Kubernetes persistent volumes are essential for managing data storage in stateful applications by decoupling storage from pods, allowing data to outlive individual pod instances. They provide a solution to the ephemeral nature of containers, which typically lose all data upon restart. Persistent volumes can be configured statically or dynamically, with various access modes and storage classes tailored to different environments, such as Google Kubernetes Engine or Microsoft Azure. These volumes are linked to pods through persistent volume claims, ensuring data remains accessible even after pod deletion. The article guides users through creating and managing persistent volumes using kubectl, emphasizing their importance for database and log storage, and highlights Earthly, a tool for building consistent, reproducible workflows.