developer-tools-cli-usage.md
For the complete documentation index, see llms.txt. This page is also available as Markdown.
The remote.it CLI has slightly different behavior if you are running as a root user versus a non-root user. In general, you will want to run as a root user, though there are a couple cases where you don't. These will be made clear.
On Windows , you will need to open a "Command Prompt" as an Administrator
On Mac and Linux , you must run any commands related to creating/managing a Device or Services as a root user (e.g.sudo)
List the available commands.
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sudo remoteit help
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remoteit help
Get the version of CLI installed
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sudo remoteit version
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remoteit version
Example output
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4.1.0
With 2FA enabled, you'll need to provide an authentication code when accessing remote.it through your browser, desktop and mobile apps. If you access remote.it using other methods, such as the API or the CLI, you'll need to sign in with credentials using an access key and secret.
Without the user and pass options it will prompt for the username and password.
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For accounts that have 2FA enabled OR do not have a username and password (i.e. Google sign in), you can still use the CLI. In this situation, the CLI will use a credentials file which contains an access key and access key secret to execute all CLI commands.
Instructions for creating an access key and secret can be found here.
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If you switch to using credentials with the CLI sudo privileges are no longer required when running many of these commands on the device. All subsequent calls will need to be made by the same user.
Create a credentials file in the .remoteit directory of the user home directory, if it doesn't already exist.
You will be prompted to enter your key, secret and user defined profile name
Example output
Finally, activate and enable the credentials file with the following command.
You have successfully signed in with credentials over username and password
If you switch to using credentials with the CLI all commands can be run from a non-adminstrative command prompt. All subsequent calls will need to be made by the same user.
Create a credentials file in the .remoteit directory of the user account which will be using the CLI, if it doesn't already exist.
You will be prompted to enter your key, secret and user defined profile name
Example output
You have successfully signed in with credentials over username and password
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Registers this device to your account to allow access. This is not needed if you only need to initate a connection to another device. Once registered you can no longer register this device.
If you need to re-register, unregister first, then register. If you just need to move the device to another account, use transfer.
After registration, you can then add services to this device to allow other devices to connect to this device.
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This is referenced in adding a new service or modifying a service
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New application types are added all of the time, but common ones are listed below.
You can add an option of --j or --json to output the results in JSON
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Example output
Device and services are this device information. Connections are connections from this device to other services.
Adds a new service to this device. This will define a remote.it Service which is running on this machine. NOTE: This does not detect if the actual service is running on this machine. The type option will accept either the ID or Name of an application type and is not case sensitive. Available service types can be found here.
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Example adding an SSH service
Example adding an SSH service
You can also add a service which connects to an application on another device on the same LAN. This is also referred to as a jumpbox. The host name can be either an IPv4 IP address or mDNS address (i.e. raspberrypi.local) of the device which is running the application.
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Example of adding service to "jump" to RDP on a windows desktop on the LAN
Example of adding service to "jump" to RDP on windows desktop on the LAN
Removes a service from this device. This will cause a disconnect for all other users who had an active connection to this service. If you are concerned about the disconnect, you can use the graphQL API to fetch active connection to this service and then notify users accordingly. Use the status command to get the service ID.
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Modifies a service on this device. This will cause a disconnect for all other users who had an active connection to this service. If you are concerned about the disconnect, you can use the graphQL API to fetch active connection to this service and then notify users accordingly.
The enabled option disables the service without deleting it. The hostname option will modify a service which connects to an application on another device on the same LAN. The host name can be either an IPv4 IP address or mDNS address (i.e. raspberrypi.local) of the device which is running the application. The type option will accept either the ID or Name of an application type and is not case sensitive. Available service types can be found here.
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Once you have created a service on a target device you can generate a a persistent address on demand connection from the CLI on your initiator device. This requires the service id and local port. Verify there are not other connections on the local port before generating. Learn more about peer to peer vs proxy. The connection will be attempted as peer to peer (p2p) first with a proxy failover if allowed. In some cases such as https and http it will be a reverse proxy connection.
Below is a general connection add command for a peer to peer connection.
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The connection will be generated in the background. Run the status command to retrieve the generated url in the Address column
The connection will be generated in the background. Run the status command to retrieve the generated url in the Address column.
Unregister this device from your account and removes the services. This will also remove access to this device for any users to which you have shared this device. This will cause a disconnect for all other users who had an active connection to this service as well. If you are concerned about the disconnect, you can use the graphQL API to fetch active connection to this service and then notify users accordingly. Once unregistered, this device can be registered again.
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Transfer this device and defined services to another account. This will remove your access to this device along with any users to which you had previously shared this device. This will cause a disconnect for all other users who had an active connection to this service. If you are concerned about the disconnect, you can use the graphQL API to fetch active connection to this service and then notify users accordingly. If the account doesn't exist, the transfer will fail. If this is the case, you can sign-in to the web portal and create the contact and then transfer the device from the devices list.
Verify the email address used for the transfer is correct. This device will transfer to the email address provided and cannot be undone. The new owner would need to transfer the device back to you.
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CLI has many more functions, examples provided here are the most common. You can use help to explore other functions supported by your version such as graphQL query helper, upgrades, and more.
Last updated 14 days ago
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