About CircleCI CLI
The CircleCI CLI validates configuration files, runs pipeline jobs in local environments, and manages orbs. Developers can test configurations and jobs before committing, speeding up the feedback loop.
Key features
- 01Validate CircleCI configuration file syntax and structure
- 02Execute pipeline jobs locally for testing
- 03Search and manage CircleCI orbs
Use cases
- 01Iterate on CI/CD configurations during development with fast feedback
- 02Test configuration changes before pushing to the remote repository
Install
Pick your OS or package manager and run the command in a terminal.
Once installed, runcircleci --versionto confirm it works.
Example commands
Common commands in the order you’d use them.
Details
From the project READMEcircleci-cli
This is CircleCI's command-line application.
Documentation | Code of Conduct | Contribution Guidelines |
circleci is CircleCI's official command line tool. It is an agent-friendly CLI that brings CI runs, jobs,
configuration, and other CircleCI features to the terminal right where you're already working.
The CLI is supported for users on circleci.com and CircleCI server; with support for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
Installation
Install the CLI via one of the following package managers:
Homebrew
brew install circleci
WinGet
winget install --id CircleCI.CLI
Snap
sudo snap install circleci
sudo snap connect circleci:password-manager-service
Debian
Debian packages are hosted at packages.circleci.com for various operating systems including:
To install packages, you can quickly setup the repository automatically:
curl -1sLf 'https://packages.circleci.com/public/setup.deb.sh' | sudo -E bash
or you can manually configure it yourself before installing packages:
apt-get install -y debian-keyring # debian only
apt-get install -y debian-archive-keyring # debian only
apt-get install -y apt-transport-https
# For Debian Stretch, Ubuntu 16.04 and later
keyring_location=/usr/share/keyrings/circleci-deps-public-archive-keyring.gpg
# For Debian Jessie, Ubuntu 15.10 and earlier
keyring_location=/etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/circleci-deps-public.gpg
curl -1sLf 'https://packages.circleci.com/public/gpg.B3F71F41836351D6.key' | gpg --dearmor >> ${keyring_location}
curl -1sLf 'https://packages.circleci.com/public/config.deb.txt?distro=ubuntu&codename=xenial&component=main' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/circleci-deps-public.list
sudo chmod 644 ${keyring_location}
sudo chmod 644 /etc/apt/sources.list.d/circleci-deps-public.list
apt-get update
Note: Please replace ubuntu, xenial and main above with your actual operating system (distribution and distribution release/version) and components (based on what's in this repository).
Then install:
sudo apt install circleci
RedHat
RPM packages are hosted at packages.circleci.com for various operating systems including:
For most RPM based distributions (RHEL, CentOS, Fedora, SUSE), you can quickly setup the repository automatically:
curl -1sLf 'https://packages.circleci.com/public/setup.rpm.sh' | sudo -E bash
or manual Yum setup (RHEL, CentOS, Amazon Linux):
yum install yum-utils pygpgme
rpm --import 'https://packages.circleci.com/public/gpg.B3F71F41836351D6.key'
curl -1sLf 'https://packages.circleci.com/public/config.rpm.txt?distro=el&codename=7' > /tmp/circleci-deps-public.repo
yum-config-manager --add-repo '/tmp/circleci-deps-public.repo'
yum -q makecache -y --disablerepo='*' --enablerepo='circleci-deps-public'
Note: Please replace el and 7 above with your actual distribution/version and use Wildcards when enabling multiple repos.
or manual DNF setup (Fedora):
dnf install yum-utils pygpgme
rpm --import 'https://packages.circleci.com/public/gpg.B3F71F41836351D6.key'
curl -1sLf 'https://packages.circleci.com/public/config.rpm.txt?distro=fedora&codename=29&dnf_version=5' > /tmp/circleci-deps-public.repo
dnf config-manager addrepo --from-repofile='/tmp/circleci-deps-public.repo'
dnf -q makecache -y --disablerepo='*' --enablerepo='circleci-deps-public' --enablerepo='circleci-deps-public-source'
Note: Please replace fedora and 29 above with your actual distribution/version.
Then install:
dnf install circleci
or:
yum install circleci
Setup
Login
Run the following command to login to the CircleCI CLI:
circleci auth login
Model Context Protocol (MCP)
The CLI supports the MCP protocol. To enable it, run:
Claude:
circleci mcp claude enable # Enable in Claude desktop
claude mcp add-from-claude-desktop -s user # Add with current user scope
Cursor:
circleci mcp cursor enable
VS Code:
circleci mcp vscode enable
Development
Local
This repository makes use Task which can be installed (on MacOS) with:
$ brew install go-task/tap/go-task
Most other tools referenced in the Taskfile.yml are managed by the go.mod tool section.
See the full list of available tasks by running task -l, or, see the Taskfile.yml script.
# Run all static checks
task check
# Auto-fix static checks
task fix
# Run all the tests
task test
# Run the quick tests
task test -- -short ./...
# Run the quick tests for one package
task test -- -short ./internal/...
# Format all the code
task fmt
# Apply license headers
task license
# Tidy go.mod
task mod-tidy