Akamai CLI

Use the Akamai command-line interface (CLI) to configure Akamai's platform and products directly from the command line. You can install ready-to-use product packages or build your own custom solutions to manage from CLI.

Benefits

• Simple and task-oriented interface.
• Consistent user experience across all Akamai products.
• Wide range of supported packages and capabilities.
• Extend or build your own CLI packages with supported programming languages such as Go, Python, and JavaScript.

Install base Akamai CLI package

Akamai CLI doesn't have any dependencies and is quick to install. However, you may need an additional runtime for packages depending on the programming language they are based on.

If you're using a Python-based CLI package, install these additional dependencies:

• Python 3.3 or above
• Python 3 pip package installer
• Python 3 venv module
• Up-to-date common CA certificates for your operating system (PEM files)

Install from binaries

Download a release binary compatible with your operating system.

• Linux and macOS. Once you download the appropriate binary for your system, make it executable and move it to a directory you have write access to. Optionally, you can add the directory to your $PATH environment variable. Run these commands:

  $ chmod +x ~/Downloads/akamai-<VERSION>-<PLATFORM>
  $ mv ~/Downloads/akamai-<VERSION>-<PLATFORM> /usr/local/bin/akamai

• Windows. Once you download the appropriate binary for your system, you can execute the binary from the command line. For example:

  $ akamai.exe help

Install with Homebrew

You can also install Akamai CLI using the Homebrew package manager. If you haven’t used it before, check Homebrew documentation for system requirements and read the installation guide.

Once set up, run this command:

$ brew install akamai

This command compiles and globally installs the binary with all necessary dependencies.

Install with Docker

A container with Akamai CLI and pre-installed public packages is also available in Docker. All images are built using Docker files from the akamai-docker repository. You can find all Akamai builds on Docker Hub.

To start, create and run the container with Akamai Development Environment:

$ docker run -it -v $HOME/.edgerc:/root/.edgerc:ro akamai/shell

Note: This mounts your local $HOME/.edgerc into the container. To change the local path, modify the -v argument.

The akamai command and basic packages are already installed. See the akamai-docker repository for more details.

If you want to open Akamai Development Environment when calling the akamai command, add this line to your .bashrc, .bash_profile, or .zshrc file:

alias akamai='docker run -it -v $HOME/.edgerc:/root/.edgerc:ro akamai/shell'

If you want to use a local .akamai-cli directory to configure and manage your installed packages, modify the -v argument:

$ docker run -it -v $HOME/.akamai-cli:/cli/.akamai-cli akamai/shell

This command installs the CLI and persists the configuration and packages in $HOME/.akamai-docker directory.

Compile from source

To compile Akamai CLI from source, you need Go 1.25.7 or later installed.

1. Change the working directory.

   $ cd $GOPATH

2. Fetch the package.

   $ git clone github.com/akamai/cli

3. Go to the package directory.

   $ cd cli

4. Compile the binary.

   # Linux, macOS, other Unix-based systems
   go build -o akamai cli/main.go
   
   # Windows
   go build -o akamai.exe cli/main.go

5. Move the akamai or akamai.exe binary so that it's available in your $PATH.

Tip: Once you've installed the base CLI, you can expand the functionality by installing CLI packages.

Authenticate

Akamai-branded packages use a .edgerc file for standard EdgeGrid authentication. By default, CLI looks for credentials in your $HOME directory.

You can override both the file location or the credentials section by passing the --edgerc or --section flags to each command.

To set up your .edgerc file:

1. Create authentication credentials.

2. Place your credentials in an EdgeGrid resource file, .edgerc, under a heading of [default] at your local home directory.

    [default]
    client_secret = C113nt53KR3TN6N90yVuAgICxIRwsObLi0E67/N8eRN=
    host = akab-h05tnam3wl42son7nktnlnnx-kbob3i3v.luna.akamaiapis.net
    access_token = akab-acc35t0k3nodujqunph3w7hzp7-gtm6ij
    client_token = akab-c113ntt0k3n4qtari252bfxxbsl-yvsdj
   

Upgrade

Unless you installed Akamai CLI with Homebrew, you can enable automatic check for updates when you run Akamai CLI v0.3.0 or later for the first time.

When run for the first time, the CLI asks if you want to enable automatic upgrades. If you don't agree, last-upgrade-check=ignore is set in the .akamai-cli/config file (this option will still allow you to perform a manual upgrade). Otherwise, if a new version is available, the CLI prompts you to download it. Akamai CLI automatically checks the new version's SHA256 signature to verify it isn't corrupt. After the update, your original command executes using the new version.

For information on manual upgrade and the supported Homebrew command, see akamai upgrade in Built-in commands.

Use

All CLI commands start with the akamai binary, followed by a command, and optionally an action or other arguments to further define the output.

You can optionally provide the path to your .edgerc file and credentials section header. If you pass the command without the --edgerc and --section global flags, the command, by default, will point to the local home directory of your .edgerc file and the default credentials section header of that file.

If you manage multiple accounts, pass your account switch key using the --accountkey global flag.

To use an installed command from the package you installed, run:

akamai [global flags] [command] [action] [arguments...]

Example:

akamai --edgerc "~/.edgerc" --section "default" --accountkey "A-CCT1234:A-CCT5432" property-manager new-property -p example.org -g grp_12345 -c ctr_C0NT7ACT -d prd_Web_App_Accel

Global flags

Use the global flags to modify the Akamai CLI behavior or get additional information.

