingressClass}'.");
             var config = KubernetesClientConfiguration.BuildDefaultConfig();
-
+            
             // If namespace is null, set it to default
             config.Namespace ??= "default";
 
+            if (!await KubectlDetector.IsKubectlConnectedToClusterAsync(output, config.Namespace))
+            {
+                throw new CommandException($"Cannot validate ingress because kubectl is not connected to a cluster.");
+            }
+
             var kubernetes = new Kubernetes(config);
 
             // Looking for a deployment using a standard label.
diff --git a/src/shared/KubectlDetector.cs b/src/shared/KubectlDetector.cs
index 782ca8aa8..120120f57 100644
--- a/src/shared/KubectlDetector.cs
+++ b/src/shared/KubectlDetector.cs
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ internal static class KubectlDetector
     {
         private static Lazy<Task<Version?>> _kubectlInstalled = new Lazy<Task<Version?>>(GetKubectlVersion);
         private static Lazy<Task<bool>> _kubectlConnectedToCluster = new Lazy<Task<bool>>(DetectKubectlConnectedToCluster);
+        private static string? _namespace = null;
 
         public static Task<Version?> GetKubernetesServerVersion(OutputContext output)
         {
@@ -22,10 +23,11 @@ internal static class KubectlDetector
             return _kubectlInstalled.Value;
         }
 
-        public static Task<bool> IsKubectlConnectedToClusterAsync(OutputContext output)
+        public static Task<bool> IsKubectlConnectedToClusterAsync(OutputContext output, string? @namespace = null)
         {
             if (!_kubectlConnectedToCluster.IsValueCreated)
             {
+                _namespace = @namespace;
                 output.WriteInfoLine("Verifying kubectl connection to cluster...");
             }
             return _kubectlConnectedToCluster.Value;
@@ -72,7 +74,12 @@ private static async Task<bool> DetectKubectlConnectedToCluster()
         {
             try
             {
-                var result = await ProcessUtil.RunAsync("kubectl", "cluster-info", throwOnError: false);
+                String args = "cluster-info";
+                if (_namespace != null) {
+                    args += $" --namespace {_namespace}";
+                }
+
+                var result = await ProcessUtil.RunAsync("kubectl", args, throwOnError: false);
                 return result.ExitCode == 0;
             }
             catch (Exception)
diff --git a/src/tye/Program.DeployCommand.cs b/src/tye/Program.DeployCommand.cs
index 85aea5e48..3bfa1011e 100644
--- a/src/tye/Program.DeployCommand.cs
+++ b/src/tye/Program.DeployCommand.cs
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ private static async Task ExecuteDeployAsync(OutputContext output, ApplicationBu
                 throw new CommandException($"Cannot apply manifests because kubectl is not installed.");
             }
 
-            if (!await KubectlDetector.IsKubectlConnectedToClusterAsync(output))
+            if (!await KubectlDetector.IsKubectlConnectedToClusterAsync(output, application.Namespace))
             {
                 throw new CommandException($"Cannot apply manifests because kubectl is not connected to a cluster.");
             }