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⇑ Managing Jenkins
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Jenkins CLI

Jenkins has a built-in command line interface that allows users and administrators to access Jenkins from a script or shell environment. This can be convenient for scripting of routine tasks, bulk updates, troubleshooting, and more.

The command line interface can be accessed over SSH or with the Jenkins CLI client, a .jar file distributed with Jenkins. The SSH approach is preferred over the CLI client as it is considered more secure.

Using the CLI

By default Jenkins will boot with a randomly assigned SSH port, which administrators may choose to override in the Configure System page. In order to determine the randomly assigned SSH port, inspect the headers returned on a Jenkins URL, for example:

% curl -Lv https://JENKINS_URL/login 2>&1 | grep 'X-SSH-Endpoint'
< X-SSH-Endpoint: localhost:53801
%

With the random SSH port (53801 in this example), and Authentication configured, any modern SSH client may securely execute CLI commands.

Authentication

Whichever user used for authentication with the Jenkins master must have the Overall/Read permission in order to access the CLI. The user may require additional permissions depending on the commands executed.

Whether using the CLI via SSH, or with the CLI client, both rely primarily on SSH-based public/private key authentication. In order to add an SSH public key for the appropriate user, navigate to https://JENKINS_URL/user/USERNAME/configure and paste an SSH public key into the appropriate text area.

Adding public SSH keys for a user

Common Commands

Jenkins has a number of built-in CLI commands which can be found in every Jenkins environment, such as build or list-jobs. Plugins may also provide CLI commands; in order to determine the full list of commands available in a given Jenkins environment, execute the CLI help command:

% ssh -l kohsuke -p 53801 localhost help

The following list of commands is not comprehensive, but it is a useful starting point for Jenkins CLI usage.

build

One of the most common and useful CLI commands is build, which allows the user to trigger any job or Pipeline for which they have permission.

The most basic invocation will simply trigger the job or Pipeline and exit, but with the additional options a user may also pass parameters, poll SCM, or even follow the console output of the triggered build or Pipeline run.

% ssh -l kohsuke -p 53801 localhost help build

java -jar jenkins-cli.jar build JOB [-c] [-f] [-p] [-r N] [-s] [-v] [-w]
Starts a build, and optionally waits for a completion.  Aside from general
scripting use, this command can be used to invoke another job from within a
build of one job.  With the -s option, this command changes the exit code based
on the outcome of the build (exit code 0 indicates a success) and interrupting
the command will interrupt the job.  With the -f option, this command changes
the exit code based on the outcome of the build (exit code 0 indicates a
success) however, unlike -s, interrupting the command will not interrupt the
job (exit code 125 indicates the command was interrupted).  With the -c option,
a build will only run if there has been an SCM change.
 JOB : Name of the job to build
 -c  : Check for SCM changes before starting the build, and if there's no
       change, exit without doing a build
 -f  : Follow the build progress. Like -s only interrupts are not passed
       through to the build.
 -p  : Specify the build parameters in the key=value format.
 -s  : Wait until the completion/abortion of the command. Interrupts are passed
       through to the build.
 -v  : Prints out the console output of the build. Use with -s
 -w  : Wait until the start of the command
% ssh -l kohsuke -p 53801 localhost build build-all-software -f -v
Started build-all-software #1
Started from command line by admin
Building in workspace /tmp/jenkins/workspace/build-all-software
[build-all-software] $ /bin/sh -xe /tmp/hudson1100603797526301795.sh
+ echo hello world
hello world
Finished: SUCCESS
Completed build-all-software #1 : SUCCESS
%

console

Similarly useful is the console command, which retrieves the console output for the specified build or Pipeline run. When no build number is provided, the console command will output the last completed build’s console output.

% ssh -l kohsuke -p 53801 localhost help console

java -jar jenkins-cli.jar console JOB [BUILD] [-f] [-n N]
Produces the console output of a specific build to stdout, as if you are doing 'cat build.log'
 JOB   : Name of the job
 BUILD : Build number or permalink to point to the build. Defaults to the last
         build
 -f    : If the build is in progress, stay around and append console output as
         it comes, like 'tail -f'
 -n N  : Display the last N lines
% ssh -l kohsuke -p 53801 localhost console build-all-software
Started from command line by kohsuke
Building in workspace /tmp/jenkins/workspace/build-all-software
[build-all-software] $ /bin/sh -xe /tmp/hudson1100603797526301795.sh
+ echo hello world
yes
Finished: SUCCESS
%

who-am-i

The who-am-i command is helpful for listing the current user’s credentials and permissions available to the user. This can be useful when debugging the absence of CLI commands due to the lack of certain permissions.

