--- title: Get started with Tiger CLI | Tiger Data Docs description: Install Tiger CLI and manage the resources in your Tiger Cloud project from the command line --- Tiger CLI is a command-line interface for managing Tiger Cloud programmatically. It lets you, your scripts, and AI agents provision, configure, and manage Tiger Cloud services. Tiger CLI calls Tiger REST API under the hood and bundles Tiger MCP for AI agents. For how these compare and where each fits, see [Tiger CLI and Tiger MCP](/learn/tiger-cli-mcp/index.md). Tiger CLI is a command-line interface that you use to manage Tiger Cloud resources including VPCs, services, read replicas, and related infrastructure. Tiger CLI calls Tiger REST API to communicate with Tiger Cloud. This page shows you how to install and set up secure authentication for Tiger CLI, then create your first service. ## Prerequisites for this tutorial To follow these steps, you'll need: - A [Tiger Cloud account](/get-started/quickstart/create-service/index.md). ## Install and configure Tiger CLI 1. **Install Tiger CLI** Use the terminal to install the CLI: - [macOS](#tab-panel-577) - [Debian](#tab-panel-578) - [Ubuntu](#tab-panel-579) - [Red Hat](#tab-panel-580) - [Fedora](#tab-panel-581) - [Windows PowerShell](#tab-panel-582) - [x-platform](#tab-panel-583) Terminal window ``` brew install --cask timescale/tap/tiger-cli ``` Terminal window ``` curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/timescale/tiger-cli/script.deb.sh | sudo os=any dist=any bash sudo apt-get install tiger-cli ``` Terminal window ``` curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/timescale/tiger-cli/script.deb.sh | sudo os=any dist=any bash sudo apt-get install tiger-cli ``` Terminal window ``` curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/timescale/tiger-cli/script.rpm.sh | sudo os=rpm_any dist=rpm_any bash sudo yum install tiger-cli ``` Terminal window ``` curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/timescale/tiger-cli/script.rpm.sh | sudo os=rpm_any dist=rpm_any bash sudo yum install tiger-cli ``` Terminal window ``` irm https://cli.tigerdata.com/install.ps1 | iex ``` Terminal window ``` curl -fsSL https://cli.tigerdata.com | sh ``` 2. **Set up API credentials** 1. Log Tiger CLI into your Tiger Cloud account: Terminal window ``` tiger auth login ``` Tiger CLI opens Console in your browser. Log in, then click `Authorize`. You can have a maximum of 10 active client credentials. If you get an error, open [credentials](https://console.cloud.tigerdata.com/dashboard/settings) and delete an unused credential. 2. Select a Tiger Cloud project: ``` Auth URL is: https://console.cloud.tigerdata.com/oauth/authorize?client_id=lotsOfURLstuff Opening browser for authentication... Select a project: > 1. Tiger Project (tgrproject) 2. YourCompany (Company wide project) (cpnproject) 3. YourCompany Department (dptproject) Use ↑/↓ arrows or number keys to navigate, enter to select, q to quit ``` If only one project is associated with your account, this step is not shown. Where possible, Tiger CLI stores your authentication information in the system keychain/credential manager. If that fails, the credentials are stored in `~/.config/tiger/credentials` with restricted file permissions (600). By default, Tiger CLI stores your configuration in `~/.config/tiger/config.yaml`. 3. **Test your authenticated connection to Tiger Cloud by listing services** Terminal window ``` tiger service list ``` This call returns something like: - No services: ``` 🏜️ No services found! Your project is looking a bit empty. 🚀 Ready to get started? Create your first service with: tiger service create ``` - One or more services: ``` ┌────────────┬─────────────────────┬────────┬─────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────────┐ │ SERVICE ID │ NAME │ STATUS │ TYPE │ REGION │ CREATED │ ├────────────┼─────────────────────┼────────┼─────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────────┤ │ tgrservice │ tiger-agent-service │ READY │ TIMESCALEDB │ eu-central-1 │ 2025-09-25 16:09 │ └────────────┴─────────────────────┴────────┴─────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────────┘ ``` ## Create your first Tiger Cloud service Create a new Tiger Cloud service using Tiger CLI: 1. **Submit a service creation request** By default, Tiger CLI creates a service with 0.5 CPU and 2 GB memory with the `time-series` capability Terminal window ``` tiger service create ``` To control the service configuration, use the [`service create` flags](/reference/tiger-cloud/tiger-cli/index.md). For example, to create a free service, call `tiger service create --memory shared --cpu shared`. Note Free services are currently in beta. Free services with shared CPU/memory are only available in the `us-east-1` region. Standard services can be created in any available AWS or Azure region using the `--region` flag. Tiger Cloud creates a Development environment for you. That is, no delete protection, high-availability, spooling or read replication. You see something like: ``` 🚀 Creating service 'db-11111' (auto-generated name)... ✅ Service creation request accepted! 📋 Service ID: tgrservice 🔐 Password saved to system keyring for automatic authentication 🎯 Set service 'tgrservice' as default service. ⏳ Waiting for service to be ready (wait timeout: 30m0s)... 🎉 Service is ready and running! 🔌 Run 'tiger db connect' to connect to your new service ┌───────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ PROPERTY │ VALUE │ ├───────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ Service ID │ tgrservice │ │ Name │ db-11111 │ │ Status │ READY │ │ Type │ TIMESCALEDB │ │ Region │ us-east-1 │ │ CPU │ 0.5 cores (500m) │ │ Memory │ 2 GB │ │ Direct Endpoint │ tgrservice.tgrproject.tsdb.cloud.timescale.com:39004 │ │ Created │ 2025-10-20 20:33:46 UTC │ │ Connection String │ postgresql://tsdbadmin@tgrservice.tgrproject.tsdb.cloud.timescale.com:0007/tsdb?sslmode=require │ │ Console URL │ https://console.cloud.tigerdata.com/dashboard/services/tgrservice │ └───────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ``` This service is set as default by the CLI. 2. **Check the CLI configuration** Terminal window ``` tiger config show ``` You see something like: ``` api_url: https://console.cloud.tigerdata.com/public/api/v1 console_url: https://console.cloud.tigerdata.com gateway_url: https://console.cloud.tigerdata.com/api docs_mcp: true docs_mcp_url: https://mcp.tigerdata.com/docs project_id: tgrproject service_id: tgrservice output: table analytics: true password_storage: keyring debug: false config_dir: /Users//.config/tiger ``` And that is it, you are ready to use Tiger CLI to manage your services in Tiger Cloud. For the full list of commands, configuration parameters, and global flags, see the [Tiger CLI reference](/reference/tiger-cloud/tiger-cli/index.md). ## Next steps - [Integrate Tiger Cloud with your AI agent](/get-started/quickstart/mcp-cli/index.md): Set up Tiger MCP so your AI agent can manage services and run queries. - [Common tasks with Tiger CLI and Tiger MCP](/build/tiger-cli-mcp/common-tasks/index.md): Manage services and work with your data from the terminal or your agent. - [Get started with the REST API](/get-started/quickstart/rest-api/index.md): Manage the same resources over raw HTTP for custom integrations. - [Tiger CLI reference](/reference/tiger-cloud/tiger-cli/index.md): Every command, flag, and configuration parameter. - [File an issue in the Tiger CLI repo](https://github.com/timescale/tiger-cli): Report bugs or request features to help shape the open-source Tiger CLI and Tiger MCP.