Fauna CLI

Version: 3.0.1 Package: fauna-shell

The Fauna CLI lets you access Fauna from your terminal. You can use the CLI to:

  • Log in to your Fauna account

  • Create and manage Fauna databases and keys

  • Push, pull, and manage FSL schema

  • Run FQL queries in an interactive shell

Requirements

Installation

To install the Fauna CLI globally:

npm install -g fauna-shell

Configuration

The CLI creates a .fauna-shell configuration file upon installation. The file is located at:

  • Linux, macOS, Unix: ~/.fauna-shell

  • Windows: %userprofile%\.fauna-shell

.fauna-shell is an INI-format file that stores the configuration for Fauna endpoints. Example:

default=cloud-us

[endpoint.cloud-us]
domain=db.fauna.com
scheme=https
secret=fn...

[endpoint.cloud-eu]
domain=db.fauna.com
scheme=https
secret=fn...

[localhost]
domain=127.0.0.1
port=8443
scheme=http
secret=fn...

An endpoint starts with [<ENDPOINT_NAME>] followed by its properties. If an endpoint or property is duplicated, the CLI uses the last definition.

Endpoints

Internally, the CLI uses the Fauna Core HTTP API to execute most commands.

An endpoint defines the settings the CLI uses to run API requests against a Fauna account or database. Each endpoint contains:

  • A base domain for Fauna Core HTTP API endpoints.

  • An HTTP scheme for the base domain.

  • An authentication secret used to authenticate and route Fauna API requests. The secret is scoped to a specific database or a Fauna account’s top-level context.

Endpoints let you switch between different Fauna accounts or databases using the CLI.

Add endpoints

The CLI stores endpoints in .fauna-shell. The cloud-login command is the preferred way to add endpoints to .fauna-shell.

Endpoints for a Fauna account or database should use:

  • A domain of db.fauna.com

  • An HTTP scheme of https

Example:

[endpoint.cloud-us]
domain=db.fauna.com
scheme=https
secret=fn...

Non-standard endpoints

If you use the Fauna Dev Docker image, you can use fauna endpoint add to add non-standard or local endpoints to .fauna-shell. Example:

[localhost]
domain=127.0.0.1
port=8443
scheme=http
secret=fn...

Global .fauna-shell properties

The .fauna-shell configuration file has the following global properties:

Property Required Description

default=<ENDPOINT_NAME>

Name for the default endpoint used in Fauna CLI commands.

You can override the default for a command using the --endpoint option.

If no default endpoint is defined and a command doesn’t include the --endpoint option, the CLI returns an error.

.fauna-shell endpoint properties

Endpoints in the .fauna-shell configuration file have the following properties:

Property Required Description

secret=<secret>

Yes

Secret used to authenticate HTTP API requests to the endpoint.

domain=<FAUNA_HOSTNAME>

Hostname of the endpoint’s Fauna instance. Defaults to db.fauna.com.

scheme=<scheme>

Connection scheme. Must be https (default) or http.

port=<port>

UNIX port number of the endpoint’s Fauna instance. Defaults to 443.

queriesFile=<name>

Default file containing FQL queries to run using the fauna eval command. You can override the default using the command’s --file option.

To differentiate between endpoints, you can also include arbitrary properties. Fauna ignores these properties.

Basic usage

This section covers common Fauna CLI commands and usage. For all commands, see Fauna CLI commands.

Log in to Fauna

Use fauna cloud-login to log in to Fauna:

fauna cloud-login

When prompted, enter:

  • Endpoint name: cloud (Press Enter)

    An endpoint defines the settings the CLI uses to run API requests against a Fauna account or database. See Endpoints.

  • Email address: The email address for your Fauna account.

  • Password: The password for your Fauna account.

  • Which endpoint would you like to set as default? The cloud-* endpoint for your preferred Region Group. For example, to use the US Region Group, use cloud-us.

fauna cloud-login requires an email and password login. If you log in to Fauna using GitHub or Netlify, you can enable email and password login using the Forgot Password workflow.

If successful, the command adds a related endpoint and secret to the .fauna-shell configuration file. See Configuration.

Initialize a project directory

A project directory includes:

<APP>/              // Directory containing app source code (optional)
├── .fauna-project  // INI-format file containig Fauna CLI defaults for the project
├── schema/         // Directory containing Fauna .fsl schema files
│   └── *.fsl
...

