arcli db
Arc databases from arcli: db list, show, create and drop (confirmation prompt, --yes for scripts, the delete.enabled gate), plus measurement list for a database's measurements and file counts.
Databases in Arc are namespaces for measurements. arcli db wraps /api/v1/databases; arcli measurement list wraps a database's measurement listing.
Quick reference
arcli db list
arcli db create metrics
arcli db show metrics
arcli measurement list --database metrics
arcli db drop staging # prompts; --yes to skip in scripts$ arcli db list
┌─────────┬──────────────┬────────────┐
│ NAME │ MEASUREMENTS │ CREATED AT │
├─────────┼──────────────┼────────────┤
│ metrics │ 2 │ │
└─────────┴──────────────┴────────────┘
$ arcli db show metrics
Database: metrics
Measurements: 2
┌─────────────┬───────┐
│ MEASUREMENT │ FILES │
├─────────────┼───────┤
│ cpu │ │
│ mem │ │
└─────────────┴───────┘db list, db show
Any token. -o json prints the server document; -o csv on db show emits the measurements only. --no-header applies to table and csv.
| Flag | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
--no-header | suppress column header row (table + csv) | |
-o, --output string | output format: table|json|csv | "table" |
db create
$ arcli db create metrics
Created database "metrics" (created_at: 2026-09-08T00:32:22Z)Names start with a letter and contain letters, digits, _ or -, at most 64 characters; system, internal and _internal are reserved. An existing name is a 409 from the server, reported as an error.
db drop
Destructive, and gated twice. The server only allows it when delete.enabled = true in arc.toml (otherwise 403), and the token must be admin. arcli asks Delete database "staging" and ALL its files? [y/N] on stderr; anything but y or yes ends with Error: aborted and exit 1, and when stdin is not a terminal the prompt is refused (exit 1) unless --yes is given, so no request is sent either way. The request is sent with ?confirm=true, so the server never asks a second time.
| Flag | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
-y, --yes | skip the confirmation prompt (destructive!) |
measurement list
$ arcli measurement list --database metrics
┌─────────────┬───────┐
│ MEASUREMENT │ FILES │
├─────────────┼───────┤
│ cpu │ │
│ mem │ │
└─────────────┴───────┘Needs a database: --database, else the profile's default_database; with neither, arcli errors before making a request. Table, json or csv output.
| Flag | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
--database string | database to list measurements from (defaults to connection's default_database) | |
--no-header | suppress column header row (table + csv) | |
-o, --output string | output format: table|json|csv | "table" |
All of these take the connection flags.
arcli import
Bulk-load files into Arc with arcli import csv, lp, parquet or tle: measurement and time-column mapping, delimiter and time-format flags, the 500 MB line-protocol cap, and arcli import stats.
arcli auth
Arc API token lifecycle from arcli: auth whoami, then auth token create, list, show, update, permissions, rotate, revoke and delete, with expiry, the one-time secret, and --save for stored profiles.