Set up the Temporal CLI

The Temporal CLI is a command-line tool for interacting with the Temporal Service. It helps you manage, monitor, and debug Temporal applications. You can also use it to run a local development server and interact with Temporal Applications from the command line.

With the Temporal CLI, you can:

• Run a local Temporal Service for development
• Start Workflow Executions on any Temporal Service (local, self-hosted, or Temporal Cloud)
• Interact with running Workflows
• Inspect the state of Workflows and Activities
• Manage Namespaces, Schedules, and Task Queues
• Monitor and debug application behavior

Install the CLI

The CLI is available for macOS, Linux, and Windows, or as a Docker image.

macOS

Install with Homebrew:

brew install temporal

Or download from the CDN:

• Darwin amd64
• Darwin arm64

Extract the archive and add the temporal binary to your PATH.

Linux

Install with Homebrew (if available):

brew install temporal

Or download from the CDN:

• Linux amd64
• Linux arm64

Extract the archive and add the temporal binary to your PATH.

Windows

Download from the CDN:

• Windows amd64
• Windows arm64

Extract the archive and add the temporal.exe binary to your PATH.

Docker

Temporal CLI container image is available on DockerHub and can be run directly:

docker run --rm temporalio/temporal --help

Run the development server

The CLI includes a local Temporal development service for fast feedback while building your application.

Start the server:

temporal server start-dev \
   --db-filename path/to/local-persistent-store

View available options:

temporal server start-dev \
   --help

note

When running the CLI inside Docker, for the development server to be accessible from the host system, the server needs to be configured to listen on external IP and the ports need to be forwarded:

docker run --rm \
   -p 7233:7233 -p 8233:8233 \
   temporalio/temporal server start-dev \
      --ip 0.0.0.0
# UI is now accessible from host at http://localhost:8233/

What the local server provides

• A local instance of the Temporal Service
• Automatic startup of the Web UI
• A default Namespace
• Optional persistence using SQLite

Omitting --db-filename uses an in-memory database. This speeds up testing but does not persist Workflow data between sessions.

Access the Web UI

• Temporal Service: localhost:7233
• Web UI: http://localhost:8233

tip

The CLI works with all Temporal SDKs. Use it to develop and test your application before deploying to production.

Getting CLI help

From the command line:

temporal <command> <subcommand> --help

For example:

• temporal --help
• temporal workflow --help
• temporal workflow delete --help

Available commands

Command	Description
activity	Complete, update, pause, unpause, reset or fail an Activity
batch	Manage running batch jobs
completion	Generate the autocompletion script for the specified shell
env	Manage environments
operator	Manage Temporal deployments
schedule	Perform operations on Schedules
server	Run Temporal Server
task-queue	Manage Task Queues
worker	Read or update Worker state
workflow	Start, list, and operate on Workflows