---
title: "The Preset CLI"
slug: "the-preset-cli"
updated: 2026-06-12T22:34:15Z
published: 2026-06-12T22:34:29Z
canonical: "docs.preset.io/the-preset-cli"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.preset.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# The Preset CLI

API Requirement

You need to have access to [the Preset API](/v1/docs/the-preset-api) in order to successfully use the Preset CLI.

## Overview

The Preset CLI can be used to perform many tasks in Preset, such as:

- Content migration (export and import) and management.
- Running SQL queries.
- Syncing models from dbt Core and dbt Cloud.
- Team management.

Some functionalities work both for Preset and Superset. The structure to execute a command against a Preset Workspace would normally be:

```
preset-cli --workspaces=$workspace_url --$auth superset $command $args
```

Authentication can also be stored to a system file, so that it doesn't have to be included on every command.

The structure to execute a command against a Superset instance is usually:

```
superset-cli --$auth $superset_url $command $args
```

## Installation

Use a Python Virtual Environment

It's strongly encouraged to install Python packages using [Virtual Environments](https://docs.python.org/3/library/venv.html).

There are two ways possible sources to install the CLI:

- **From the Python Package Index (PyPI):** This operation installs the latest version officially released of the package. To install it from PyPI, run:

```
pip install preset-cli
```
- **From the Github repository directly:** This would install the CLI containing latest bug fixes and new functionalities merged to [the repository](https://github.com/preset-io/backend-sdk), that might haven't been officially included in a new release yet. To install it from the repository, run:

```
pip install "git+https://github.com/preset-io/backend-sdk.git"
```

## Authentication

In order to interact with your Workspaces, the CLI uses valid API token/secret to generate a `jwt token` and perform the desired actions. Make sure to use an account with proper permissions to generate the API. There are different mehtods to authenticate CLI commands:

### Saving credentials in the system *(Preset only)*

Once the CLI is installed, you can run `preset-cli auth` to be prompted to provide your API token and secret. These values would be stored in a system-dependent location, in a file that's only readable by you.

Once credentials have been stored, running `preset-cli auth` would show an error including the path to the file created. If you need to replace credentials, run `preset-cli auth --overwrite`. To display the currently stored credentials, run `preset-cli auth --show`.

### Providing the API Token and Secret directly in the command *(Preset only)*

Instead of locally saving your credentials, it's also possible to provide them directly in the desired command. For example:

```
preset-cli --api-token $my_api_token --api-secret $my_api_secret ...
```

This is specially useful in case you want to automate CLI actions (using Github actions, etc).

### Providing username and password directly in the command *(Superset only)*

For Superset, it's possible to provide the username and password directly in the command. For example:

```
superset-cli -u $username -p $password ...
```

### Providing the JWT token directly in the command

Lastly, it's also possible to use the [Get a JWT Token API endpoint](https://api-docs.preset.io/#cdf2f4d7-1842-4a3e-bd15-a747295704ee) to generate the `jwt`, and then pass it directly in the CLI command. For example:

```
preset-cli --jwt-token $my_jwt ...
```

For Superset:

```
superset-cli --jwt-token $my_jwt ...
```

## Suppported Commands

### Team Operations

These are the supported features on the team level:

- Export users
- Import users
- Invite users
- List SCIM group memberships
- Sync roles

You can find further details about these features in the [Team Operations](/v1/docs/team-operations) page.

### Workspace Operations

These are the supported Workspace operations:

- Export ownership *(Superset only)*
- Export resoures
- Export roles
- Export RLS rules
- Import ownership
- Import resources
- Import roles *(Preset only)*

You can find further details about these functionalities in the [Workspace Operations](/v1/docs/workspace-operations) page.

### dbt Sync

- Sync dbt models (including columns, metrics and metadata) to Preset as datasets.
- Sync Preset charts and dashboards to dbt as exposures.

You can find further details about them in the [dbt Sync](/v1/docs/dbt-sync) page.