Doctl
The official command-line interface for managing DigitalOcean cloud infrastructure and services via the API.
What is Doctl?
doctl is the official command-line interface for the DigitalOcean API, enabling developers and system administrators to manage their cloud resources directly from the terminal. It provides a comprehensive set of commands for interacting with Droplets, Kubernetes clusters, databases, and other DigitalOcean services, streamlining infrastructure management and automation workflows.
System administrators, DevOps engineers, and developers who manage DigitalOcean cloud infrastructure and prefer command-line tools for automation and scripting.
Developers choose doctl for its full coverage of the DigitalOcean API, multi-account support with contexts, and seamless integration with shell auto-completion and infrastructure-as-code workflows, offering a robust and user-friendly alternative to manual API calls or web console management.
Overview
The official command line interface for the DigitalOcean API.
Use Cases
Best For
- Managing and automating DigitalOcean Droplets, Kubernetes clusters, and databases from the command line.
- Scripting infrastructure provisioning and management as part of CI/CD pipelines.
- Switching between multiple DigitalOcean accounts using authentication contexts.
- Securely SSHing into Droplets by name without manually managing SSH keys.
- Retrieving and manipulating cloud resource data in machine-parsable JSON format for integration with other tools.
- Performing account management tasks like checking balances, invoices, and billing history via CLI.
Not Ideal For
- Projects requiring management of cloud resources across multiple providers (e.g., AWS, Google Cloud, Azure) in a unified CLI.
- Teams that rely heavily on graphical user interfaces for daily infrastructure operations and prefer web consoles over command-line.
- Environments where advanced Infrastructure as Code features like state management, plan/apply cycles, and modular configurations are critical, as offered by tools like Terraform.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Provides commands for all DigitalOcean services, including compute, databases, Kubernetes, and networking, as listed in the available commands section, ensuring full control from the terminal.
Allows authentication and seamless switching between multiple DigitalOcean accounts using contexts, detailed in the 'Logging into multiple DigitalOcean accounts' section, ideal for agencies or teams managing separate projects.
Supports TAB completion for Bash, Zsh, and Fish shells, with setup instructions provided, enhancing productivity and reducing command-line errors for frequent users.
Offers JSON output format via the '-o' flag, enabling easy scripting and integration with other tools, as highlighted in the usage examples for automation workflows.
Cons
Exclusively tied to DigitalOcean, so it cannot manage resources from other cloud providers, making it unsuitable for multi-cloud or hybrid environments without additional tooling.
Enabling auto-completion requires extra steps, such as installing bash-completion on MacOS and modifying shell profiles, which can be cumbersome and error-prone for beginners.
Some commands, like monitoring, are marked as beta in the available commands list, indicating potential instability or missing functionality that may not be production-ready.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Projects
NetboxThe premier source of truth powering network automation. Open source under Apache 2. Try NetBox Cloud free: https://netboxlabs.com/products/free-netbox-cloud/
TugboatA command line tool for interacting with your DigitalOcean droplets.
go-libvirtPackage libvirt provides a pure Go interface for interacting with Libvirt. Apache 2.0 Licensed.
go-qemuGo packages to interact with QEMU using the QEMU Machine Protocol (QMP). Apache 2.0 Licensed.
Found a gem we're missing?
Open-Awesome is built by the community, for the community. Submit a project, suggest an awesome list, or help improve the catalog on GitHub.