CLI Reference

Complete command-line interface reference for Lambda.

Installation

macOS / Linux

curl -fsSL https://get.lambda.io/install.sh | bash

Windows (PowerShell)

iwr https://get.lambda.io/install.ps1 -useb | iex

Using npm

npm install -g @lambda/cli

Using Homebrew (macOS)

brew tap lambda/tap
brew install lambda-cli

Global Options

Available for all commands:

Option	Description
`--api-key KEY`	Override default API key
`--region REGION`	Override default region
`--output FORMAT`	Output format: json, yaml, table
`--debug`	Enable debug logging
`--no-color`	Disable colored output
`--quiet`	Suppress non-error output
`--version`	Show version and exit
`--help`	Show help and exit

Authentication Commands

Authenticate with Lambda account.

lambda login

Options:

--api-key KEY - Login with API key instead of browser
--org ORG - Switch to specific organization

Example:

lambda login --org my-company

`lambda logout`

Log out from Lambda account.

lambda logout

`lambda whoami`

Display current authentication information.

lambda whoami

Output:

Email: you@example.com
Organization: Your Company
Plan: Professional
Region: us-west-1

Instance Commands

`lambda create instance`

Create a new compute instance.

lambda create instance [options]

Options:

--name NAME - Instance name (required)
--type TYPE - Instance type (required)
--region REGION - Region (required)
--image IMAGE - OS image (required)
--ssh-key PATH - SSH public key file
--ssh-keys ID... - SSH key IDs
--firewall-rules FILE - Firewall rules file
--user-data FILE - User data script
--tags KEY=VALUE... - Instance tags
--encryption-key PATH - Encryption key file
--from-snapshot ID - Create from snapshot
--wait - Wait for instance to be ready

Examples:

# Basic instance
lambda create instance \
  --name web-server \
  --type compute-4x \
  --region us-west-1 \
  --image ubuntu-22.04

# With all options
lambda create instance \
  --name prod-api \
  --type compute-8x \
  --region eu-west-1 \
  --image ubuntu-22.04 \
  --ssh-key ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub \
  --firewall-rules firewall.json \
  --user-data init.sh \
  --tags env=production app=api \
  --encryption-key ~/keys/master.pem \
  --wait

`lambda list instances`

List all instances.

lambda list instances [options]

Options:

--region REGION - Filter by region
--status STATUS - Filter by status (running, stopped, creating)
--tag KEY=VALUE - Filter by tag
--sort FIELD - Sort by field (name, created_at, status)
--limit N - Limit results

Examples:

# List all instances
lambda list instances

# Filter running instances
lambda list instances --status running

# Filter by tag
lambda list instances --tag env=production

`lambda status`

Get instance status.

lambda status INSTANCE_ID

Alias: lambda show, lambda info, lambda get

Output:

Instance: inst_abc123
Name: my-instance
Type: compute-4x
Status: running
Region: us-west-1
Image: ubuntu-22.04
Public IP: 203.0.113.42
Private IP: 10.0.1.5
Created: 2026-01-24T10:30:00Z
Uptime: 2 days, 5 hours

`lambda start`

Start a stopped instance.

lambda start INSTANCE_ID

Options:

--wait - Wait for instance to start

Example:

lambda start inst_abc123 --wait

`lambda stop`

Stop a running instance.

lambda stop INSTANCE_ID [options]

Options:

--force - Force stop (immediate, no graceful shutdown)
--wait - Wait for instance to stop

Example:

lambda stop inst_abc123 --wait

`lambda restart`

Restart an instance.

lambda restart INSTANCE_ID [options]

Options:

--wait - Wait for instance to restart

`lambda destroy`

Permanently delete an instance.

lambda destroy INSTANCE_ID [options]

Options:

--confirm - Skip confirmation prompt
--delete-volumes - Also delete attached volumes

Example:

lambda destroy inst_abc123 --confirm

`lambda resize`

Resize an instance to different type.

lambda resize INSTANCE_ID [options]

Options:

