Learn the Rundeck CLI

What is RD-CLI?

Rundeck CLI (RD-CLI) is a Java client to access and interact with a Rundeck Instance from the command line. In a few words, Rundeck CLI is a Rundeck API abstraction tool. With Rundeck CLI is possible to view system information, list executions, list and manage jobs, manage keys, list and manage node source, projects, and jobs in the command line.

Installation

RD-CLI is available as a separate install from Rundeck Open Source/Enterprise for multiple platforms. There are options to install it using a specific repository or just download the .zip file, uncompress it, and execute the binary directly (inside the bin folder).

CentOS/Redhat based operating systems:

Add the repository with:

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rundeck/packaging/main/scripts/rpm-setup.sh 2> /dev/null | bash -s rundeck

Then install with the following command:
```
yum install rundeck-cli
```
Test RD-CLI with the following command:
```
rd
```

Debian/Ubuntu based operating systems

Add the repository with the following command:

curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/pagerduty/rundeck/script.deb.sh | os=any dist=any bash

Install with:
```
apt-get install rundeck-cli
```
Test the installation with the following command:
```
rd
```
rd Commands

Configuration

Rundeck CLI needs the Rundeck instance connection information and valid credentials (via user/password method or using a valid token), check here to know how to generate a valid user token on Rundeck.

Connection info env vars

RD-CLI needs the Rundeck instance address and port, for this, the RD_URL environment variable is needed, to save it in your environment just do:

export RD_URL=http://rundeck:4440

Also, it’s possible to define the specific API version in the following way:

export RD_URL=http://rundeck:4440/api/12

These env vars could be saved on .bashrc file directly or in ~/.rd/rd.conf config file (needs the following environment variable to get work: export RD_CONF=/path/to/rd.conf).

Using the User/password method

The following environment variables work to connect to the Rundeck instance via the user/password method.

export RD_USER=rundeck_user

export RD_PASSWORD=password

Using the Rundeck token method

The following environment variable it work to connect to the Rundeck instance via API token method, take a look at this to see how to create a new token in Rundeck.

export RD_TOKEN=rundeck_token

How to use the help on RD-CLI

This point is important because RD-CLI offers help for every option that includes. A good way to get help on any RD-CLI command is to put "help" after any action, for example, to get all options available to get jobs info just type:

rd jobs info help

That's applicable for any action. Another example, to see all system options available:

rd system help

Now you can see the available commands, so, if you need specific help for rd system info action, just do: rd system info help and now the command description is available.

First Steps with RD-CLI

See a complete Rundeck instance information rd system info
See a job information
```
rd jobs info -v -i job_id
```
Where -v is to increase the verbosity and -i is the parameter to define the job UUID.
Upload a job from a file (also updates a job with the same UUID).
```
rd jobs load -f SpaceCat.yaml -F yaml -p ProjectEXAMPLE
```
Where -f is the parameter to define the yaml job definition file, -F is the file format, and -p is the project name parameter.
See an execution info
```
rd executions info -v -e 17
```
Where -v is the parameter to increase the output verbosity, -i is the parameter to define the execution id and job_id is the job id.
Run a job
```
rd run -v -i job_id
```
Where -v is the parameter to increase the output verbosity, -i is the parameter to define the execution id and job_id is the job id.
Run a job with options
```
rd run -v -i job_id -- -option_name option_value
```
Where -v is the parameter to increase the output verbosity, -i is the parameter to define the execution id, job_id is the job id, -option_name is the job option name and option_value is the value of -option_name option.