Commands Reference

This page provides a comprehensive reference for all Frontier CLI commands, their flags, and usage examples.

Global Usage

frontier <command> <subcommand> [flags]

Server Commands

Manage Frontier server lifecycle, configuration, and database migrations.

server init

Initialize a new Frontier server configuration file.

frontier server init [flags]

--output

string

default:"./config.yaml"

Output path for the configuration file

Example:

frontier server init -o /etc/frontier/config.yaml

server start

Start the Frontier server.

frontier server start [flags]

--config

string

required

Path to the server configuration file

Examples:

frontier server start -c config.yaml

The server starts on port 8080 by default. Configure the port in your config file under app.port.

server migrate

Run database schema migrations.

frontier server migrate [flags]

--config

string

required

Path to the server configuration file containing database connection details

Example:

frontier server migrate -c config.yaml

This command:

Runs all pending database migrations
Populates default metadata schemas
Updates the schema version

server migrate-rollback

Rollback the last database migration.

frontier server migrate-rollback [flags]

--config

string

required

Path to the server configuration file

Example:

frontier server migrate-rollback -c config.yaml

This command rolls back only the most recent migration. Run multiple times to rollback further.

server keygen

Generate RSA keys in JWKS format for JWT token generation.

frontier server keygen [flags]

--keys

integer

default:"2"

Number of RSA key pairs to generate

Examples:

frontier server keygen

User Commands

Manage user accounts in Frontier.

user create

Create a new user.

frontier user create [flags]

--file

string

required

Path to JSON file containing user data

--header

string

required

Authentication header in format key:value

Request Body Format:

user.json

{
  "email": "[email protected]",
  "name": "john_doe",
  "title": "John Doe",
  "metadata": {
    "department": "engineering"
  }
}

Example:

frontier user create \
  --file user.json \
  --header X-Frontier-Email:[email protected]

user edit

Update an existing user.

frontier user edit <user-id> [flags]

user-id

string

required

User ID or slug to update

--file

string

required

Path to JSON file containing updated user data

Examples:

frontier user edit 9f256f86-31a3-11ec-8d3d-0242ac130003 -f user.json

user view

View details of a specific user.

frontier user view <user-id> [flags]

user-id

string

required

User ID or slug to view

--metadata

boolean

default:"false"

Include metadata in the output

Examples:

frontier user view 9f256f86-31a3-11ec-8d3d-0242ac130003

user list

List all users.

frontier user list

Example:

frontier user list

Organization Commands

Manage organizations.

organization create

Create a new organization.

frontier organization create [flags]

--file

string

required

Path to JSON file containing organization data

--header

string

required

Authentication header in format key:value

Request Body Format:

organization.json

{
  "name": "acme-corp",
  "title": "Acme Corporation",
  "metadata": {
    "industry": "technology",
    "size": "enterprise"
  }
}

Example:

frontier organization create \
  --file organization.json \
  --header X-Frontier-Email:[email protected]

organization edit

Update an existing organization.

frontier organization edit <organization-id> [flags]

organization-id

string

required

Organization ID to update

--file

string

required

Path to JSON file containing updated organization data

Example:

frontier organization edit org-123 -f organization.json

organization view

View details of a specific organization.

frontier organization view <organization-id> [flags]

organization-id

string

required

Organization ID to view

--metadata

boolean

default:"false"

Include metadata in the output

Examples:

frontier organization view org-123

organization list

List all organizations.

frontier organization list

Example:

frontier organization list

organization admlist

List administrators of an organization.

frontier organization admlist <organization-id>

organization-id

string

required

Organization ID to query

Example:

frontier organization admlist org-123

Project Commands

Manage projects within organizations.

project create

Create a new project.

frontier project create [flags]

--file

string

required

Path to JSON file containing project data

--header

string

required

Authentication header in format key:value

Request Body Format:

project.json

{
  "name": "backend-api",
  "title": "Backend API Project",
  "org_id": "org-123",
  "metadata": {
    "environment": "production"
  }
}

Example:

frontier project create \
  --file project.json \
  --header X-Frontier-Email:[email protected]

project edit

Update an existing project.

frontier project edit <project-id> [flags]

project-id

string

required

Project ID to update

--file

string

required

Path to JSON file containing updated project data

Example:

frontier project edit proj-456 -f project.json

project view

View details of a specific project.

frontier project view <project-id> [flags]

project-id

string

required

Project ID to view

--metadata

boolean

default:"false"

Include metadata in the output

Example:

frontier project view proj-456 --metadata

project list

List all projects in an organization.

frontier project list <org-id>

org-id

string

required

Organization ID to list projects from

Example:

frontier project list org-123

Group Commands

Manage user groups within organizations.

group create

Create a new group.

frontier group create [flags]