--type TYPE - New instance type (required)
--wait - Wait for resize to complete

Example:

lambda resize inst_abc123 --type compute-8x --wait

`lambda ssh`

SSH into an instance.

lambda ssh INSTANCE_ID [options]

Options:

--user USER - SSH user (default: lambda)
--port PORT - SSH port (default: 22)
--key PATH - SSH private key
--command CMD - Run command and exit

Examples:

# Interactive SSH
lambda ssh inst_abc123

# Run command
lambda ssh inst_abc123 --command "uptime"

# Different user
lambda ssh inst_abc123 --user root

Volume Commands

`lambda create volume`

Create a storage volume.

lambda create volume [options]

Options:

--name NAME - Volume name (required)
--size SIZE - Size in GB (required)
--region REGION - Region (required)
--type TYPE - Volume type (ssd, nvme)
--encryption-key PATH - Encryption key

Example:

lambda create volume \
  --name data-volume \
  --size 500GB \
  --region us-west-1

`lambda list volumes`

List all volumes.

lambda list volumes [options]

`lambda attach volume`

Attach volume to instance.

lambda attach volume VOLUME_ID [options]

Options:

--instance INSTANCE_ID - Instance to attach to (required)
--device PATH - Device path (default: auto)

Example:

lambda attach volume vol_abc123 --instance inst_xyz789

`lambda detach volume`

Detach volume from instance.

lambda detach volume VOLUME_ID

`lambda delete volume`

Delete a volume.

lambda delete volume VOLUME_ID [options]

Options:

--confirm - Skip confirmation

Snapshot Commands

`lambda snapshot create`

Create a snapshot.

lambda snapshot create INSTANCE_ID|VOLUME_ID [options]

Options:

--name NAME - Snapshot name
--description TEXT - Description

Example:

lambda snapshot create inst_abc123 --name "before-deploy"

`lambda snapshot list`

List all snapshots.

lambda snapshot list [options]

Options:

--instance INSTANCE_ID - Filter by instance
--volume VOLUME_ID - Filter by volume

`lambda snapshot restore`

Restore from snapshot.

lambda snapshot restore SNAPSHOT_ID [options]

Options:

--name NAME - New instance/volume name
--region REGION - Region to restore in

`lambda snapshot delete`

Delete a snapshot.

lambda snapshot delete SNAPSHOT_ID [options]

`lambda snapshot schedule`

Schedule automatic snapshots.

lambda snapshot schedule INSTANCE_ID [options]

Options:

--frequency FREQ - Frequency: hourly, daily, weekly
--time TIME - Time for snapshot (UTC)
--retain N - Number of snapshots to retain
--day DAY - Day for weekly (monday, tuesday, etc.)

Examples:

# Daily at 2 AM UTC, keep 7 days
lambda snapshot schedule inst_abc123 \
  --frequency daily \
  --time "02:00" \
  --retain 7

# Weekly on Sunday
lambda snapshot schedule inst_abc123 \
  --frequency weekly \
  --day sunday \
  --retain 4

Firewall Commands

`lambda firewall allow`

Allow traffic through firewall.

lambda firewall allow INSTANCE_ID [options]

Options:

--port PORT - Port number (required)
--protocol PROTO - Protocol: tcp, udp, icmp (default: tcp)
--source CIDR - Source IP/CIDR (required)
--description TEXT - Rule description

Example:

lambda firewall allow inst_abc123 \
  --port 443 \
  --protocol tcp \
  --source 0.0.0.0/0 \
  --description "HTTPS traffic"

`lambda firewall deny`

Deny traffic through firewall.

lambda firewall deny INSTANCE_ID [options]

`lambda firewall list`

List firewall rules.

lambda firewall list INSTANCE_ID

`lambda firewall remove`

Remove firewall rule.

lambda firewall remove INSTANCE_ID [options]

Options:

--rule RULE_ID - Rule ID to remove

Monitoring Commands

`lambda metrics`

Get instance metrics.

lambda metrics INSTANCE_ID [options]

Options:

