Command reference

Quick reference

Command	Description
kobe status	Show endpoint status, auth methods, and pool summary
kobe version	Show CLI and endpoint versions
kobe login	Authenticate with the kobe service
kobe logout	Remove stored credentials
kobe lease <pool>	Lease a cluster from a pool
kobe release <lease-id>	Release a leased cluster
kobe config view	Print current configuration
kobe config edit	Open the configuration TUI
kobe config list	List named targets
kobe config current	Show the current target
kobe config use <name>	Switch the current target
kobe config set <name> --endpoint ...	Create or replace a named target

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kobe status

kobe status

Queries GET /v1/status on the configured endpoint. Shows the operator version, available auth methods, active sessions, and pool summary. Does not require authentication.

Useful for verifying connectivity and checking which auth methods the endpoint accepts before logging in.

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kobe version

kobe version

Prints the local CLI version and, when reachable, the endpoint version reported by GET /v1/status.

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kobe login

kobe login

Authenticates with the configured kobe endpoint. The flow depends on the configured auth mode:

• ssh — challenges your SSH agent to sign with your Ed25519 key
• token — validates the token set in config or KOBE_TOKEN
• oidc — opens a browser for OIDC authentication

On successful login, kobe stores a session token locally. Subsequent commands use the stored token without re-prompting.

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kobe logout

kobe logout

Removes the stored session token and credentials from the local config. The next command that requires auth will prompt you to log in again.

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kobe lease

kobe lease <pool> [--ttl <duration>] [--kubeconfig <path>] [--no-wait]

Creates a lease from the specified pool. By default the CLI waits until the lease is Bound and writes the kubeconfig to disk.

kobe lease ci-small
kobe lease ci-small --ttl 30m
kobe lease ci-small --kubeconfig /tmp/kube.yaml
kobe lease ci-small --no-wait

Prints the lease ID and expiry on success. The cluster is ready to use as soon as the command returns.

Flags

Flag	Default	Description
--ttl	pool default	Requested lease TTL. Capped by AccessPolicy maxTtl.
--kubeconfig	~/.kube/kobe-<id>	Path to write the kubeconfig.
--no-wait	disabled	Return after creating the lease instead of waiting for kubeconfig.
--wait-timeout	unset	Maximum time to wait for the lease to become usable.

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Lease visibility

kobe status

The current CLI does not expose a standalone kobe leases command anymore. Use kobe status for an endpoint summary plus your active leases, or query GET /v1/leases directly.

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kobe release

kobe release <lease-id>

Releases a lease immediately. The cluster is destroyed and a replacement is queued in the pool. Use this when your CI job finishes before the TTL expires — it helps the pool refill faster for subsequent jobs.

kobe release lease-a1b2c3d4e5f6

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kobe config

kobe config view
kobe config edit
kobe config list
kobe config current
kobe config use work
kobe config set work --endpoint https://kobe.example.com --auth ssh

The CLI stores named targets in ~/.config/kobe/config.json. Most users set up one or more targets and switch between them with kobe config use.

Common subcommands

Command	Description
kobe config view	Show the full config, including named targets
kobe config edit	Open the TUI editor
kobe config list	List named targets
kobe config current	Show the current target
kobe config use <name>	Switch the active target
kobe config set <name> ...	Create or replace a named target

kobe config set work --endpoint https://kobe.example.com --auth ssh
kobe config use work