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Getting Started

This guide installs the openbase CLI, signs you in, and walks through reading and deploying an app on the Openbase Cloud PaaS.

Install

pip install openbase-cli        # provides the `openbase` command
# or:
uv tool install openbase-cli

The CLI needs Python 3.11+. It talks only to the Openbase Cloud API over HTTPS — no AWS credentials, no local Docker.

Sign In

Login is shared with the Openbase Coder CLI (openbase-coder): openbase login runs openbase-coder login, which owns the browser sign-in and writes credentials to ~/.openbase/auth.json. Signing in with either tool signs you in for both.

openbase login

Install openbase-coder first if you do not have it (openbase login delegates to it). Confirm you are signed in:

openbase whoami     # prints your account email
openbase account    # balance, subscription, email-verification status

To sign out and remove the shared credentials:

openbase logout

Address an App

Most app commands take a target app. Pass it with -a/--app, or set a default with the OPENBASE_APP environment variable so you can omit the flag.

openbase apps                   # list apps you can access
openbase ps -a my-app           # status of one app
export OPENBASE_APP=my-app      # default target for -a
openbase ps                     # same as: openbase ps -a my-app

Inspect an App

openbase ps -a my-app           # current stack status (alias: status)
openbase logs -a my-app         # recent logs (last 15 min by default)
openbase logs -a my-app --tail  # stream new lines (Ctrl-C to stop)
openbase run -a my-app python manage.py migrate  # one-off command
openbase config get -a my-app KEY # one config var's value (preferred)
openbase config -a my-app       # ALL config vars (asks for confirmation)
openbase config set -a my-app K=V # set a plaintext var (redeploys)
openbase releases -a my-app     # recent deploy runs
openbase open -a my-app         # open the app's URL in your browser

Deploy an App

Openbase Cloud deploys are push-to-deploy: you connect a GitHub repository to an app in the dashboard, and pushing to the connected branch triggers a deploy run. The openbase CLI reads and verifies deploy state; it does not push infrastructure itself. See the authoritative releases command reference for monitoring behavior and options.

A typical loop after connecting a repo:

git push origin main            # triggers a deploy run on Openbase Cloud
openbase logs -a my-app --tail  # inspect application runtime logs
openbase run -a my-app python manage.py check

Set plaintext config vars from the CLI with openbase config set KEY=VALUE (and config unset KEY); they read back with openbase config. Add --secret to store values write-only — they display as a placeholder afterwards. Share pool access with openbase access add EMAIL; collaborators can deploy and manage config vars and secrets on the pool's apps.

Account-Wide Views

openbase usage        # this month's spend and limits (sandbox, deploy, LLM)
openbase projects     # your Openbase Cloud projects
openbase workspaces   # your cloud dev workspaces (devspaces) and status

Devspaces are documented in depth in the Openbase Coder docs; openbase workspaces is a quick terminal readout of their status and spend.

Scripting

Add --json to most commands for machine-readable output:

openbase apps --json
openbase ps -a my-app --json
openbase usage --json

See Configuration for all environment variables and the --json flag.

Next Steps