--file

string

required

Path to JSON file containing group data

--header

string

required

Authentication header in format key:value

Request Body Format:

group.json

{
  "name": "developers",
  "title": "Development Team",
  "org_id": "org-123",
  "metadata": {
    "team": "engineering"
  }
}

Example:

frontier group create \
  --file group.json \
  --header X-Frontier-Email:[email protected]

group edit

Update an existing group.

frontier group edit <group-id> [flags]

group-id

string

required

Group ID to update

--file

string

required

Path to JSON file containing updated group data

Example:

frontier group edit grp-789 -f group.json

group view

View details of a specific group.

frontier group view <org-id> <group-id> [flags]

org-id

string

required

Organization ID

group-id

string

required

Group ID to view

--metadata

boolean

default:"false"

Include metadata in the output

Example:

frontier group view org-123 grp-789 --metadata

group list

List all groups in an organization.

frontier group list <org-id>

org-id

string

required

Organization ID to list groups from

Example:

frontier group list org-123

Role Commands

Manage roles and their permissions.

role create

Create a new role.

frontier role create [flags]

--file

string

required

Path to JSON file containing role data

--header

string

required

Authentication header in format key:value

Request Body Format:

role.json

{
  "name": "developer",
  "title": "Developer Role",
  "permissions": [
    "app_project.read",
    "app_project.write"
  ],
  "org_id": "org-123",
  "metadata": {
    "level": "team"
  }
}

Example:

frontier role create \
  --file role.json \
  --header X-Frontier-Email:[email protected]

role edit

Update an existing role.

frontier role edit <role-id> [flags]

role-id

string

required

Role ID to update

--file

string

required

Path to JSON file containing updated role data

Example:

frontier role edit role-123 -f role.json

role view

View details of a specific role.

frontier role view <role-id> [flags]

role-id

string

required

Role ID to view

--metadata

boolean

default:"false"

Include metadata in the output

Example:

frontier role view role-123 --metadata

role list

List all roles.

frontier role list

Example:

frontier role list

Permission Commands

Manage permissions (also called actions).

permission create

Create new permissions.

frontier permission create [flags]

--file

string

required

Path to JSON file containing permission data

--header

string

required

Authentication header in format key:value

Request Body Format:

permission.json

{
  "name": "read",
  "namespace": "app_project",
  "metadata": {
    "description": "Read project data"
  }
}

Example:

frontier permission create \
  --file permission.json \
  --header X-Frontier-Email:[email protected]

permission edit

Update an existing permission.

frontier permission edit <permission-id> [flags]

permission-id

string

required

Permission ID to update

--file

string

required

Path to JSON file containing updated permission data

Example:

frontier permission edit perm-123 -f permission.json

permission view

View details of a specific permission.

frontier permission view <permission-id>

permission-id

string

required

Permission ID to view

Example:

frontier permission view perm-123

permission list

List all permissions.

frontier permission list

Example:

frontier permission list

Policy Commands

Manage authorization policies.

policy create

Create a new policy to grant a role to a principal on a resource.

frontier policy create [flags]

--file

string

required

Path to JSON file containing policy data

--header

string

required

Authentication header in format key:value

Request Body Format:

policy.json

{
  "role_id": "role-123",
  "resource": "app_project:proj-456",
  "principal": "app/user:user-789",
  "title": "Developer Access to Backend API"
}

Example:

frontier policy create \
  --file policy.json \
  --header X-Frontier-Email:[email protected]

Principal Format: Principals follow the format namespace:id, for example:

User: app/user:<user-id>
Group: app/group:<group-id>
Service User: app/serviceuser:<serviceuser-id>

policy edit

Update an existing policy.

frontier policy edit <policy-id> [flags]

policy-id

string

required

Policy ID to update

--file

string

required

Path to JSON file containing updated policy data

Example:

frontier policy edit pol-123 -f policy.json

policy view

View details of a specific policy.

frontier policy view <policy-id>

policy-id

string

required

Policy ID to view

Example:

frontier policy view pol-123

Namespace Commands

Manage permission namespaces.

namespace list

List all namespaces.

frontier namespace list

Example:

frontier namespace list

namespace view

View details of a specific namespace.

frontier namespace view <namespace-id>

namespace-id

string

required

Namespace ID to view

Example:

frontier namespace view app_project

Seed Command

Bootstrap Frontier with sample data.

seed

Populate the database with sample data including users, organizations, projects, groups, and resources.

frontier seed [flags]

--header

string

Authentication header key (value will be set to [email protected])

--config

string

Path to server configuration file (to read identity proxy header if —header not provided)

Examples:

frontier seed --header X-Frontier-Email

This command creates:

Custom permissions and roles
Sample users
Sample organizations with admins
Sample service users and credentials
Sample projects within organizations
Sample resources within projects
Sample policies granting access

The seed command uses [email protected] as the admin email. All created resources will be associated with this identity.