Flag	Description
--edgerc (string)	Alias -e. The location of your credentials file. The default is $HOME/.edgerc.
--section (string)	Alias -s. A credential set's section name. The default is default.
--accountkey (string)	Alias --account-key. An account switch key.
--help (boolean)	Outputs basic usage info and available commands.
--bash (boolean)	Outputs help on using auto-complete with bash.
--zsh (boolean)	Outputs help on using auto-complete with zsh.
--proxy (string)	Sets a proxy to use.
--version (boolean)	Outputs a version number of currently installed Akamai CLI.

Built-in commands

Use the built-in commands to manage packages and the toolkit.

Command	Description
help	akamai help outputs basic usage info and available commands. To learn more about a specific command, run akamai help [sub-command].
list	akamai list outputs a list of available commands. If a command doesn't display, ensure the binary is executable and in your $PATH.
install	This installs new packages from a git repository. akamai install {package name or repository URL} downloads and installs the command repository to the $HOME/.akamai-cli directory. For Github repositories, specify user/repo or organization/repo. For official Akamai packages, you can omit the akamai/cli- prefix. For example, to install akamai/cli-property-manager, run property-manager. These examples install Akamai CLI for Property Manager from GitHub using various aliases: akamai install property-manager akamai install akamai/cli-property-manager akamai install https://github.com/akamai/cli-property-manager.git The install command accepts more than one argument, so you can install many packages at once using any of these types of syntax.
uninstall	To remove all the package files you installed with akamai install, run akamai uninstall {command}, where {command} is any command within that package. The uninstall command accepts more than one argument, so you can uninstall many packages at once.
update	To update a package you installed with akamai install, run akamai update {command}, where {command} is any command within that package. You can specify multiple packages to update at once. If you don't specify additional arguments, akamai update updates all packages installed with akamai install.
upgrade	Manually upgrade Akamai CLI to the latest version. If you installed Akamai CLI with Homebrew, run this command instead: brew upgrade akamai.
search	Search all the packages published on Akamai GitHub for the submitter string. Searches apply to the package name, alias, and description. Search results appear in the console output.
config	View or modify the configuration settings that drive the common CLI behavior. Akamai CLI maintains a local configuration file in its root directory. The config command supports these sub-commands: get set set unset or rm

Custom commands

Akamai CLI provides a framework for writing custom CLI commands.

Before you start to build your own commands, make sure you meet these prerequisites:

1. The package is available through a Git repository that supports standard SSH public key authentication.
2. The executable is named akamai-<command> using dashed-lowercase, or akamai<Command> using camelCase.
3. Verify that akamai-command help works for you. Ideally, CLI should allow for akamai-command help <sub-command>.
4. If you're using Akamai APIs, the executable must support the .edgerc format, and must support both --edgerc and --section flags.
5. If an action fails to complete, the executable exits with a non-zero status code.

As long as the result is executable, you can use any of the supported languages to build your commands, including Python, Go, and JavaScript.

Logging

To see additional log information, prepend AKAMAI_LOG=<logging-level> to any CLI command. You can specify one of these logging levels:

• fatal
• error
• warn
• info
• debug

For example, to see extra debug information while updating the property-manager package, run:

AKAMAI_LOG=debug akamai update property-manager

Each level is a progressive superset of all previous tiers. The output for debug also includes fatal, error, warn, and info logs.

If you want to redirect logs to a file, use the AKAMAI_CLI_LOG_PATH environmental variable.

AKAMAI_LOG=debug AKAMAI_CLI_LOG_PATH=akamai.log akamai update property-manager

Dependencies

Akamai CLI supports these package managers that help you automatically install package dependencies:

• Python: pip (using requirements.txt)
• Go: go modules
• JavaScript: npm and yarn

If you want to use other languages or package managers, make sure you include all dependencies in the package repository.

Command package metadata

The package you install needs a cli.json file. This is where you specify the command language runtime version and define all commands included in package.

Format

Parameter	Description
requirements	Specifies the runtime requirements. You may specify a minimum version number or use the * wildcard for any version. Possible requirements are: go node python
commands	Lists commands included in the package. Contains: name. The command name, used as the executable name. aliases. An array of aliases that invoke the same command. version. The command version. description. A short description for the command. bin. A URL to fetch a binary package from if it can't be installed from source. It may contain these placeholders: {{.Version}}. The command version. {{.Name}}. The command name. {{.OS}}. The current operating system, either windows, mac, or linux. {{.Arch}}. The current OS architecture, either 386, amd64, or arm64. {{.BinSuffix}}. The binary suffix for the current OS: .exe for windows.

Example

{
  "requirements": {
    "go": "1.8.0"
  },
  "commands": [
    {
      "name": "purge",
      "version": "0.1.0",
      "description": "Purge content from the Edge",
      "bin": "https://github.com/akamai/cli-purge/releases/download/{{.Version}}/akamai-{{.Name}}-{{.OS}}{{.Arch}}{{.BinSuffix}}"
    }
  ]
}

Akamai CLI exit codes

When you complete an operation, Akamai CLI generates one of these exit codes.

Exit code	Description
0 (Success)	Indicates that the latest command or script executed successfully.
1 (Configuration error)	Indicates an error while loading AKAMAI_CLI_VERSION or AKAMAI_CLI.
2 (Configuration error)	Indicates an error while creating the cache directory.
3 (Configuration error)	Indicates an error while saving the cache-path.
5 (Application error)	Indicates an error with the initial setup. Occurs when you run Akamai CLI for the first time.
6 (Syntax error)	Indicates that the latest command or script can't be processed.
7 (Syntax error)	Indicates that the commands in your installed packages have conflicting names. To fix this, add a prefix to the commands that have the same name.

Reporting issues

To report an issue or make a suggestion, create a new GitHub issue.

License

Copyright 2026 Akamai Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use these files except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.