Installing Argo CD CLI¶

Argo CD provides a CLI (command line interface) tool for interaction through its API. The CLI is currently available for the following platforms:

Linux on amd64 architecture,
Mac (darwin) on amd64 architecture,
Windows on amd64 architecture

Ports for other architectures, such as arm32 and arm64, are not yet officially available but are planned.

Installing and/or using the CLI is completely optional, but recommended. The CLI provides a convenient way to interact with Argo CD through its API.

Install on Linux¶

We are not aware of official Argo CD CLI packages for Linux distributions, so the easiest way to retrieve and install the CLI on your Linux machine is to download the appropriate binary from GitHub using the shell and curl:

Manual download and install Linux CLI¶

First, retrieve the version of the current release (or set the ARGOCD_VERSION environment variable manually):

ARGOCD_VERSION=$(curl --silent "https://api.github.com/repos/argoproj/argo-cd/releases/latest" | grep '"tag_name"' | sed -E 's/.*"([^"]+)".*/\1/')

Then, retrieve the binary from GitHub to a temporary location:

curl -sSL -o /tmp/argocd-${ARGOCD_VERSION} https://github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/releases/download/${ARGOCD_VERSION}/argocd-linux-amd64

Finally, make the binary executable and move it to a location within your $PATH, in this example /usr/local/bin:

chmod +x /tmp/argocd-${VERSION}
sudo mv /tmp/argocd-${VERSION} /usr/local/bin/argocd

Verify that your CLI is working properly:

argocd version --client

This should give an output similar to the following (details may differ across versions and platform):

argocd: v1.8.1+c2547dc
  BuildDate: 2020-12-10T02:57:57Z
  GitCommit: c2547dca95437fdbb4d1e984b0592e6b9110d37f
  GitTreeState: clean
  GoVersion: go1.14.12
  Compiler: gc
  Platform: linux/amd64

Install on MacOS (Darwin)¶

You can install the MacOS CLI either using Homebrew, or manually by downloading the CLI from GitHub.

Installing using Homebrew¶

This is as simple as running

brew install argocd

Manual download and install MacOS CLI¶

First, retrieve the version of the current release (or set the ARGOCD_VERSION environment variable manually):

ARGOCD_VERSION=$(curl --silent "https://api.github.com/repos/argoproj/argo-cd/releases/latest" | grep '"tag_name"' | sed -E 's/.*"([^"]+)".*/\1/')

Then, retrieve the binary from GitHub to a temporary location:

curl -sSL -o /tmp/argocd-${ARGOCD_VERSION} https://github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/releases/download/${ARGOCD_VERSION}/argocd-darwin-amd64

Finally, make the binary executable and move it to a location within your $PATH, in this example /usr/local/bin:

chmod +x /tmp/argocd-${VERSION}
sudo mv /tmp/argocd-${VERSION} /usr/local/bin/argocd

Verify that your CLI is working properly:

argocd version --client

This should give an output similar to the following (details may differ across versions and platform):

argocd: v1.8.1+c2547dc
  BuildDate: 2020-12-10T02:57:57Z
  GitCommit: c2547dca95437fdbb4d1e984b0592e6b9110d37f
  GitTreeState: clean
  GoVersion: go1.14.12
  Compiler: gc
  Platform: darwin/amd64

Install on Windows¶

You can also use the Argo CD CLI from a Windows machine.

Installation via WSL¶

The easiest way to use the CLI from Windows is via the Windows Subsystem for Linux.

First you need to install WSL 1 or 2 on your Windows machine. Then you can install the Argo CD CLI by following the instructions at the linux section above.

Manual installation¶

You can install the native Windows CLI to any folder of your choosing. Open a terminal by typing cmd in your start menu and enter the following:

cd c:\
md myapps
cd myapps
curl -sSL -o argocd.exe https://github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/releases/latest/download/argocd-windows-amd64.exe

Then type argocd version --client to verify your CLI. Finally add the myapps folder to your Windows PATH variable.