Zilliz CLI (Deprecated in favor of zilliz-tui)

The official command-line tool for Zilliz Cloud cluster management and Milvus vector database operations.

Requirements

• Python 3.10+

Installation

pip install zilliz-cli

For development (from source):

git clone git@github.com:zilliztech/zilliz-cloud.git
cd zilliz-cloud/vdc/zilliz-cli
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Quick Start

# 1. Login or configure API Key
zilliz login
# or
zilliz configure
# or
export ZILLIZ_API_KEY=your-api-key

# 2. List clusters
zilliz cluster list

# 3. Set cluster context (auto-resolves endpoint)
zilliz context set --cluster-id in01-xxxx

# 4. Work with collections and vectors
zilliz collection list
zilliz vector search --collection my_col --data '[[0.1, 0.2, 0.3]]' --limit 5

Command Reference

For detailed command documentation with all options and examples, see the Command Reference.

Cloud Management

Data Operations

Requires a context to be set first (zilliz context set --cluster-id ...).

Configuration

Usage Examples

Authentication

# Browser-based login (recommended)
zilliz login

# Login with API key (for CI/CD or non-interactive environments)
zilliz login --api-key

# Check login status
zilliz auth status

# Switch organization
zilliz auth switch

Cluster Management

# List all clusters
zilliz cluster list
zilliz cluster list -o json

# Describe a cluster
zilliz cluster describe --cluster-id in01-xxxx

# Create a serverless cluster
zilliz cluster create --name my-cluster --project-id p1 --region gcp-us-west1

# Delete a cluster
zilliz cluster delete --cluster-id in01-xxxx

Context

# Set cluster context (endpoint auto-resolved)
zilliz context set --cluster-id in01-xxxx

# Set with specific database
zilliz context set --cluster-id in01-xxxx --database mydb

# Manual endpoint override
zilliz context set --cluster-id in01-xxxx --endpoint https://custom.endpoint.com

# View current context
zilliz context current
zilliz context current -o json

Collection Operations

# List collections
zilliz collection list

# Describe a collection
zilliz collection describe --name my_collection

# Quick create with defaults
zilliz collection create --name my_collection --dimension 768 --metric-type COSINE

# Create with full JSON schema (supports file://)
zilliz collection create --name my_col --body file://schema.json

# Drop a collection
zilliz collection drop --name my_collection

Vector Operations

# Search
zilliz vector search --collection my_col --data '[[0.1, 0.2, 0.3]]' --limit 10
zilliz vector search --collection my_col --data '[[0.1, 0.2, 0.3]]' --filter "age > 20" --output-fields '["name", "age"]'

# Query by filter
zilliz vector query --collection my_col --filter "id in [1, 2, 3]" --limit 10

# Insert data (inline JSON)
zilliz vector insert --collection my_col --data '[{"id": 1, "vector": [0.1, 0.2], "name": "doc1"}]'

# Insert data (from file)
zilliz vector insert --collection my_col --data file://data.json
zilliz vector insert --collection my_col --body file://insert_body.json

# Hybrid search (from file)
zilliz vector hybrid-search --collection my_col --body file://hybrid-search.json

Backup & Restore

# Create a backup
zilliz backup create --cluster-id in01-xxxx

# List backups
zilliz backup list --cluster-id in01-xxxx

# Restore to a new cluster
zilliz backup restore-cluster --backup-id backup-xxxx --project-id p1 --region aws-us-west-2

Billing

# View today's usage
zilliz billing usage

# View usage for last 7 days
zilliz billing usage --duration 7d

# List invoices
zilliz billing invoices

Global Options

Configuration

Credential Resolution

API Key is resolved in order (first found wins):

1. --api-key CLI flag
2. ZILLIZ_API_KEY environment variable
3. ~/.zilliz/credentials file

Config Files

~/.zilliz/
  credentials     # API key and login data
  config          # CLI settings + cluster context

Output Formats

# Table (default, human-friendly)
zilliz cluster list

# JSON (machine/agent-friendly)
zilliz cluster list -o json

# Plain text
zilliz cluster list -o text

# YAML
zilliz cluster list -o yaml

# CSV
zilliz cluster list -o csv

# Filter output with JMESPath
zilliz cluster list -o json --query "[].{name: clusterName, status: status}"

Testing

# Run unit tests
pytest tests/unit/

# Run all tests (E2E tests skipped without API key)
pytest

# Run E2E tests (requires real API key)
ZILLIZ_API_KEY=your-key pytest -m e2e

# Run E2E tests with data plane (requires cluster)
ZILLIZ_API_KEY=your-key ZILLIZ_CLUSTER_ID=in01-xxxx pytest -m e2e

License

Apache-2.0