  • A .fauna-project file that stores a default configuration for the project in Fauna CLI

  • .fsl files for the project’s database(s), typically stored in a subdirectory

  • (Optional) The application’s source code

Use fauna project init to create a .fauna-project file for a project directory:

fauna project init

When prompted, provide:

  • A schema directory used to store .fsl files. If the directory doesn’t exist, the command creates it.

  • A default environment name. See Environments.

  • A default endpoint to use for Fauna CLI commands.

  • A default database for Fauna CLI commands.

For more information about the .fauna-project file, see Project configuration.

Create a database

Use fauna create-database to create a database:

fauna create-database <DATABASE_NAME>

If you’re using a .fauna-project file and want to create a top-level database, add --environment='':

fauna create-database --environment='' <DATABASE_NAME>

To create a top-level database, you must use a secret scoped to the account’s top-level context. To create this secret and use it by default, use the fauna cloud-login command.

Manage FSL schema

In Fauna, you define database schema using Fauna Schema Language (FSL). You can manage FSL schemas using Fauna Dashboard or as .fsl files using the Fauna CLI.

Using .fsl files lets you:

For more information, see Manage schema as .fsl files.

Create a key

Use fauna create-key to create a key for a database:

fauna create-key <DATABASE_NAME> <ROLE>

If you’re using a .fauna-project file and want to create a key for a top-level database, add --environment='':

fauna create-key --environment='' <DATABASE_NAME> <ROLE>

To create a key for a top-level database, you must use a secret scoped to the account’s top-level context. You can create this secret and use it by default using the fauna cloud-login command.

The response includes the key’s secret. The secret is shown once. You can’t recover or retrieve the secret later.

If you don’t specify a role, the key uses the admin role by default.

Run FQL queries

The Fauna CLI includes commands for running FQL queries.

Run queries using eval

Use fauna eval to run an FQL query from the command line, a file, or STDIN.

fauna eval "Product.all()"

For additional examples, see the fauna eval command reference docs.

Run queries in an interactive shell

Use fauna shell to start an interactive shell session in the Fauna CLI. You can use the session to run arbitrary FQL queries.

fauna shell

In the shell session, you can enter editor mode to run multi-line queries:

> .editor

Project configuration

.fauna-project is an INI-format file that stores a default Fauna CLI configuration for a project directory.

The Fauna CLI uses these defaults when you run commands in the directory. If you run commands in a subdirectory, the CLI searches parent directories for the nearest .fauna-project file.

Example:

schema_directory=schema
default=dev

[environment.dev]
endpoint=fauna-us
database=accounts/dev

[environment.qa]
endpoint=fauna-us
database=accounts/qa

[environment.prod]
endpoint=fauna-us
database=accounts/prod

The .fauna-project` file is typically committed to version control.

Environments

The .fauna-project file lets you define multiple environments for a project. An environment groups a Fauna endpoint with a default database at the endpoint.

Fauna CLI environments are typically mapped to the environments for the client application, such as dev, staging, or prod. You can use Fauna environments to easily switch between databases when running Fauna CLI commands.

An environment starts with [environment.<ENVIRONMENT_NAME>] followed by its configuration properties. If an environment or property is duplicated, the CLI uses the last definition.

Several Fauna CLI commands, such as fauna eval, let you easily switch environments using the --environment option:

fauna eval "Product.all()" --environment='prod'

Global properties

Property Required Description

schema_directory=<DIRECTORY>

Default directory of .fsl files used for the following commands:

You can override the default for these commands using the --dir option.

If no default endpoint is defined and the command doesn’t include the --dir option, the CLI returns an error.

default=<ENVIRONMENT_NAME>

Default environment used for Fauna CLI commands.

Environment properties

Property Required Description

endpoint=<ENDPOINT_NAME>

Default endpoint for the environment. The endpoint must be defined in the ~/.fauna-shell configuration file. See .fauna-shell endpoint properties in the configuration documentation.

database=<DATABASE>

Default database for the environment.

Can include a path to a child database. Example: accounts/prod is a path to the accounts database’s prod child database.

Is this article helpful? 

Tell Fauna how the article can be improved:
 Visit Fauna's forums or email docs@fauna.com

Thank you for your feedback!