The Top 10 Qovery CLI Commands You Must Know

Once you have installed the Qovery CLI, here are 10 Qovery CLI commands you must know - plus a few power tips.

1/ qovery shell

Open a shell session inside a running container

Ideal for debugging or manual inspection in live environments.

qovery shell

Select the right container if the app runs multiple services.

You can even specify the web console URL of your app to connect to it directly.

qovery shell https://console.qovery.com/organization/...

2/ qovery port-forward

Forward a remote port to your local machine

Use this to connect to internal services like Postgres, Redis, or internal APIs securely.

qovery port-forward -p 5432

Qovery handles all auth and routing under the hood.

Same as with the shell, by convenience, you can specify the web console URL to port-forward directly to a specific app.

qovery port-forward -p 5432 https://console.qovery.com/organization/...

3/ qovery cluster debug-pod

Launch an ephemeral debug pod in your cluster

This is for platform engineers. It starts a pod with essential tools like kubectl, k9s, curl, and it is excellent for troubleshooting directly inside the cluster.

qovery cluster debug-pod --cluster-id

Requires organization admin permissions.

4/ qovery environment clone

Clone an entire environment in one command

It copies your apps, databases, jobs, and configurations - perfect for setting up preview, staging, or temporary test environments.

qovery environment clone --environment production --new-environment-name prod-copy

Everything is copied and redeployed automatically.

5/ qovery environment deploy

Deploy and control an entire environment

Besides deploying, this command lets you stop, restart, or delete environments.

qovery environment deploy --environment production

It’s your environment control panel via CLI.

6/ qovery application env

Manage environment variables and secrets for an app

Set, list, edit, or delete env vars directly from your terminal.

qovery application env list

To create an environment variable

qovery application env create --key MY_ENV_VAR --value "this is my value"

Secure by design - no secrets are ever exposed in plaintext.

7/ qovery logs

Stream your application logs in real-time

Useful for both runtime debugging and build output.

qovery logs

You can also fetch logs for jobs and databases.

8/ qovery demo

Spin up a local k3s cluster and play with Qovery

This command sets up Qovery locally using Docker. No external infrastructure needed.

qovery demo

Great for quick testing or internal demos.

9/ qovery auth --headless

Authenticate without using your browser

Useful in headless or remote environments (e.g. CI, SSH sessions, remote VM).

qovery auth --headless

Generates a token-based flow for secure CLI auth.

10/ JSON Output Support: --json

Get structured CLI output for automation and scripting

Any list or info command can be extended with --json to output machine-readable data.

qovery application env list --json -n "Terraform RDS" --organization "Qovery Realm" --project "BigBank" --environment "blueprint-x" | jq -r '.[] | select(.key == "RDS_INSTANCE_ENDPOINT").interpolated_value'

Perfect for scripting workflows or integrating with other tools.

Bonus: qovery service list --markdown

Generate a Markdown-formatted list of your running services

Ideal for CI/CD pipelines and documentation. It outputs service names and their public URLs in Markdown format.

qovery service list --markdown

This makes it easy to display or publish the list of active services after deployment (e.g., in a GitHub PR comment, Slack message, or Confluence page).

Wrap Up

The Qovery CLI gives users full control over their applications and infrastructure from the terminal - without dealing with the complexity of Cloud and Kubernetes. Whether you're spinning up environments, debugging issues, or automating workflows, these commands help you move faster and stay in control.

Every command respects Qovery’s permission model, making it safe for teams of any size. If you haven't tried the CLI yet, install it and start integrating it into your workflows:

👉 Install the CLI

Want more advanced tips, scripting examples, or automation use cases? Let us know - we’ll cover them in a follow-up.