consul/website/content/commands/index.mdx

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---
layout: commands
page_title: Commands
description: >-
Consul is controlled via a very easy to use command-line interface (CLI).
Consul is only a single command-line application: `consul`. This application
then takes a subcommand such as agent or members. The complete list of
subcommands is in the navigation to the left.
---
# Consul Commands (CLI)
Consul is controlled via a very easy to use command-line interface (CLI).
Consul is only a single command-line application: `consul`. This application
then takes a subcommand such as "agent" or "members". The complete list of
subcommands is in the navigation to the left.
The `consul` CLI is a well-behaved command line application. In erroneous
cases, a non-zero exit status will be returned. It also responds to `-h` and `--help`
as you'd most likely expect. And some commands that expect input accept
"-" as a parameter to tell Consul to read the input from stdin.
To view a list of the available commands at any time, just run `consul` with
no arguments:
```shell-session
$ consul
Usage: consul [--version] [--help] <command> [<args>]
Available commands are:
acl Interact with Consul's ACLs
agent Runs a Consul agent
catalog Interact with the catalog
connect Interact with Consul Connect
debug Records a debugging archive for operators
event Fire a new event
exec Executes a command on Consul nodes
force-leave Forces a member of the cluster to enter the "left" state
info Provides debugging information for operators.
intention Interact with Connect service intentions
join Tell Consul agent to join cluster
keygen Generates a new encryption key
keyring Manages gossip layer encryption keys
kv Interact with the key-value store
leave Gracefully leaves the Consul cluster and shuts down
lock Execute a command holding a lock
login Login to Consul using an auth method
logout Destroy a Consul token created with login
maint Controls node or service maintenance mode
members Lists the members of a Consul cluster
monitor Stream logs from a Consul agent
operator Provides cluster-level tools for Consul operators
peering Create and manage peering connections between Consul clusters
reload Triggers the agent to reload configuration files
rtt Estimates network round trip time between nodes
services Interact with services
snapshot Saves, restores and inspects snapshots of Consul server state
tls Builtin helpers for creating CAs and certificates
troubleshoot Provides tools to troubleshoot Consul's service mesh configuration
validate Validate config files/directories
version Prints the Consul version
watch Watch for changes in Consul
```
To get help for any specific command, pass the `-h` flag to the relevant
subcommand. For example, to see help about the `join` subcommand:
```shell-session
$ consul join --help
Usage: consul join [options] address ...
Tells a running Consul agent (with "consul agent") to join the cluster
by specifying at least one existing member.
HTTP API Options
-http-addr=<address>
The `address` and port of the Consul HTTP agent. The value can be
an IP address or DNS address, but it must also include the port.
This can also be specified via the CONSUL_HTTP_ADDR environment
variable. The default value is http://127.0.0.1:8500. The scheme
can also be set to HTTPS by setting the environment variable
CONSUL_HTTP_SSL=true.
-token=<value>
ACL token to use in the request. This can also be specified via the
CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN environment variable. If unspecified, the query
will default to the token of the Consul agent at the HTTP address.
Command Options
-wan
Joins a server to another server in the WAN pool.
```
## Authentication
When the [ACL system is enabled](/consul/docs/agent/config/config-files#acl) the Consul CLI will
require an [ACL token](/consul/docs/security/acl#tokens) to perform API requests.
The ACL token can be provided directly on the command line using the `-token` command line flag,
from a file using the `-token-file` command line flag, or from the
[`CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN`](#consul_http_token_file) environment variable.
## Autocompletion
The `consul` command features opt-in subcommand autocompletion that you can
enable for your shell with `consul -autocomplete-install`. After doing so,
you can invoke a new shell and use the feature.
For example, assume a tab is typed at the end of each prompt line:
```shell-session
$ consul e
event exec
$ consul r
reload rtt
$ consul operator raft
list-peers remove-peer
```
## Arguments with URL-Invalid Characters
The CLI automatically URL-encodes arguments, which are then
[URL-decoded by the underlying HTTP API endpoints](/consul/api-docs/api-structure#url-encoded-resource-names).
