CLI flags

openbb -h prints the same list. Flags that take a value accept both --flag value and --flag=value.

Modes

These flags are mutually exclusive. Without any of them, the CLI runs the command given as positional arguments and exits; see Modes.

Flag	Effect
-i, --interactive	Open the interactive REPL.
--batch	Read NDJSON requests from stdin and write NDJSON responses to stdout, up to --batch-concurrency at a time.
--generate-spec	Write a .spec file built from --server, with optional --openapi-path, or from --socrata-story, then exit.
--generate-extension	Write an installable OpenBB extension project built from one --spec into --output, then exit. See Codegen.
--list-commands	Print the command catalog as a JSON response, the same as the __commands__ batch command. Needs --spec or --server.
--describe COMMAND[:PROVIDER]	Print one command's parameters and response schema as a JSON response, the same as __schema__. Needs --spec or --server. The :PROVIDER suffix selects one provider's parameters for commands that declare providers.
--print-config-template	Print a commented TOML configuration template.
--show-config	Print the merged TOML configuration as JSON.

Backend

Flag	Default	Environment	Notes
--server URL	none	OPENBB_SERVER_URL	Dispatch over HTTP to an openbb-api or other OpenAPI 3.x server. Ignored for dispatch when a spec is configured.
--spec [NAME=]PATH	none	OPENBB_SPEC_PATH	Dispatch from a .spec file. Repeatable; with more than one, every entry needs a NAME= namespace. The variable is used only when no spec is set by flag or openbb.toml.
--openapi-path PATH	none	none	Path appended to the server URL, or a full URL, of the OpenAPI document. When unset, /openapi.json is tried. Read only by --generate-spec.
--socrata-story URL_OR_PATH	none	none	Build a spec from a Socrata story or dataset. With --generate-spec it is saved; otherwise it is used for this run only.

With no spec and no server, commands run in-process against the installed openbb extensions. Backends covers the selection rules.

Auth

Flag	Default	Environment	Notes
-H KEY=VALUE, --header KEY=VALUE	none	none	HTTP header for every request and for the OpenAPI download. KEY: VALUE also works. Repeatable. NS:KEY=VALUE limits it to namespace NS.
--header-file PATH	none	OPENBB_HEADER_FILE	JSON object of headers. -H flags win on conflicts.
-Q KEY=VALUE, --query-param KEY=VALUE	none	OPENBB_HTTP_QUERY_<NAME>	Query parameter for every request. Repeatable. NS:KEY=VALUE limits it to namespace NS. Each OPENBB_HTTP_QUERY_<NAME> variable adds <name> in lower case.
--query-param-file PATH	none	OPENBB_QUERY_PARAM_FILE	JSON object of query parameters. OPENBB_HTTP_QUERY_* variables and -Q flags win on conflicts.

Auth hooks have no flag; they are configured in openbb.toml. See Authentication.

Codegen

Flag	Default	Used by	Notes
--output PATH, -o PATH	openbb.spec	--generate-spec, --generate-extension	Spec file path, or the parent directory of the generated project. The output key in openbb.toml is not applied in v5.
--provider-name NAME	name of the --output directory	--generate-extension	Source of the snake_case slug for the provider, namespace, and default names.
--project-name NAME	openbb-<slug>	--generate-extension	Distribution name and project directory.
--package-name NAME	openbb_<slug>	--generate-extension	Python package directory.
--router-name NAME	none	--generate-extension	Accepted but not used in v5; the namespace is the slug.
--include PATTERN	None	--generate-extension	Keep only commands whose dotted name matches the glob. Repeatable. Overrides --exclude.
--exclude PATTERN	None	--generate-extension	Drop commands whose dotted name matches the glob. Repeatable. Ignored when --include is set.

Configuration files

Flag	Default	Environment	Notes
--config PATH	none	OPENBB_CLI_CONFIG	TOML file merged over pyproject.toml, the user-global openbb.toml, and the project openbb.toml. See Configuration.
--env-file PATH	none	OPENBB_CLI_ENV_FILE	.env file loaded into the environment after ~/.openbb_platform/.env. Variables that are already set are kept.

Runtime

Flag	Default	Environment	Notes
--batch-concurrency N	8	OPENBB_CLI_BATCH_CONCURRENCY	Maximum number of batch requests in flight. The batch-concurrency key in openbb.toml is not applied in v5.
--dev	off	none	Sets DEV_BACKEND for the REPL session. Only used with -i.
--debug	off	none	Sets DEBUG_MODE for the REPL session. Only used with -i.

Positional arguments

Everything after the flags is collected as the command: the dotted command path followed by --key value or --key=value pairs. With -i, it is run as the first REPL input instead, written as a REPL path such as /oecd/gdp_real --country japan. With --generate-spec, a single positional argument is taken as the output path when --output is not given. Modes explains how the pairs are parsed for each backend.