PlanetScale CLI

July 1, 2025

To interact with PlanetScale and manage your databases, you can use the pscale CLI to do the following:

Create, delete and list your databases and branches
Open a secure MySQL shell instance
Manage your deploy requests
...and more!

Note

pscale can use the MySQL command-line client to quickly open an interactive shell for a database branch. Optional instructions for installing the MySQL client can be found for each platform below.

Getting Started

Make sure to first set up your PlanetScale developer environment. Once you've installed the pscale CLI, you can interact with PlanetScale and manage your databases straight from the command line.

Available Commands

Use pscale [command] [command] to start up the pscale CLI in your terminal.

Command	Subcommands/Options	Flags	Description
`api`		`--help`, `--org string`, `--database string`, `--branch string`, `--field key=value`, `--header stringArray`, `--input string`, `--method string`, `--query key=value`	Performs authenticated calls against the PlanetScale API and prints the response to stdout.
`audit-log`	`list`	`--help`, `--org string`	List all audit logs
`auth`	`login`, `logout`	`--help`	Authenticate via console
`backup`	`create`, `delete`, `list`, `restore`, `show`	`--help`, `--org string`	Manage branch backups
`branch`	`create`, `delete`, `diff`, `keyspaces`, `list`, `promote`, `refresh-schema`, `schema`, `show`, `switch`, `vschema`	`--help`, `--org string`	Manage branches
`completion`	`bash`, `zsh`, `fish`, `powershell`	`--help`	Generate completion script for specified shell
`connect`	`<database_name>` `<branch_name>`	`--execute string`, `--execute-env-url string`, `--execute-protocol string`, `--help`, `--host string`, `--org string`, `--port string`, `--remote-addr string`, `--role string`	Create a secure connection to the given database and branch
`database`	`create`, `delete`, `dump`, `list`, `restore-dump`, `show`	`--help`	Manage databases
`deploy-request`	`apply`, `cancel`, `close`, `create`, `deploy`, `diff`, `edit`, `list`, `revert`, `review`, `show`, `skip-revert`	`--help`	Manage deploy requests including gated deployments
`help`	`audit-log`, `auth`, `backup`, `branch`, `completion`, `connect`, `data-import`, `database`, `deploy-request`, `help`, `org`, `password`, `region`, `service-token`, `shell`, `signup`, `workflow`	`--help`	View help for any command
`org`	`list`, `show`, `switch`	`--help`	Manage and switch organizations
`mcp`	`install`, `server`	`--target string`, `--help`	Install and start an MCP server
`password`	`create`, `delete`, `list`	`--help`, `--org string`	Manage branch credentials
`ping`		`--help`, `--count, -n int`, `--concurrency int`, `--provider, -p string` `--timeout duration`	Check latency between your machine and PlanetScale's public regions
`region`	`list`	`--org string`	View available regions
`service-token`	`add-access`, `create`, `delete`, `delete-access`, `list`, `show-access`	`--help`, `--org string`	Manage access of service tokens
`size`	`cluster list`	`--help`, `--org string`, `--region string`, `--metal`	View available cluster sizes
`shell`	`<database_name>` `<branch_name>`	`--help`, `--local-addr string`, `--org string`, `--remote-addr string`	Open a MySQL shell instance to the specified database and branch
`signup`		`--help`	Sign up for a new PlanetScale account
`workflow`	`cancel`, `complete`, `create`, `cutover`, `list`, `retry`, `reverse-cutover`, `reverse-traffic`, `show`, `switch-traffic`, `verify-data`	`--help`, `--org string`	Manage the workflows for PlanetScale databases

Flags

You may use the following flags with the PlanetScale CLI commands.

Flag	Description
`--api-token string`	The API token to use for authenticating against the PlanetScale API
`--api-url string`	The base URL for the PlanetScale API. (default "https://api.planetscale.com/")
`--config string`	Config file (default: $HOME/.config/planetscale/pscale.yml)
`--debug`	Enable debug mode
`-f, --format string`	Show output in specific format. Possible values: [human, json, csv] (default: "human")
`-h, --help`	Get more information about a command
`--no-color`	Disable color output
`--service-token string`	Service Token for authenticating
`--service-token-id string`	The Service Token ID for authenticating
`--version`	Show pscale version

Service tokens permissions

A complete list of access permissions available for use with service tokens can be found in the PlanetScale API documentation.

Need help?

Get help from the PlanetScale Support team, or join our GitHub discussion board to see how others are using PlanetScale.