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Tiger CLI reference

Command reference for Tiger CLI, including every command, configuration parameter, and global flag for managing Tiger Cloud

Tiger CLI is a command-line interface that you use to manage Tiger Cloud resources including VPCs, services, read replicas, and related infrastructure. Tiger CLI calls Tiger REST API to communicate with Tiger Cloud.

To install CLI, configure authentication, and create your first service, see Get started with Tiger CLI. This page is the reference for every CLI command and configuration parameter. For an overview of Tiger CLI and Tiger MCP, see Tiger CLI and Tiger MCP.

Tiger CLI (which bundles Tiger MCP) is open source. File an issue in the repo to report bugs or request features and help shape the product.

Use the following commands to manage Tiger Cloud from the terminal. Every command supports -h for inline help, for example tiger service create -h.

Authentication

tiger auth login

Create an authenticated connection to your Tiger Cloud account. This opens a browser to authorize. For non-interactive login, pass credentials as flags.

Terminal window
tiger auth login
  • --public-key: public key for non-interactive login.
  • --secret-key: secret key for non-interactive login.

You can also set the TIGER_PUBLIC_KEY and TIGER_SECRET_KEY environment variables; the project is auto-detected from your credentials. See Authentication parameters.

tiger auth logout

Remove the credentials used to connect to Tiger Cloud.

Terminal window
tiger auth logout

tiger auth status

Show your current authentication status and project ID.

Terminal window
tiger auth status
  • --output, -o: output format: json, yaml, or table.

Version

tiger version

Show the installed Tiger CLI version.

Terminal window
tiger version
  • --check: force a check for updates, regardless of the last check time.
  • --output, -o: output format: table, json, yaml, or bare.

Configuration

tiger config show

Show the current configuration.

Terminal window
tiger config show
  • --output, -o: output format: json, yaml, or table.
  • --no-defaults: do not show default values for unset fields.
  • --with-env: apply environment variable overrides.

tiger config set

Set a configuration value. See Configuration parameters for the available keys.

Terminal window
tiger config set <key> <value>
# for example
tiger config set read_only true

tiger config unset

Clear a configuration value.

Terminal window
tiger config unset <key>

tiger config reset

Reset the configuration to defaults. This also logs you out of the current Tiger Cloud project.

Terminal window
tiger config reset

Services

tiger service create

Create a new service in the current project.

Terminal window
tiger service create --name analytics --region us-east-1
  • --name: service name (auto-generated if omitted).
  • --addons: addons to enable: time-series, ai. Set to none for vanilla PostgreSQL.
  • --region: region code. Free services (shared CPU/memory) must use us-east-1.
  • --cpu: CPU allocation in millicores. Set to shared for a free service.
  • --memory: memory allocation in gigabytes. Set to shared for a free service.
  • --replicas: number of high-availability replicas.
  • --environment: environment tag: DEV or PROD (default: DEV).
  • --no-wait: return without waiting for the operation to complete.
  • --wait-timeout: wait timeout (for example, 30m, 1h30m, 90s).
  • --no-set-default: do not set this service as the default.
  • --with-password: include the password in the output.
  • --output, -o: output format: json, yaml, env, or table.

Allowed compute configurations: shared/shared (only in us-east-1), 0.5 CPU/2 GB, 1/4, 2/8, 4/16, 8/32, 16/64, 32/128. Specify --cpu and --memory together, or set one and the other is configured automatically.

tiger service list

List the services in the current project.

Terminal window
tiger service list
  • --output, -o: output format: json, yaml, or table.

tiger service get

Show detailed information about a service. Aliases: describe, show.

Terminal window
tiger service get <service-id>
  • --with-password: include the password in the output.
  • --output, -o: output format: json, yaml, env, or table.

tiger service fork

Fork an existing service into a new, independent copy. Choose exactly one timing option.

