ibmcloud

CLI for managing resources on IBM Cloud

TLDR

Log in interactively

$ ibmcloud login

Log in with single sign-on

$ ibmcloud login --sso

Log in non-interactively with an API key

$ ibmcloud login --apikey [API_KEY]

Set the target region and resource group

$ ibmcloud target -r [us-south] -g [default]

List resource instances

$ ibmcloud resource service-instances

Show account information

$ ibmcloud account show

Install a plugin from the IBM Cloud repo

$ ibmcloud plugin install [plugin-name]

List installed plugins

$ ibmcloud plugin list

SYNOPSIS

ibmcloud command [subcommand] [options]

ibmcloud is the official command-line interface for IBM Cloud. It wraps IBM Cloud's REST APIs for account, IAM, and resource management, and exposes service-specific functionality through installable plugins.Most workflows begin with `ibmcloud login` followed by `ibmcloud target` to select the region and resource group. From there, `resource`, `iam`, and plugin commands create and manage services, clusters, and functions. Plugins such as `kubernetes-service`, `code-engine`, `container-registry`, and `cloud-databases` add service-specific subcommands.

PARAMETERS

login [--sso] [--apikey KEY] [-r REGION] [-g GROUP] [-c ACCOUNTID_]

Authenticate against IBM Cloud. `--sso` uses single sign-on, `--apikey` uses a platform API key.

logout

End the current session.

target [-r REGION] [-g GROUP] [-o ORG] [-s SPACE]

Set or show the current target region, resource group, Cloud Foundry org, or space.

account subcommand

Manage accounts (e.g. `account show`, `account users`, `account list`).

resource subcommand

Manage resource groups and service instances (e.g. `resource groups`, `resource service-instances`, `resource service-instance-create`).

plugin subcommand

Manage plugins: `install`, `uninstall`, `list`, `update`, `repo-plugins`.

cf subcommand

Cloud Foundry commands (requires the `cloud-foundry` plugin).

iam subcommand

Manage users, service IDs, API keys, and access policies.

config [--http-timeout N] [--color on|off] [--locale LOCALE] [--check-version true|false]

Configure CLI behavior (HTTP timeout, output color, locale, version check).

--help, -h

Display help.

--version

Print the CLI version.

CONFIGURATION

~/.bluemix/config.json

Stores session, target, and configuration information.

IBMCLOUD_API_KEY

If set, used by `ibmcloud login` to authenticate non-interactively.

IBMCLOUD_HOME

Overrides the default `~/.bluemix` configuration directory.

CAVEATS

Requires an IBM Cloud account and network access to `cloud.ibm.com`. Many service commands live in plugins, which must be installed first. Some regions require specific resource groups; running commands before `ibmcloud target` often yields "no target" errors.

HISTORY

ibmcloud is the official CLI for IBM Cloud (formerly Bluemix). The current binary unified and replaced the older `bluemix` (`bx`) CLI around 2018, adopting the `ibmcloud` command name along with IBM's Bluemix-to-IBM-Cloud rebrand.