Drove CLI¶

The Drove CLI (drove) gives you command-line access to your Drove clusters. Use it to deploy applications, run one-off tasks, inspect cluster health, and manage nodes — all from your terminal.

Before you begin¶

Before you install the CLI, make sure you have:

• Python 3.x or Docker
• Network access to a Drove controller
• Valid credentials (username/password or auth token)

Install drove-cli¶

pip install drove-cli

docker pull ghcr.io/phonepe/drove-cli:latest

# Create wrapper script
cat > /usr/local/bin/drove << 'EOF'
#!/bin/sh
docker run --rm -it --network host \
  -v ${HOME}/.drove:/root/.drove:ro \
  ghcr.io/phonepe/drove-cli:latest "$@"
EOF
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/drove

Once the install finishes, confirm that the CLI is available and can reach your cluster:

pip show drove-cli

drove cluster ping

Upgrade drove-cli¶

pip install -U drove-cli

docker pull ghcr.io/phonepe/drove-cli:latest

Global options¶

These options work with every command. Put them before the command name:

Configure cluster access¶

The CLI stores its settings in ~/.drove. Create the file with your cluster endpoint and credentials:

[DEFAULT]
current_cluster = prod

[prod]
endpoint = https://drove.example.com

auth_header = Bearer <token>
# or 
username = admin
password = admin

Then check that the CLI can reach your cluster:

drove cluster ping

See Configuration for auth options and multi-cluster setup.

AI Agent skill¶

drove-cli ships an AI Agent skill that helps coding agents operate Drove using the correct CLI commands and workflows.

• Skill file: drove-cli/drove-cli/SKILL.md
• Covers: apps, app instances, local services, local service instances, tasks, executors, and cluster operations
• Includes recommended sequence for local services (create -> conftest -> activate)

Add this skill to your agent setup if you want the agent to run Drove operations reliably, without looking up commands by hand.

Enabling command completion¶

The CLI can print a completion script for bash, zsh, and tcsh:

drove --print-completion bash > drove.bash.completions

To use the completions in your current shell, source the file:

source drove.bash.completions

Common tasks¶

Here are the commands you will use most often. Each command group has a full reference page — see Command groups below.

View cluster state¶

drove cluster summary
drove executor list

Deploy an application¶

drove apps create app-spec.json
drove apps scale MY_APP-1 3 --wait

Check application health¶

drove apps list
drove describe app MY_APP-1

Debug a failing instance¶

drove appinstances list MY_APP-1
drove describe instance MY_APP-1 AI-xxxxx
drove appinstances tail MY_APP-1 AI-xxxxx --log output.log

Switch clusters¶

drove config get-clusters
drove config use-cluster staging

Command groups¶

Each command group has its own reference page:

Get help¶

The CLI prints built-in help at every level:

drove -h              # All commands
drove --full-help     # Help for every command and sub-command
drove apps -h         # Command group
drove apps scale -h   # Specific command