Fluree CLI

The fluree command-line interface provides a convenient way to manage ledgers, run queries, and perform transactions without running a server.

Installation

Build from source:

cargo build --release -p fluree-db-cli

The binary will be at target/release/fluree.

Quick Start

# Initialize a project directory
fluree init

# Create a ledger
fluree create myledger

# Insert data
fluree insert '@prefix ex: <http://example.org/> .
ex:alice a ex:Person ; ex:name "Alice" .'

# Query
fluree query 'SELECT ?name WHERE { ?s <http://example.org/name> ?name }'

Global Options

Option	Description
-v, --verbose	Enable verbose output
-q, --quiet	Suppress non-essential output
--no-color	Disable colored output (also respects NO_COLOR env var)
--config <PATH>	Path to config file
--memory-budget-mb <MB>	Memory budget in MB for bulk import (0 = auto: 75% of system RAM). Affects chunk size, concurrency, and run budget when creating a ledger with --from.
--parallelism <N>	Number of parallel parse threads for bulk import (0 = auto: system cores, default cap 6). Used when creating a ledger with --from.
-h, --help	Print help
-V, --version	Print version

Commands

Core Commands

Command	Description
init	Initialize a new Fluree project directory
create	Create a new ledger
use	Set the active ledger
list	List all ledgers
info	Show detailed information about a ledger
drop	Drop (delete) a ledger
insert	Insert data into a ledger
upsert	Upsert data (insert or update existing)
update	Update with WHERE/DELETE/INSERT patterns
query	Query a ledger
history	Show change history for an entity
export	Export ledger data
log	Show commit log
show	Show decoded commit contents (flakes with resolved IRIs)
index	Build or update the binary index (incremental)
reindex	Full reindex from commit history

Remote Sync

Command	Description
remote	Manage remote servers
upstream	Manage upstream tracking configuration
fetch	Fetch refs from a remote
clone	Clone a ledger from a remote (full commit download)
pull	Pull commits from upstream
push	Push to upstream remote
track	Track remote-only ledgers (no local data)

Clone and pull transfer commits and, by default, binary index data from the remote (pack protocol), so the local ledger is query-ready without a separate reindex. Use --no-indexes to skip index transfer and reduce download size; run fluree reindex afterward if you need the index. Large transfers may prompt for confirmation before streaming.

Server Management

Command	Description
server	Manage the Fluree HTTP server (run, start, stop, status, restart, logs)

Start a server directly from a project directory — it inherits the same .fluree/ context (config, storage) as the CLI. See server for details.

Implementers

If you're building a custom server that must support the CLI end-to-end (for example, integrating into another app), see:

• server-integration - endpoints and auth contract required by the CLI

Authentication

Command	Description
token	Create, inspect, and manage JWS tokens
auth	Manage bearer tokens stored on remotes (login/logout/status)

Configuration

Command	Description
config	Manage configuration
prefix	Manage IRI prefix mappings
completions	Generate shell completions

Developer Memory

Command	Description
memory	Store and recall facts, decisions, constraints, preferences, and artifact references
mcp	MCP server for IDE agent integration

For background, IDE setup, team workflows, and the mem: schema, see the Memory section of the docs.

Project Structure

When you run fluree init, a .fluree/ directory is created with:

.fluree/
├── active          # Currently active ledger name
├── config.toml     # Configuration settings
├── prefixes.json   # IRI prefix mappings
└── storage/        # Ledger data storage

Input Resolution

Commands that accept data input (insert, upsert, update, query) use flexible argument resolution:

Arguments	Behavior
(none)	Active ledger; provide input via -e, -f, or stdin
<arg>	Auto-detected: if it looks like a query/data, uses it inline; if it's an existing file, reads from it; otherwise treats it as a ledger name
<ledger> <input>	Specified ledger + inline input

Input is resolved in this priority order: -e flag > positional inline > -f flag > positional file > stdin.

Data Format Detection

The CLI auto-detects data format based on content:

• Lines starting with @prefix or @base → Turtle
• Content starting with { or [ → JSON-LD
• Files with .ttl extension → Turtle
• Files with .json or .jsonld extension → JSON-LD

You can override with --format turtle or --format jsonld.