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CLI Reference
The provided CLI (Command Line Interface) allows you to start, stop, and manage your Kong instances. The CLI manages your local node (as in, on the current machine).
If you haven't yet, we recommend you read the configuration reference.
Table of Contents
Global flags
All commands take a set of special, optional flags as arguments:
--help: print the command's help message--v: enable verbose mode--vv: enable debug mode (noisy)
Available commands
kong check
Usage: kong check <conf>
Check the validity of a given Kong configuration file.
<conf> (default /etc/kong.conf or /etc/kong/kong.conf) configuration file
kong prepare
This command prepares the Kong prefix folder, with its sub-folders and files.
Usage: kong prepare [OPTIONS]
Prepare the Kong prefix in the configured prefix directory. This command can
be used to start Kong from the nginx binary without using the 'kong start'
command.
Example usage:
kong prepare -p /usr/local/kong -c kong.conf && kong migrations up &&
nginx -p /usr/local/kong -c /usr/local/kong/nginx.conf
Options:
-c,--conf (optional string) configuration file
-p,--prefix (optional string) override prefix directory
--nginx-conf (optional string) custom Nginx configuration template
kong health
Usage: kong health [OPTIONS]
Check if the necessary services are running for this node.
Options:
-p,--prefix (optional string) prefix at which Kong should be running
kong migrations
Usage: kong migrations COMMAND [OPTIONS]
Manage Kong's database migrations.
The available commands are:
list List migrations currently executed.
up Execute all missing migrations up to the latest available.
reset Reset the configured database (irreversible).
Options:
-c,--conf (optional string) configuration file
kong quit
Usage: kong quit [OPTIONS]
Gracefully quit a running Kong node (Nginx and other
configured services) in given prefix directory.
This command sends a SIGQUIT signal to Nginx, meaning all
requests will finish processing before shutting down.
If the timeout delay is reached, the node will be forcefully
stopped (SIGTERM).
Options:
-p,--prefix (optional string) prefix Kong is running at
-t,--timeout (default 10) timeout before forced shutdown
kong reload
Usage: kong reload [OPTIONS]
Reload a Kong node (and start other configured services
if necessary) in given prefix directory.
This command sends a HUP signal to Nginx, which will spawn
new workers (taking configuration changes into account),
and stop the old ones when they have finished processing
current requests.
Options:
-c,--conf (optional string) configuration file
-p,--prefix (optional string) prefix Kong is running at
--nginx-conf (optional string) custom Nginx configuration template
kong restart
Usage: kong restart [OPTIONS]
Restart a Kong node in the given prefix directory.
This command is equivalent to doing both 'kong stop' and
'kong start'.
Options:
-c,--conf (optional string) configuration file
-p,--prefix (optional string) prefix at which Kong should be running
--nginx-conf (optional string) custom Nginx configuration template
--run-migrations (optional boolean) optionally run migrations on the DB
kong start
Usage: kong start [OPTIONS]
Start Kong (Nginx and other configured services) in the configured
prefix directory.
Options:
-c,--conf (optional string) configuration file
-p,--prefix (optional string) prefix at which Kong should be running
--nginx-conf (optional string) custom Nginx configuration template
--run-migrations (optional boolean) optionally run migrations on the DB
kong stop
Usage: kong stop [OPTIONS]
Stop a running Kong node (Nginx and other configured services) in given
prefix directory.
This command sends a SIGTERM signal to Nginx.
Options:
-p,--prefix (optional string) prefix Kong is running at
kong version
Usage: kong version [OPTIONS]
Print Kong's version. With the -a option, will print
the version of all underlying dependencies.
Options:
-a,--all get version of all dependencies