Terminal window
tiger service fork <service-id> --now
  • --now: fork at the current database state.
  • --last-snapshot: fork at the last snapshot (faster).
  • --to-timestamp: fork at a point in time (RFC3339).
  • --cpu, --memory: compute for the fork (inherits from the source if omitted). See service create for allowed configurations.
  • --name: fork name (default: {source-service-name}-fork).
  • --environment: environment tag: DEV or PROD (default: DEV).
  • --no-wait, --wait-timeout: wait behavior (default timeout: 30m).
  • --no-set-default, --with-password, --output, -o: default-service and output options.

tiger service resize

Change a service's CPU and memory. The service may be briefly unavailable during the resize.

Terminal window
tiger service resize <service-id> --cpu 4 --memory 16
  • --cpu, --memory: new allocation. See service create for allowed configurations.
  • --no-wait, --wait-timeout: wait behavior (default timeout: 10m).

tiger service start

Start an inactive service.

Terminal window
tiger service start <service-id>
  • --no-wait, --wait-timeout: wait behavior (default timeout: 10m).

tiger service stop

Stop an active service. After stopping, the service no longer accepts connections.

Terminal window
tiger service stop <service-id>
  • --no-wait, --wait-timeout: wait behavior (default timeout: 10m).

tiger service update-password

Update the master password for a service.

Terminal window
tiger service update-password <service-id>
  • --new-password: new password for the tsdbadmin user.
  • --auto-generate: auto-generate a secure password (mutually exclusive with --new-password).

tiger service delete

Delete a service. This is irreversible and prompts for confirmation before proceeding.

Terminal window
tiger service delete <service-id>
  • --confirm: skip the confirmation prompt. AI agents must confirm with the user first.
  • --no-wait, --wait-timeout: wait behavior (default timeout: 30m).

tiger service logs

View the logs for a service. Alias: log.

Terminal window
tiger service logs <service-id>
  • --tail: number of log lines to show (default: 100).
  • --since, --until: fetch logs within a time range (RFC3339, for example 2024-01-15T09:00:00Z).
  • --node: specific node to fetch logs from (for services with HA replicas; 0 is valid).
  • --output, -o: output format: text, json, or yaml.

Database

tiger db connect

Connect to a service with psql. Pass extra psql flags after --, for example tiger db connect <service-id> -- --single-transaction. Alias: psql.

Terminal window
tiger db connect <service-id>
  • --pooled: use connection pooling (default: false).
  • --role: database role (default: tsdbadmin).
  • --read-only: open the session in Tiger Cloud's immutable read-only mode, so writes and DDL are rejected by the server. The read_only config option or TIGER_READ_ONLY=true forces the same behavior.
  • --no-replica-prompt: do not prompt to connect to a read replica.

tiger db connection-string

Print the connection string for a service.

Terminal window
tiger db connection-string <service-id>
  • --pooled: use connection pooling (default: false).
  • --role: database role (default: tsdbadmin).
  • --with-password: include the password (default: false, less secure).
  • --read-only: emit a read-only connection string.

tiger db create role

Create a database role.

Terminal window
tiger db create role <service-id> --name app_role
  • --name (required): the role to create.
  • --read-only: enforce permanent read-only for the role using tsdb_admin.read_only_role.
  • --from: inherit grants from one or more roles, for example --from app_role,readonly_role.
  • --statement-timeout: statement timeout for the role, for example 30s, 5m.
  • --password: role password (falls back to TIGER_NEW_PASSWORD, otherwise auto-generated).
  • --output, -o: output format: json, yaml, or table.

tiger db schema

Display the schema of a service database as readable text.

Terminal window
tiger db schema <service-id>
  • --schema: restrict output to a single schema.
  • --definitions: include full object definitions (view SELECTs, function and procedure bodies).
  • --comments: include object comments (COMMENT ON text).
  • --internal: include system schemas (pg_*, information_schema, TimescaleDB internals) and extension-owned objects.
  • --pooled: use connection pooling (default: false).
  • --role: database role (default: tsdbadmin).

tiger db save-password

Save the password for a service to the keychain.

