Installing the cf CLI

Page last updated:

The Cloud Foundry Command Line Interface (cf CLI) is the official command line client for Cloud Foundry. Use the cf CLI to interact with Cloud Foundry applications and services.

The following procedures describe how to install the cf CLI on your operating system. You can install the cf CLI with a package manager, an installer, or a compressed binary.

For more information about how to use the cf CLI, see Getting Started with cf CLI.

To learn when cf CLI updates are released and to download a new binary or installer, see Releases in the Cloud Foundry CLI repository on GitHub.

There are currently two major versions of the cf CLI: v7 and v8. See the README to decide which version to use.

Prerequisites

If you have previously used the cf CLI Ruby gem, you must uninstall it before installing the cf CLI.

To uninstall the gem:

1. Run:

   gem uninstall cf
   

2. Verify that your Ruby environment manager uninstalled the gem by closing and reopening your terminal.

Install the cf CLI using a package manager

These sections describe how to install the cf CLI using a package manager. You can install the cf CLI using a package manager on macOS X and Linux operating systems.

Linux installation

There are two ways to install the cf CLI using a package manager, depending on your Linux distribution.

To install the cf CLI on Debian and Ubuntu-based Linux distributions:

1. Add the Cloud Foundry Foundation public key and package repository to your system by running:

   wget -q -O - https://packages.cloudfoundry.org/debian/cli.cloudfoundry.org.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/cli.cloudfoundry.org.gpg
   echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/cli.cloudfoundry.org.gpg] https://packages.cloudfoundry.org/debian stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cloudfoundry-cli.list
   

2. Update your local package index by running:

   sudo apt-get update
   

3. To install cf CLI v7, run:

   sudo apt-get install cf7-cli
   

4. To install cf CLI v8, run:

   sudo apt-get install cf8-cli
   

To install the cf CLI on Enterprise Linux and Fedora RHEL6/CentOS6 and later distributions:

1. Configure the Cloud Foundry Foundation package repository by running:

   sudo wget -O /etc/yum.repos.d/cloudfoundry-cli.repo https://packages.cloudfoundry.org/fedora/cloudfoundry-cli.repo
   

2. To install cf CLI v7, run:

   sudo yum install cf7-cli
   

3. To install cf CLI v8, run:

   sudo yum install cf8-cli
   

   This also downloads and adds the public key to your system.

macOS X installation

You can install the cf CLI on macOS X operating systems using the Homebrew package manager.

To install the cf CLI for macOS X using Homebrew:

1. Install Homebrew. For instructions, see Install Homebrew on the Homebrew website.

2. To install cf CLI v7, run:

   brew install cloudfoundry/tap/cf-cli@7
   

3. To install cf CLI v8, run:

   brew install cloudfoundry/tap/cf-cli@8
   

Install the cf CLI using a compressed binary

You can install the cf CLI using a compressed binary on Windows, macOS X, and Linux operating systems. This method can be a more secure option compared to installing from a repository, especially in environments where security is a primary concern.

As of cf CLI 8.4.0 and cf CLI 7.5.0, the Apple ARM architecture is now supported for installation of cf CLI. This is possible on newer MACs that use M1 and M2 processors. For systems running the M1 processor, cf CLI can now be installed without use of an emulator.

For more information about downloading and installing a compressed binary for cf CLI v7 or cf CLI v8, see Installers and compressed binaries.

Verify installation

To verify the installation of the cf CLI:

1. Close and reopen the command prompt, or open a new tab in the command prompt terminal.

2. Run:

   cf --help
   

If your installation was successful, the cf CLI help listing appears.

Uninstall the cf CLI

These sections describe how to uninstall the cf CLI. The method for uninstalling the cf CLI differs depending on the installation method.

Package manager

If you installed the cf CLI with a package manager, follow the instructions specific to your package manager.

Installer

If you installed the cf CLI with an installer, follow the procedure in this section that is specific to your operating system.

To uninstall the cf CLI on macOS X:

1. Delete the binary /usr/local/bin/cf.

2. Delete the directory /usr/local/share/doc/cf-cli.

To uninstall the cf CLI on Windows:

1. Go to the Control Panel and click Programs and Features.

2. Select Cloud Foundry CLI VERSION.

3. Click Uninstall.

Binary

To uninstall the cf CLI after installing it with a binary:

1. Go to the location where you copied the binary.

2. Delete the binary.