% ssh -l kohsuke -p 53801 localhost help who-am-i

java -jar jenkins-cli.jar who-am-i
Reports your credential and permissions.
% ssh -l kohsuke -p 53801 localhost who-am-i
Authenticated as: kohsuke
Authorities:
  authenticated
%

Using the CLI client

While the SSH-based CLI is preferred, there may be situations where the CLI client is a better fit. For example, the default transport for the CLI client is HTTP which means no additional ports need to be opened in a firewall for its use.

Downloading the client

The CLI client can be downloaded directly from a Jenkins master at the URL /jnlpJars/jenkins-cli.jar, in effect https://JENKINS_URL/jnlpJars/jenkins-cli.jar

While a CLI .jar can be used against different versions of Jenkins, should any compatibility issues arise during use, please re-download the latest .jar file from the Jenkins master.

Using the client

The general syntax for invoking the client is as follows:

java -jar jenkins-cli.jar [-s JENKINS_URL] command [options...] [arguments...]

The JENKINS_URL can be specified via the environment variable $JENKINS_URL.

The JENKINS_URL environment variable is automatically set when Jenkins forks a process during builds or Pipelines, allowing the use of the Jenkins CLI from inside a project without explicit configuration of the Jenkins URL.

Common Problems

There are a number of common problems that may be experienced when running the CLI client.

Operation timed out

Check that the HTTP or JNLP port is opened if you are using a firewall on your server. You can configure its value in Jenkins configuration. By default it is set to use a random port.

% java -jar jenkins-cli.jar -s JENKINS_URL help
Exception in thread "main" java.net.ConnectException: Operation timed out
    at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.socketConnect(Native Method)
    at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.doConnect(PlainSocketImpl.java:351)
    at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.connectToAddress(PlainSocketImpl.java:213)
    at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.connect(PlainSocketImpl.java:200)
    at java.net.SocksSocketImpl.connect(SocksSocketImpl.java:432)
    at java.net.Socket.connect(Socket.java:529)
    at java.net.Socket.connect(Socket.java:478)
    at java.net.Socket.<init>(Socket.java:375)
    at java.net.Socket.<init>(Socket.java:189)
    at hudson.cli.CLI.<init>(CLI.java:97)
    at hudson.cli.CLI.<init>(CLI.java:82)
    at hudson.cli.CLI._main(CLI.java:250)
    at hudson.cli.CLI.main(CLI.java:199)

No X-Jenkins-CLI2-Port

Go to Manage Jenkins > Configure Global Security and choose "Fixed" or "Random" under TCP port for JNLP agents.

java.io.IOException: No X-Jenkins-CLI2-Port among [X-Jenkins, null, Server, X-Content-Type-Options, Connection, X-You-Are-In-Group, X-Hudson, X-Permission-Implied-By, Date, X-Jenkins-Session, X-You-Are-Authenticated-As, X-Required-Permission, Set-Cookie, Expires, Content-Length, Content-Type]
    at hudson.cli.CLI.getCliTcpPort(CLI.java:284)
    at hudson.cli.CLI.<init>(CLI.java:128)
    at hudson.cli.CLIConnectionFactory.connect(CLIConnectionFactory.java:72)
    at hudson.cli.CLI._main(CLI.java:473)
    at hudson.cli.CLI.main(CLI.java:384)
    Suppressed: java.io.IOException: Server returned HTTP response code: 403 for URL: http://citest.gce.px/cli
        at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.getInputStream0(HttpURLConnection.java:1840)
        at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.getInputStream(HttpURLConnection.java:1441)
        at hudson.cli.FullDuplexHttpStream.<init>(FullDuplexHttpStream.java:78)
        at hudson.cli.CLI.connectViaHttp(CLI.java:152)
        at hudson.cli.CLI.<init>(CLI.java:132)
        ... 3 more
⇑ Managing Jenkins
Index