Terminal window
tiger db save-password <service-id>
  • --role: database role (default: tsdbadmin).
  • --password: password value (or use TIGER_NEW_PASSWORD).

tiger db test-connection

Test connectivity to a service.

Terminal window
tiger db test-connection <service-id>
  • --timeout, -t: connection timeout (default: 3s, 0 for none).
  • --pooled: use connection pooling (default: false).
  • --role: database role (default: tsdbadmin).

MCP

tiger mcp install

Install and configure Tiger MCP for an AI agent. Supported clients: claude-code, codex, cursor, gemini, vscode, windsurf, antigravity, kiro-cli. If no client is given, you are prompted to choose.

Terminal window
tiger mcp install claude-code
  • --no-backup: do not back up the client's existing config before writing.
  • --config-path: path to the client config file to update.

tiger mcp list

List the available Tiger MCP tools, prompts, and resources.

Terminal window
tiger mcp list
  • --output, -o: output format: json, yaml, or table.

tiger mcp get

Show detailed information about a Tiger MCP tool, prompt, or resource, including skills. Aliases: describe, show.

Terminal window
tiger mcp get service_create
tiger mcp get setup-timescaledb-hypertables
  • --output, -o: output format: json, yaml, or table.

tiger mcp start

Start Tiger MCP. tiger mcp start is the same as tiger mcp start stdio.

Terminal window
tiger mcp start
  • stdio: stdio transport (default).
  • http: HTTP transport, with --port (default: 8080) and --host (default: localhost).

Configuration parameters

By default, Tiger CLI stores your configuration in ~/.config/tiger/config.yaml. Change the config directory with the --config-dir flag or the TIGER_CONFIG_DIR environment variable.

Configuration options

Set these with tiger config set <key> <value>:

FlagDefaultDescription
analyticstrueEnable or disable usage analytics
colortrueEnable or disable colored output
debugfalseEnable or disable debug logging
docs_mcptrueEnable or disable the Tiger Data documentation MCP proxy
mcp_max_rows100Set the maximum number of rows returned by the db_execute_query Tiger MCP tool
outputtableSet the output format to json, yaml, or table
password_storagekeyringSet the password storage method. Options are keyring, pgpass, or none
read_onlyfalseEnable or disable read-only mode. When true, mutating CLI commands and Tiger MCP tools (service create, fork, start, stop, resize, update-password, and delete) are refused, and the database sessions opened by db connect, db connection-string, and db_execute_query run in Tiger Cloud's immutable read-only mode, so writes and DDL are rejected by the server. Read commands and tools are unaffected
service_id-Set the default service to manage
version_checktrueEnable or disable checking for a new version of Tiger CLI on startup

You can also set these configuration options as environment variables. Environment variables:

  • Take precedence over configuration parameters values.
  • Are in upper case and use the TIGER_ prefix. For example, TIGER_ANALYTICS

Global flags

These flags are available on all commands and take precedence over both environment variables and configuration file values:

FlagDefaultDescription
--analyticstrueEnable or disable usage analytics
--colortrueEnable or disable colored output
--config-dir~/.config/tigerSet the directory that holds config.yaml
--debugfalseEnable or disable debug logging
--help, -h-Print help about the current command. For example, tiger service --help
--password-storagekeyringSet the password storage method. Options are keyring, pgpass, or none
--service-id-Set the default service to manage
--skip-update-checkfalseSkip checking if a new version of Tiger CLI is available

Authentication parameters

You can authenticate using client credentials instead of interactive browser login. Client credentials are a public key and secret key pair that you create in the Tiger Cloud Console. Learn how to create client credentials.

Once you have your credentials, either set them as environment variables, then log in:

Terminal window
TIGER_PUBLIC_KEY=<public_key> TIGER_SECRET_KEY=<secret_key> \
tiger auth login

Or pass them to the login command:

Terminal window
tiger auth login --public-key=<public_key> --secret-key=<secret_key>

The project is auto-detected from your credentials.