CLI Installation - InstaPods

The InstaPods CLI (instapods) is a single binary that lets you deploy and manage apps from the terminal. It’s designed for developers and AI agents.

Install

curl -fsSL https://instapods.com/install.sh | sh

This auto-detects your OS and architecture, verifies the SHA256 checksum, and installs to /usr/local/bin (or ~/.local/bin if you don’t have sudo).

Verify Installation

instapods version

Prints the CLI version, git commit, build date, and OS/architecture.

Self-Update

instapods update

Checks for the latest version, downloads the new binary, verifies its checksum, and replaces the current binary in-place. Use --force to skip the version check or update dev builds.

Auto-Update Notifications

The CLI automatically checks for new versions in the background every 24 hours. If a newer version is available, you’ll see a notice after your command output:

! A new version of instapods is available: v1.0.1 -> v1.0.2
  Run instapods update to update.

This check is non-blocking and won’t slow down your commands. The cooldown state is stored at ~/.instapods/update-check.

Configuration

The CLI stores its configuration at ~/.instapods/config.json:

{
  "token": "your-auth-token",
  "api_url": "https://app.instapods.com",
  "team_id": "your-team-id"
}

API URL Priority

The CLI resolves the API URL in this order:

--api flag (e.g., instapods --api http://localhost:7070 pods list)
INSTAPOD_API environment variable
Value from ~/.instapods/config.json
Default: https://app.instapods.com

Global Flags

These flags are available on every command:

Flag	Description
`--api`	Override the API URL
`--json`	Output in JSON format

Available Commands

The CLI organizes commands into groups:

Group	Commands
Authentication	`login`, `whoami`, `logout`
Catalog	`presets`, `plans`, `regions`
Pod Management	`pods`, `deploy`
Pod Operations	`exec`, `ssh`, `ssh-keys`, `files`, `services`, `logs`
Utilities	`version`, `update`, `completion`

Shell Completion

The CLI supports shell completion for bash, zsh, fish, and PowerShell:

# Bash
instapods completion bash > /etc/bash_completion.d/instapods

# Zsh
instapods completion zsh > "${fpath[1]}/_instapods"

# Fish
instapods completion fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/instapods.fish

Next Steps

Authentication — Log in to your account
Pod Management — Create and manage pods
Deploy — Deploy code in one command

​Install

​Verify Installation

​Self-Update

​Auto-Update Notifications

​Configuration

​API URL Priority

​Global Flags

​Available Commands

​Shell Completion

​Next Steps