Core Rudder CLI Commands Reference Beta

This guide covers the core workflow commands available in the Rudder CLI tool for managing resources like Tracking Plans, Data Catalog, SQL Models, destinations, connections, and Transformations.

For resource-specific commands (for example SQL model preview or transformation tests), see the sections below and the linked how-to guides.

Authentication

Before running any commands, you must authenticate the CLI tool with your RudderStack workspace.

rudder-cli auth login

You will be prompted to enter your workspace-level Service Access Token or Personal Access Token (for Free and self-hosted plans).

Commands

Use the following commands to manage various RudderStack resources.

import workspace

Import existing resources from your RudderStack workspace into your local project directory. This is useful when you want to start managing existing dashboard configurations as code.

rudder-cli import workspace -l <project-directory>

Supported resources for import

• Data Catalog (Events, Properties, Categories, Custom Types)
• Tracking Plans
• Event Stream sources (SDK-based)
• Destinations
• Event Stream connections
• Transformations and Transformation Libraries
• SQL Models

See Import Workspace Resources for prerequisites, metadata, and troubleshooting.

validate

Validate your local YAML configurations for syntax errors, structural integrity, and resource-specific constraints.

rudder-cli validate -l <project-directory>

What it checks

• YAML syntax and schema compliance
• Resource referencing (for example, ensuring an event references a valid property, or a connection references a source and destination in the same project)
• Transformation code syntax
• SQL syntax and warehouse connectivity
• Destination config for the selected destination type
• Event Stream connection eligibility and topology rules

apply

Sync your local configurations to your RudderStack workspace.

rudder-cli apply -l <project-directory>

If your YAML uses {{ .VAR }} references, enable variable substitution and pass --var-file. See How to Use Variable Substitution in Rudder CLI.

rudder-cli apply -l <project-directory> --var-file ./credentials.vars.yaml

Dry run

RudderStack recommends running the apply command with the --dry-run flag first to preview the changes that will be made to your workspace.

rudder-cli apply -l <project-directory> --dry-run

If your specs use variable substitution, include --var-file on dry run as well.

destroy

Use this command to permanently remove resources that Rudder CLI manages from your workspace, based on your local project state.

This is a destructive operation.

rudder-cli destroy

Rudder CLI lists what it plans to remove and asks you to confirm before anything is deleted.

Flags and behavior can change between CLI releases — run rudder-cli destroy --help for the options your build supports, and prefer dry runs (validate, apply --dry-run) in CI before you use destroy in production.

Additional command groups

The CLI also exposes subcommands for specific workflows. See the linked docs for syntax, flags, and examples:

Run rudder-cli --help and rudder-cli <command> --help locally for the full list of subcommands and flags for your CLI version.