Overview

Use Runpod CLI to manage Pods, Serverless endpoints, templates, and more from your local machine.

Runpod CLI is an open source command-line tool for managing your Runpod resources from your local machine. You can manage Pods, Serverless endpoints, templates, network volumes, and models, transfer files between your system and Runpod, diagnose issues, and view account information.

Quick start

After installing and configuring runpodctl, you can start managing resources immediately:

runpodctl doctor                    # First time setup (API key + SSH)
runpodctl gpu list                  # See available GPUs
runpodctl template search pytorch   # Find a template
runpodctl pod create --template-id runpod-torch-v21 --gpu-id "NVIDIA RTX 4090"
runpodctl pod list                  # List your Pods

Install Runpod CLI locally

Every you deploy comes preinstalled with runpodctl and a Pod-scoped API key. You can also install it on your local machine to manage resources remotely.

Step 1: Choose an installation method

Choose the installation method that matches your operating system.

Install script

The install script automatically detects your operating system and architecture:

bash <(wget -qO- cli.runpod.io)

Or using curl:

bash <(curl -sL cli.runpod.io)

The script installs the latest version to /usr/local/bin when run as root, or to ~/.local/bin for non-root users. If you don’t have root access, the script displays instructions for adding runpodctl to your PATH.

macOS

Homebrew:

brew install runpod/runpodctl/runpodctl

ARM (Apple Silicon):

wget --quiet --show-progress https://github.com/runpod/runpodctl/releases/latest/download/runpodctl-darwin-arm64 -O runpodctl && chmod +x runpodctl && sudo mv runpodctl /usr/local/bin/runpodctl

AMD (Intel):

wget --quiet --show-progress https://github.com/runpod/runpodctl/releases/latest/download/runpodctl-darwin-amd64 -O runpodctl && chmod +x runpodctl && sudo mv runpodctl /usr/local/bin/runpodctl

Linux

AMD64 (x86_64):

wget --quiet --show-progress https://github.com/runpod/runpodctl/releases/latest/download/runpodctl-linux-amd64 -O runpodctl && chmod +x runpodctl && sudo cp runpodctl /usr/bin/runpodctl

ARM64 (aarch64):

wget --quiet --show-progress https://github.com/runpod/runpodctl/releases/latest/download/runpodctl-linux-arm64 -O runpodctl && chmod +x runpodctl && sudo cp runpodctl /usr/bin/runpodctl

Non-root installation:

If you don’t have root access, install to your user directory:

mkdir -p ~/.local/bin && wget --quiet --show-progress https://github.com/runpod/runpodctl/releases/latest/download/runpodctl-linux-amd64 -O ~/.local/bin/runpodctl && chmod +x ~/.local/bin/runpodctl

Then add ~/.local/bin to your PATH by adding this line to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc:

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Windows

wget https://github.com/runpod/runpodctl/releases/latest/download/runpodctl-windows-amd64.exe -O runpodctl.exe

Google Colab / Jupyter Notebook

!wget --quiet --show-progress https://github.com/runpod/runpodctl/releases/latest/download/runpodctl-linux-amd64 -O runpodctl
!chmod +x runpodctl
!cp runpodctl /usr/bin/runpodctl

conda / mamba / pixi

Pre-built binaries are available on conda-forge for Linux (x86_64, aarch64, ppc64le), macOS (x86_64, arm64), and Windows (x86_64).

conda:

conda install conda-forge::runpodctl

mamba:

mamba install conda-forge::runpodctl

pixi:

pixi global install runpodctl

This installs runpodctl globally on your system, so you can run commands from any directory.

Step 2: Configure your API key

Before you can use runpodctl locally, you must configure it with an API key.

The easiest way to set up your API key and SSH configuration is with the doctor command:

runpodctl doctor

This command guides you through first-time setup, including API key configuration and SSH key setup.

Alternatively, you can manually configure your API key:

runpodctl config --apiKey YOUR_API_KEY

After running the command, you should see a confirmation message similar to this:

saved apiKey into config file: /Users/runpod/.runpod/config.toml

Step 3: Verify installation

To verify that runpodctl installed successfully, run this command:

runpodctl version

You should see which version is installed:

runpodctl v2.0

Command groups

Runpod CLI organizes commands into groups based on the resource type:

Command	Alias	Description
runpodctl pod		Manage Pods (create, list, start, stop, delete)
runpodctl serverless	sls	Manage Serverless endpoints
runpodctl template	tpl	List, search, and manage templates
runpodctl hub		Browse and deploy from the Runpod Hub
runpodctl network-volume	nv	Manage network volumes
runpodctl registry	reg	Manage container registry authentications
runpodctl gpu		List available GPUs
runpodctl datacenter	dc	List datacenters
runpodctl billing		View billing history
runpodctl user	me	View account information
runpodctl ssh		Manage SSH keys and get connection info

Help and reference

Learn how to use Runpod CLI commands by browsing the CLI reference using the sidebar to the left, or by running the help command:

runpodctl help

Learn more about a particular command by running:

runpodctl [command] --help

Shell completion

Enable tab completion for your shell to make working with runpodctl easier:

runpodctl completion

This command auto-detects your shell and adds the appropriate source command to your shell configuration file (~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc). The command is idempotent—running it again skips installation if completion is already configured.

Restart your shell or source the configuration file for changes to take effect.