Preferences Commands

Manage platform and resource preferences.

preferences list

List all configured preferences.

frontier preferences list [flags]

--header

string

required

Authentication header in format key:value

Example:

frontier preferences list --header X-Frontier-Email:[email protected]

preferences set

Set a preference value.

frontier preferences set [flags]

--name

string

required

Name of the preference trait

--value

string

required

Value to set for the preference

--header

string

required

Authentication header in format key:value

Examples:

frontier preferences set \
  --name mail_link_subject \
  --value "Your Frontier login link" \
  --header X-Frontier-Email:[email protected]

preferences get

Get the list of available preference traits and their definitions.

frontier preferences get [flags]

--header

string

required

Authentication header in format key:value

Example:

frontier preferences get --header X-Frontier-Email:[email protected]

Config Commands

Manage CLI client configuration.

config init

Initialize a new client configuration file.

frontier config init

Example:

frontier config init

This creates a configuration file at the default location with the following structure:

host: http://localhost:8080

config list

Display the current client configuration.

frontier config list

Example:

frontier config list

Version Command

Display version information and check for updates.

version

Show the Frontier CLI version, build date, and commit.

frontier version

Example:

frontier version

Output:

Frontier: A secure and easy-to-use Authentication & Authorization Server
Version: v0.4.0
Build date: 2024-03-01
Commit: abc123def

The version command automatically checks for newer releases and notifies you if an update is available.

Global Flags

These flags are available across multiple commands:

Common Client Flags

--host

string

Frontier server host URL (can also be set in client config)Example: --host http://localhost:8080

--header

string

Authentication header in key:value formatExample: --header X-Frontier-Email:[email protected]

--file

string

Path to JSON file containing request bodyExample: --file user.json

--metadata

boolean

Include metadata in output (for view commands)Example: --metadata

Server Command Flags

--config

string

Path to server configuration fileExample: --config /etc/frontier/config.yaml

Help Topics

Frontier provides additional help documentation for specific topics.

Help Environment

View information about supported environment variables:

frontier help environment

Help Auth

View information about authentication configuration:

frontier help auth

Examples

Complete Workflow Example

Here’s a complete workflow for setting up a new organization with users and projects:

# Create organization
cat > org.json <<EOF
{
  "name": "acme-corp",
  "title": "Acme Corporation"
}
EOF

frontier organization create \
  -f org.json \
  -H X-Frontier-Email:[email protected]

Batch Operations Example

# List all users
frontier user list

# List all organizations
frontier organization list

# List projects in organization
frontier project list org-123

# List groups in organization
frontier group list org-123

# List all roles
frontier role list

# List all permissions
frontier permission list

Next Steps

CLI Overview

Learn about CLI capabilities and features

Installation

Install and configure the CLI

Shell Autocomplete

Enable command autocompletion

CLI Reference

​Global Usage

​Server Commands

​server init

​server start

​server migrate

​server migrate-rollback

​server keygen

​User Commands

​user create

​user edit

​user view

​user list

​Organization Commands

​organization create

​organization edit

​organization view

​organization list

​organization admlist

​Project Commands

​project create

​project edit

​project view

​project list

​Group Commands

​group create

​group edit

​group view

​group list

​Role Commands

​role create

​role edit

​role view

​role list

​Permission Commands

​permission create

​permission edit

​permission view

​permission list

​Policy Commands

​policy create

​policy edit

​policy view

​Namespace Commands

​namespace list

​namespace view

​Seed Command

​seed

​Preferences Commands

​preferences list

​preferences set

​preferences get

​Config Commands

​config init

​config list

​Version Command

​version

​Global Flags

​Common Client Flags

​Server Command Flags

​Help Topics

​Help Environment

​Help Auth

​Examples

​Complete Workflow Example

​Batch Operations Example

​Next Steps

CLI Overview

Installation

Shell Autocomplete

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Global Usage

Server Commands

server init

server start

server migrate

server migrate-rollback

server keygen

User Commands

user create

user edit

user view

user list

Organization Commands

organization create

organization edit

organization view

organization list

organization admlist

Project Commands

project create

project edit

project view

project list

Group Commands

group create

group edit

group view

group list

Role Commands

role create

role edit

role view

role list

Permission Commands

permission create

permission edit

permission view

permission list

Policy Commands

policy create

policy edit

policy view

Namespace Commands

namespace list

namespace view

Seed Command

seed

Preferences Commands

preferences list

preferences set

preferences get

Config Commands

config init

config list

Version Command

version

Global Flags

Common Client Flags

Server Command Flags

Help Topics

Help Environment

Help Auth

Examples

Complete Workflow Example

Batch Operations Example

Next Steps