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This guide takes you from nothing installed to running your first command against Datum Cloud. Follow the steps in order — the whole path takes just a few minutes.
Prefer a one-click download? Grab a build from our downloads page.
1

Install datumctl

Choose the method that fits your platform.
If you use Homebrew, install datumctl from the official Datum Cloud tap:
# Tap the Datum Cloud formula repository (only needs to be done once)
brew tap datum-cloud/homebrew-tap

# Trust the datumctl formula
brew trust --formula datum-cloud/homebrew-tap/datumctl

# Install datumctl
brew install datumctl
Later, upgrade with brew upgrade datumctl.
Verify the install:
datumctl version
This prints the installed client version.
2

Log in

Authenticate with Datum Cloud. datumctl uses OAuth 2.0 with PKCE and stores your credentials securely in your system keyring — there are no API keys to manage.
datumctl login
This opens your browser to complete sign-in, then discovers the organizations and projects you can access. For the full sign-in flow — the browser and device-code flows, whoami, and signing out — see Logging in; for juggling several accounts see Managing accounts & tokens.
On a headless machine — SSH session, CI runner, or container with no browser — add --no-browser to authenticate with a device-code flow instead:
datumctl login --no-browser
To sign in against a custom environment — such as a self-hosted Datum Cloud deployment — point at its auth server with --hostname, for example datumctl login --hostname auth.example.com.
3

Select your working context

A context is the organization or project that commands target by default, so you do not have to pass --organization or --project every time. For the full picture of how scope is resolved, read Contexts & scoping.Right after login, datumctl shows the organizations and projects you can access and prompts you to pick one interactively.To see your contexts again at any time:
datumctl ctx
To switch contexts — either interactively or by name using the org or org/project format:
# Interactive picker
datumctl ctx use

# Switch to a specific project context
datumctl ctx use <org-id>/<project-id>
4

Run your first command

List the organizations you belong to. This command works without a context selected:
datumctl get organizations
Once a context is set, list resources in it — for example the projects in your organization:
datumctl get projects --organization <org-id>
Results are shown as a table by default. Add -o json or -o yaml for scripting or inspection (see Output formats & scripting), and use datumctl api-resources to discover every resource type you can manage.

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Next steps

You are now installed, authenticated, and pointed at a context. From here you can explore what else the CLI can do.

Contexts & scoping

Understand how commands choose an organization or project, and how to switch between them.

Reading resources

List, retrieve, and inspect Datum Cloud resources with get and describe.

Discovering resources & schemas

Find which resource types exist and inspect their fields before you author manifests.

Output formats & scripting

Machine-readable output, structured errors, and wrapping datumctl in CI and agents.

Interactive console

Browse and inspect resources in a full-screen, keyboard-driven UI.

Using plugins

Extend datumctl with additional commands from a plugin catalog.

Managing accounts

Manage multiple accounts, switch users, sign out, and print access tokens.

Overview

Understand how datumctl is structured and how it talks to Datum Cloud.
Last modified on July 2, 2026