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CLI Command Reference
helix shell
Run line-oriented Helix v3 JSON requests
Reference
Open an interactive prompt that sends one v3 JSON query request per line to a local instance or a
Helix Cloud database. Local and Cloud.
Usage
helix shell [INSTANCE]
Arguments
| Argument | Description |
|---|---|
INSTANCE | Instance name from helix.toml, or an explicit tenant:<id> / cluster:<id> reference. Defaults like helix query: dev, then the only instance, then a picker in a terminal. |
Options
| Flag | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
--json | Print each response as compact single-line JSON, with no footer. | Off (highlighted, pretty-printed) |
Behavior
- Enter one complete v3 query request per line at the
helix>prompt. The request’srequest_typeselects read or write execution. - Use
:quitor:exit(orquit,exit, or end of input) to stop. - Blank lines are ignored. Invalid JSON and query errors are printed, and the shell keeps running.
- Responses go to stdout exactly as with
helix query; the prompt, status footer, and errors go to stderr. - A typed
tenant:<id>/cluster:<id>target works without ahelix.toml. - Local instances use the existing auth-disabled local endpoint.
- Cloud requests use the backend query broker (the Helix Cloud service that forwards CLI queries) and the current WorkOS session; the CLI never contacts the Cloud gateway (the database endpoint that applications use) directly.
Examples
# Open a shell against the local 'dev' instance
helix shell dev
# Run newline-delimited requests from a file, one JSON response per line
helix shell dev --json < requests.jsonl
Related
helix query— send one request, including TypeScript DSL input.- Local workflow — iterate on queries locally.
- Helix Cloud workflow — query a Cloud database.
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