cli.md

title	CLI Reference (Guide)

CLI Reference

Ze provides an interactive CLI and single-command execution for runtime queries and control. ze cli reaches the daemon through its SSH server. ze start --cli attaches a console to the daemon it starts, in the same process.

Usage

ze cli                              # Interactive CLI with tab completion
ze cli -c "show bgp peer list"              # Execute single command and exit
ze show bgp peer upstream1 detail           # Read-only query (safe for scripts)
ze cli -c "request peer upstream1 teardown 2" # One-shot command (full access)
ze start --cli                              # Start the daemon and attach a console

Modes

Command	Access	Use Case
ze cli	Interactive, full	Exploring, monitoring, operating
ze show <cmd>	Read-only	Scripting, monitoring dashboards
ze cli -c <cmd>	Full	Automation, route injection
ze start --cli	Interactive, full	Running the daemon and operating it from one terminal

The attached console

ze start --cli starts the daemon and attaches an interactive console to it. The console dispatches each command in the daemon process, so it needs no SSH server and it works in a build with SSH compiled out.

The console opens at the operational prompt. Type configure to reach configuration mode, and commit there reloads the running daemon, as it does over SSH. Type exit, or press Ctrl-D, to detach the console and leave the daemon running.

The console authenticates nobody, so it names the change author from the USER environment variable, and unknown when that variable is empty. The name is what show | blame reports for the changes the console commits.

Peer Commands

Command	Description
show bgp peer list	List all peers (brief)
show bgp peer <sel> detail	Show peer details and statistics
request peer <sel> teardown <code>	Graceful session closure with NOTIFICATION
delete bgp peer <name>	Remove peer
update bgp config	Write the running peer set to the configuration file
request peer <sel> pause	Pause reading from peer (flow control)
request peer <sel> resume	Resume reading from peer
show bgp peer <sel> capabilities	Show negotiated capabilities
show bgp	BGP summary table

Peer selector: * (all), exact IP, glob patterns (192.168.*.*), exclusion (!addr), or peer name.

Route Commands

Command	Description
send bgp <sel> update text <attrs> nlri <family> <op> <prefix>	Text-format UPDATE
send bgp <sel> update hex <hex>	Hex-format UPDATE
show bgp rib received [peer <selector>] [family <family>]	Show Adj-RIB-In
show bgp rib advertised [peer <selector>] [family <family>]	Show Adj-RIB-Out
clear bgp rib in [peer]	Clear Adj-RIB-In
clear bgp rib out [peer]	Clear Adj-RIB-Out

See Route Injection guide for UPDATE syntax details.

Cache Commands

Command	Description
show cache	List cached messages
request cache retain <id>	Prevent cache eviction
request cache release <id>	Release a cached message
request cache expire <id>	Remove a cached message immediately
send bgp <peer> cached <id>	Forward a cached message to a peer

Event Subscription

Command	Description
monitor bgp	Show the live peer dashboard (see Monitoring guide)
monitor event peer <addr> include <type> direction <dir>	Stream filtered events

Commit Workflow

Named update windows for atomic route changes:

Command	Description
request commit start <name>	Begin named update window
request commit end <name>	End window and send updates
request commit eor <name>	Send End-of-RIB for window
request commit rollback <name>	Discard changes
request commit show <name>	Show commit status
request commit list	List named commits

RPKI Commands

Command	Description
show bgp rpki	Validation counters with one row for each cache server
show bgp rpki status	RTR session count and VRP counts
show bgp rpki cache	Cache server connection details
show bgp rpki roa	ROA table summary
show bgp rpki summary	Validation statistics
show bgp rpki aspa	ASPA cache, or the providers for a customer AS
request bgp rpki validate <prefix> <origin-asn>	Validate one prefix against the ROA cache

show bgp rpki | summary answers the counters without the cache server rows, through a pipe alias the plugin declares. It resolves over ze cli -c "..." and over ssh, and NOT inside ze cli with no command argument (docs/guide/rpki.md).

Resolution Commands

Command	Description
show resolve rir <asn>	Which Regional Internet Registry holds an AS number, and its whois host
update resolve rir	Refresh the RIR delegation table from the five registry delegation files

The lookup reads a table the binary ships as embedded data, so it answers with no network. update resolve rir stores a fresh table under meta/rir/delegation, and the lookup prefers that copy while its generation date is later than the shipped table's. The refresh is all or nothing: a registry that does not answer leaves the previous table in place and the error names the file it could not read. The same lookup runs on the host with no daemon, as ze resolve rir <asn>.

An appliance behind a mirror names where each file is read from, under system/rir, one delegation-source block per registry. A registry with no block is read from the file it publishes, so mirroring one blocked registry takes one block. A mirror is HTTPS, or plain HTTP when it runs on the router itself.

Daemon Control

Command	Description
request shutdown	Graceful shutdown
request peer <selector> refresh <family>	Send a route refresh request
help	List all commands
show command list	All commands with descriptions
show command help <name>	Detailed help for a command
show event list	List available event types

Signals

Command	Description
ze signal reload	Reload configuration
ze signal stop	Graceful shutdown (no GR marker)
ze signal restart	Graceful restart (with GR marker)
ze signal quit	Goroutine dump and exit
ze status	Check if daemon is running

Interactive Features

In ze cli interactive mode:

• Tab completion for commands, peer names, address families, and log levels
• Pipe operators with per-command availability. match <text> keeps rows containing the text, while a match after a line format reads rendered lines. It reads the payload numbers as written, so a 64-bit counter matches on its exact digits rather than on a rounded value. ze help command --json publishes the exact operator contract for each command. Each row also carries the command's one-line summary under short-help and its long explanation under description. Neither is derived from the other, and no row is cut at a sentence or a newline.
• History persisted across sessions
• Ctrl-C cancels current command, Ctrl-D exits

Keys that reveal help

Every command declares two help texts: a one-line summary and a long explanation. Tab and ? reach both, so an operator reads what a command does and stays at the prompt. Two message lines sit above the prompt, and the second one carries the summary.

Key	What it does
Tab, with more to complete	Completes the command. Two candidates or more open the menu
Up or Down	Moves the selection in the menu. The second message line shows the selected command's summary
Tab, with nothing left to complete	Shows the command's long explanation in a box above the prompt
Tab, on a command that declares no explanation	The second message line reads <command>: no explanation is declared
?, with a candidate highlighted	Shows that candidate's long explanation, in the box Tab uses. The menu stays open under it
?, on a config key in configuration mode	Shows that key's whole YANG description in the box. A description is often a paragraph, and the message line holds one row
?, on a candidate that declares no text	The second message line reads <command>: no explanation is declared
?, with no candidate highlighted	Completes, as Tab does
Enter, with the menu open	Puts the selected command in the input
Enter, with the explanation on the screen	Runs the command as typed
Escape, with the explanation on the screen	Removes the explanation. The typed command stays, and so does a menu under it
Escape, with the menu open	Closes the menu
Escape, with nothing revealed	Clears the typed command. An empty input asks to quit
Any text key, or Backspace	Removes the menu or the explanation. The key still reaches the input

Escape removes one thing for each press. The explanation goes first, and the typed command stays until the next press.

A menu row is the command name alone. The summary has the second message line to itself, so no width cuts it. Ze invents no explanation: a command that declares none says so.