To avoid double-encoding arguments, do not URL-encode arguments passed to the CLI.
## Environment Variables
In addition to CLI flags, Consul reads environment variables for behavior
defaults. CLI flags always take precedence over environment variables, but it
is often helpful to use environment variables to configure the Consul agent,
particularly with configuration management and init systems.
These environment variables and their purpose are described below:
### `CONSUL_HTTP_ADDR`
This is the HTTP API address to the _local_ Consul agent
(not the remote server) specified as a URI with optional scheme:
```
CONSUL_HTTP_ADDR=127.0.0.1:8500
```
or as a Unix socket path:
```
CONSUL_HTTP_ADDR=unix:///var/run/consul_http.sock
```
If the `https://` scheme is used, `CONSUL_HTTP_SSL` is implied to be true.
### `CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN`
This is the API access token required when access control lists (ACLs)
are enabled, for example:
```
CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN=aba7cbe5-879b-999a-07cc-2efd9ac0ffe
```
### `CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN_FILE`
This is a path to a file containing the API access token required when access
control lists (ACLs) are enabled, for example:
```
CONSUL_HTTP_TOKEN_FILE=/path/to/consul.token
```
### `CONSUL_HTTP_AUTH`
This specifies HTTP Basic access credentials as a username:password pair:
```
CONSUL_HTTP_AUTH=operations:JPIMCmhDHzTukgO6
```
### `CONSUL_HTTP_SSL`
This is a boolean value (default is false) that enables the HTTPS URI
scheme and SSL connections to the HTTP API:
```
CONSUL_HTTP_SSL=true
```
### `CONSUL_HTTP_SSL_VERIFY`
This is a boolean value (default true) to specify SSL certificate verification;
setting this value to `false` is not recommended for production use. Example for
development purposes:
```
CONSUL_HTTP_SSL_VERIFY=false
```
### `CONSUL_CACERT`
Path to a CA file to use for TLS when communicating with Consul.
```
CONSUL_CACERT=ca.crt
```
### `CONSUL_CAPATH`
Path to a directory of CA certificates to use for TLS when communicating with Consul.
```
CONSUL_CAPATH=ca_certs/
```
### `CONSUL_CLIENT_CERT`
Path to a client cert file to use for TLS when `verify_incoming` is enabled.
```
CONSUL_CLIENT_CERT=client.crt
```
### `CONSUL_CLIENT_KEY`
Path to a client key file to use for TLS when `verify_incoming` is enabled.
```
CONSUL_CLIENT_KEY=client.key
```
### `CONSUL_TLS_SERVER_NAME`
The server name to use as the SNI host when connecting via TLS.
```
CONSUL_TLS_SERVER_NAME=consulserver.domain
```
### `CONSUL_GRPC_ADDR`
Like [`CONSUL_HTTP_ADDR`](#consul_http_addr) but configures the address the
local agent is listening for gRPC requests. Currently gRPC is only used for
integrating [Envoy proxy](/consul/docs/connect/proxies/envoy) and must be [enabled
explicitly](/consul/docs/agent/config/config-files#grpc_port) in agent configuration.
```
CONSUL_GRPC_ADDR=127.0.0.1:8502
```
or as a Unix socket path:
```
CONSUL_GRPC_ADDR=unix://var/run/consul_grpc.sock
```
If the agent is [configured with TLS
certificates](/consul/docs/security/encryption#rpc-encryption-with-tls), then the
gRPC listener will require TLS and present the same certificate as the https
listener. As with `CONSUL_HTTP_ADDR`, if TLS is enabled either the `https://`
scheme should be used, or `CONSUL_HTTP_SSL` set.
### `CONSUL_NAMESPACE`
**Enterprise only**
If you're using Consul Enterprise namespaces you can set this for the CLI to
explicitly use a single namespace. This is common across all Hashicorp
products that support Enterprise namespaces.
```
CONSUL_NAMESPACE=default
```