cqlsh

cqlsh is a Python-based command-line client for running CQL commands on a cassandra cluster.

Normally it's packaged as part of the full Apache Cassandra™ installation. This repo repackages it into a standalone Python package for lighter-weight installs.

Installing:

Install and update using pip:

$ pip install -U cqlsh

Running:

$ cqlsh --help

Documentation:

Documentation is available as part of the official Apache Cassandra™ documentation.

Contributing:

Because this is a repackaging of cqlsh from the official Cassandra repo, only issues / PRs related to PyPI packaging should be opened against this repo. If you would like to contribute to cqlsh itself, find out more information here.

Steps to sanity check that the packaging works as expected:

1. Install cqlsh locally (probably in a virtualenv):

$ pip install -e .  # run from within the cqlsh directory

or build and install it

$ python -m build
$ python -m pip install dist/*.whl

2. Start a local copy of Cassandra:

$ docker pull cassandra
$ docker run -it --rm -p 9042:9042 cassandra

3. Verify cqlsh successfully connects to the server:

$ cqlsh

Connected to Test Cluster at 127.0.0.1:9042
[cqlsh 6.1.0 | Cassandra 4.1.0 | CQL spec 3.4.5 | Native protocol v5]
Use HELP for help.
cqlsh>

This PyPI package is maintained by Jeff Widman and Brad Schoening. Previous maintainers: Spiro and Andrew Mussey.

Changelog:

Unfortunately the Cassandra project does not always increment the cqlsh version number, so for every release we need to document not only the cqlsh version but also the cassandra version in which it shipped.

6.2.2 (April 16, 2026)

This packages cqlsh 6.2.0 from Cassandra 5.0.5:

• Update pyproject.toml Python versions (drop 3.9; add 3.13 & 3.14).
• Add --disable-history support and a corresponding [history] disabled config option.

6.2.1 (August 6, 2025)

This packages cqlsh 6.2.0 from Cassandra 5.0.5:

• Avoid CQLSH throwing an exception loading .cqlshrc on non-supported platforms (CASSANDRA-20478)
• Fix text containing "/*" being interpreted as multiline comment in cqlsh (CASSANDRA-17667)
• Fix autocompletion for role names/user names (CASSANDRA-20175)

6.2.0 (September 16, 2024)

This packages cqlsh 6.2.0 from Cassandra 5.0.0:

• Add HISTORY command for CQLSH (CASSANDRA-15046)
• Add CQLSH command SHOW REPLICAS (CASSANDRA-17577)
• Cassandra 5.0 has refactored all cqlsh logic to be in cqlshlib, with the new cqlshmain.py replacing behavior formerly in bin/cqlsh.py
• Replace 'wcwidth.py' with pypi module (CASSANDRA-17287)

6.1.3 (Feburary 23, 2023)

This packages cqlsh 6.1.0 from Cassandra 4.1.4:

• CQLSH emits a warning when the server version doesn't match (CASSANDRA-18745)
• Fix CQLSH online help topic link (CASSANDRA-17534)

6.1.2 (March 24, 2023)

This packages cqlsh 6.1.0 from Cassandra 4.1.1:

• Now supports Python 3.11.
• Although this is pulled from a Cassandra 4.x release, it is protocol compatible with Cassandra 3.x clusters, with the exception of DESCRIBE keywords which require a 4.x cluster.

6.1.1 (skipped due to a versioning issue)

6.1.0 (Jan 4, 2023)

This packages cqlsh 6.1.0 from Cassandra 4.1:

• Requires Python 3.6+.
• Although this is pulled from a Cassandra 4.x release, it is protocol compatible with Cassandra 3.x clusters, with the exception of DESCRIBE keywords which require a 4.x cluster.

6.0.1 (Jan 18, 2022)

The actual source code is identical to the cqlsh 6.0.0 release, except it's now packaged as a module. This allows it to be used as a library, not just an executable script. It also provides better Windows support. Details in https://github.com/jeffwidman/cqlsh/pull/7 by @bschoening.

Note: This release was yanked from PyPI because it broke Python 2 compatibility.

6.0.0 (Aug 3, 2021)

This packages cqlsh 6.0.0 from Cassandra 4.0:

• Requires Python 3.6+ or 2.7 (although support for Python 2 is deprecated).
• Although this is pulled from a Cassandra 4.x release, it should generally work against Cassandra 3.x clusters without needing to set any flags.

6.0.0b4 (Mar 9, 2021)

This packages cqlsh 5.0.1 from Cassandra 4.0-beta4:

• Now supports Python 3.
• Although this is pulled from a Cassandra 4.x release, it should generally work against Cassandra 3.x clusters without needing to set any flags.

5.0.5 (Mar 9, 2021)

This packages cqlsh 5.0.1 from Cassandra 3.11.10.

5.0.4 (Mar 29, 2017)

This packages cqlsh 5.0.1 from Cassandra 3.4.0.

5.0.3 (Mar 21, 2016)

This packages cqlsh 5.0.1 from Cassandra 2.2.0.

4.1.1 (Feb 11, 2014)

This packages cqlsh 4.1.1 from Cassandra 2.0.5.

4.1.0 (Dec 2, 2013)

This packages cqlsh 4.1.0 from Cassandra 2.0.3.

4.0.1 (Oct 14, 2013)

This packages cqlsh 4.0.1 from Cassandra 2.0.1.