CLI Reference

Vessl ships two CLI tools with distinct responsibilities.

Tool	Runs on	Connects to
vessld	Your VPS / server	SQLite + Docker directly
vessl	Your local machine	vessld over HTTP

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vessld — Server Daemon CLI

The vessld binary is the Vessl server process. It runs on your VPS and exposes the HTTP API that the dashboard and the vessl remote CLI consume. It also doubles as a management CLI for direct server-side operations without needing the dashboard.

Server Commands

serve

Starts the Vessl daemon. This is the default command when no subcommand is provided.

vessld serve

setup

Runs the interactive setup wizard to initialise the database and create the initial admin account.

vessld setup

reset-password

Resets the password for the admin account. Useful if you lose access to the dashboard.

vessld reset-password

config

View or update global server configuration variables.

vessld config

restart

Gracefully restarts the Vessl daemon via Docker Compose.

vessld restart

mcp

Runs the Model Context Protocol (MCP) server over standard I/O for AI assistant integrations.

vessld mcp

version

Prints the current daemon version.

vessld version

Deployment Commands

deploy

Deploy an application directly from the server terminal.

# From a Git repository
vessld deploy https://github.com/your/repo.git

# From a template (e.g. go-fiber, nextjs)
vessld deploy --template nextjs

# From a Docker image
vessld deploy --image nginx:latest --port 80

# From a Docker Compose file
vessld deploy --compose ./docker-compose.yml

Resource Management Commands

All resource commands use a <resource>:<action> syntax and interact with the database directly — no HTTP, no auth required.

Projects

vessld project:list                        # List all projects
vessld project:show <id>                   # Show project details
vessld project:create <name>               # Create a project
vessld project:destroy <id>                # Delete a project

Applications

vessld apps:list                           # List all apps across all projects
vessld apps:show <id>                      # Show app details and env vars
vessld apps:create <name> --project <id>   # Create an app
vessld apps:destroy <id>                   # Delete an app

Databases

vessld db:list                             # List all databases
vessld db:show <id>                        # Show database details and connection string
vessld db:create <name> <engine> --project <id>  # Create a database
vessld db:destroy <id>                     # Delete a database

Supported engines: postgres, mysql, mariadb, redis, mongodb, clickhouse, kafka, rabbitmq, nats.

Environment Variables

vessld env:list --project <id>             # List all env vars for a project
vessld env:set KEY=VALUE --project <id>    # Set one or more env vars
vessld env:unset KEY --project <id>        # Remove an env var

Deployments & Logs

vessld deployment:list --service <id>      # List deployment history for a service
vessld deployment:show <id>                # Show deployment details
vessld deployment:logs <id>                # Print build logs for a deployment

Custom Domains

vessld domain:list --project <id>          # List custom domains for a project
vessld domain:add <hostname> --project <id> # Add a custom domain
vessld domain:remove <id>                  # Remove a custom domain

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vessl — Remote CLI

The vessl binary runs on your local machine and communicates with your self-hosted vessld server over HTTP. This is what you install and use day-to-day from your laptop.

Installation

curl -fsSL https://get.vessl.dev/cli | sh

Or if you have Go installed:

go install vessl.dev/vessl/cmd/vessl@latest

Or download a pre-built binary from the releases page.

Authentication

Before running any command, authenticate against your self-hosted server.

login

Prompts for your server URL, email, and password. Saves a token to ~/.vessl/config.json.

vessl login

logout

Clears your saved credentials.

vessl logout

me

Shows the currently authenticated user.

vessl me

Projects

vessl project list                         # List all projects
vessl project create <name>                # Create a project
vessl project destroy <id>                 # Delete a project

Environments

vessl env list --project <id>             # List environments for a project
vessl env create <name> --project <id>    # Create an environment
vessl env destroy <id>                    # Delete an environment

Applications

vessl apps list --environment <id>        # List apps in an environment
vessl apps create                         # Create an app (interactive flags)
vessl apps destroy <id>                   # Delete an app

Secrets (Environment Variables)

vessl apps secrets list --project <id>             # List env vars
vessl apps secrets set KEY=VALUE --project <id>    # Set one or more env vars

Custom Domains

vessl apps domains list --project <id>             # List custom domains
vessl apps domains add --domain <host> --project <id>  # Add a domain
vessl apps domains remove <id>                     # Remove a domain

Deployments & Logs

vessl apps deployments list --service <id>         # List deployment history
vessl apps logs <deployment-id>                    # View build logs

Databases

vessl db list --project <id>              # List databases
vessl db create                           # Provision a database (interactive flags)
vessl db destroy <id>                     # Delete a database

Backups

vessl db backups list --project <id>      # List backup configurations
vessl db backups create                   # Create a backup config
vessl db backups trigger <id>             # Trigger a manual backup
vessl db backups history <id>             # View backup history

Trigger a Deployment

vessl deploy <service-id>                 # Trigger a remote deployment for a service