---
title: "DuckDB CLI"
description: "The DuckDB Command Line Interface (CLI) is an interactive terminal program that lets you directly interact with DuckDB databases using SQL commands."
canonical: "https://motherduck.com/glossary/duckdb-cli/"
related:
  - title: "Command reference | MotherDuck Docs"
    url: "https://motherduck.com/docs/sql-reference/motherduck-cli/"
  - title: "Why Use DuckDB for Analytics?"
    url: "https://motherduck.com/blog/six-reasons-duckdb-slaps/"
  - title: "Install and connect with the DuckDB CLI | MotherDuck Docs"
    url: "https://motherduck.com/docs/getting-started/interfaces/connect-query-from-duckdb-cli/"
gated_asset:
  title: "DuckLake on MotherDuck"
  url: "https://motherduck.com/product/ducklake/"
---

# DuckDB CLI

> The DuckDB Command Line Interface (CLI) is an interactive terminal program that lets you directly interact with DuckDB databases using SQL commands.

## Overview
The DuckDB Command Line Interface (CLI) is an interactive terminal program that lets you directly interact with DuckDB databases using SQL commands. It's similar to tools like the MySQL client or psql for PostgreSQL, but optimized for DuckDB's analytical workloads. The CLI comes bundled as a single executable file that requires no installation process - you simply download and run it.

<glossary-callout guide="duckdb-book-brief" />

## Key Features
The CLI provides immediate feedback as you type SQL queries, displaying results in a formatted table view. It includes special "dot commands" that start with a period (like `.tables` to list all tables or `.mode` to change output formatting) which provide database administration and utility functions beyond regular SQL. The CLI can read from and write to files, making it useful for data import/export operations and running SQL scripts.

## Usage Examples
To start an in-memory database session:
```sql
./duckdb
```

To open or create a specific database file:
```sql
./duckdb mydata.db
```

To execute a single SQL command and exit:
```sql
./duckdb -c "SELECT * FROM mytable"
```

## Output Modes
The CLI supports multiple output formats through the `.mode` command:
- `duckbox` (default): A clean tabular format optimized for readability
- `csv`: Comma-separated values for data export
- `line`: Each column on a separate line, useful for wide tables
- `json`: Structured JSON output
- `markdown`: Tables formatted for markdown documents

## Other Dot Commands
In addition to the output modes discussed above, DuckDB supports [a variety of Dot Commands](/glossary/dot-commands-duckdb) that change the behavior of the CLI. 

## Integration
The CLI is particularly useful for data pipeline automation since it can [read SQL from files or standard input](https://duckdbsnippets.com/snippets/198/run-sql-file-in-duckdb-cli), making it easy to integrate with shell scripts and other command-line tools. You can pipe data between the CLI and other programs, enabling powerful data processing workflows without leaving the terminal.