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CLI basics

This page walks through the operations you're most likely to reach for when using the Temporal CLI. For the full set of commands, see the command reference.

Run a development server​

The Temporal CLI ships with a complete Temporal binary. Start a local Temporal Service for development with a single command.

The Temporal Service is available on localhost:7233 and the Web UI at http://localhost:8233.

To keep Workflow data between restarts, specify a database file.

See Install and configure for more development server options.

temporal server start-dev
temporal server start-dev --db-filename temporal.db

Start a Workflow​

Start a Workflow Execution with temporal workflow start.

To start a Workflow and wait for the result, use temporal workflow execute instead.

temporal workflow start \
--task-queue my-task-queue \
--type MyWorkflow \
--workflow-id my-workflow-id \
--input '"my-input-value"'
temporal workflow execute \
--task-queue my-task-queue \
--type MyWorkflow \
--workflow-id my-workflow-id \
--input '"my-input-value"'

Check Workflow status​

List running Workflows.

Get details about a specific Workflow Execution.

View the Event History for a Workflow Execution.

temporal workflow list
temporal workflow describe --workflow-id my-workflow-id
temporal workflow show --workflow-id my-workflow-id

Send Signals and Queries​

Send a Signal to a running Workflow.

Query a running Workflow for its current state.

temporal workflow signal \
--workflow-id my-workflow-id \
--name my-signal \
--input '"signal-value"'
temporal workflow query \
--workflow-id my-workflow-id \
--name my-query

Cancel or Terminate a Workflow​

Cancel a Workflow Execution. Cancellation allows cleanup logic to run before the Workflow completes.

Terminate a Workflow Execution. Termination stops the Workflow immediately with no cleanup.

temporal workflow cancel --workflow-id my-workflow-id
temporal workflow terminate --workflow-id my-workflow-id

Work with Schedules​

Create a Schedule that starts a Workflow on an interval.

List all Schedules.

Pause and unpause a Schedule.

temporal schedule create \
--schedule-id my-schedule \
--interval 1h \
--task-queue my-task-queue \
--type MyScheduledWorkflow
temporal schedule list
temporal schedule toggle \
--schedule-id my-schedule \
--pause --reason "maintenance"
temporal schedule toggle \
--schedule-id my-schedule \
--unpause --reason "maintenance complete"

Manage Namespaces​

List available Namespaces.

Create a new Namespace.

temporal operator namespace list
temporal operator namespace create --namespace my-namespace

Format and filter output​

Use --output json to get machine-readable output from any command.

Combine with jq for filtering.

temporal workflow list --output json
temporal workflow list --output json | jq '.[].type.name'

Next steps​