--metric NAME - Specific metric (cpu, memory, network, disk)
--period DURATION - Time period (1h, 24h, 7d, 30d)
--interval DURATION - Data point interval

Example:

lambda metrics inst_abc123 --metric cpu --period 24h

`lambda logs`

Get instance logs (metadata only, not application logs).

lambda logs INSTANCE_ID [options]

Options:

--follow - Follow logs in real-time
--since TIME - Show logs since time
--until TIME - Show logs until time

`lambda wait`

Wait for instance to reach state.

lambda wait INSTANCE_ID [options]

Options:

--status STATUS - Wait for status (running, stopped)
--timeout SECONDS - Timeout (default: 300)

Network Commands

`lambda network info`

Get network information.

lambda network info INSTANCE_ID

`lambda network assign-ip`

Assign public IP to instance.

lambda network assign-ip INSTANCE_ID

`lambda network release-ip`

Release public IP from instance.

lambda network release-ip INSTANCE_ID

Billing Commands

`lambda billing usage`

Get usage information.

lambda billing usage [options]

Options:

--month YYYY-MM - Specific month (default: current)
--detailed - Detailed breakdown

Example:

lambda billing usage --month 2026-01 --detailed

`lambda billing estimate`

Estimate costs.

lambda billing estimate [options]

Options:

--instance-type TYPE - Instance type
--hours HOURS - Number of hours
--region REGION - Region

Example:

lambda billing estimate \
  --instance-type compute-4x \
  --hours 730

`lambda billing invoices`

List invoices.

lambda billing invoices [options]

Options:

--status STATUS - Filter by status (paid, unpaid, overdue)
--year YEAR - Filter by year

API Key Commands

`lambda api-keys create`

Create API key.

lambda api-keys create [options]

Options:

--name NAME - Key name (required)
--permissions PERMS... - Permissions
--expires DATE - Expiration date

Example:

lambda api-keys create \
  --name "ci-deploy" \
  --permissions "instances:create,instances:delete"

`lambda api-keys list`

List API keys.

lambda api-keys list

`lambda api-keys delete`

Delete API key.

lambda api-keys delete KEY_ID

Configuration Commands

`lambda config set`

Set configuration value.

lambda config set KEY VALUE

Examples:

lambda config set region eu-west-1
lambda config set output json

`lambda config get`

Get configuration value.

lambda config get KEY

`lambda config list`

List all configuration.

lambda config list

Utility Commands

`lambda version`

Show CLI version.

lambda version

`lambda update`

Update CLI to latest version.

lambda update

`lambda docs`

Open documentation in browser.

lambda docs [TOPIC]

Example:

lambda docs instances

Shell Completion

Bash

lambda completion bash > /etc/bash_completion.d/lambda

Zsh

lambda completion zsh > "${fpath[1]}/_lambda"

Fish

lambda completion fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/lambda.fish

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
`LAMBDA_API_KEY`	API key for authentication
`LAMBDA_REGION`	Default region
`LAMBDA_OUTPUT`	Default output format
`LAMBDA_CONFIG_DIR`	Config directory location
`LAMBDA_DEBUG`	Enable debug mode

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success
1	General error
2	Invalid arguments
3	Authentication failed
4	Resource not found
5	Permission denied
6	Rate limit exceeded
7	Server error

Examples

Complete Workflow

# 1. Login
lambda login

# 2. Create instance
lambda create instance \
  --name my-app \
  --type compute-4x \
  --region us-west-1 \
  --image ubuntu-22.04 \
  --wait

# 3. Configure firewall
lambda firewall allow inst_abc123 --port 80 --source 0.0.0.0/0
lambda firewall allow inst_abc123 --port 443 --source 0.0.0.0/0

# 4. Deploy application
lambda ssh inst_abc123 --command "git clone https://github.com/user/app"

# 5. Monitor
lambda metrics inst_abc123 --period 1h

# 6. Create backup
lambda snapshot create inst_abc123 --name "production-backup"

Next Step

Check the FAQ for common questions.

Frequently Asked Questions →

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