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TypeDB Console

TypeDB Console is a standalone TypeDB client with a command line interface (CLI). It serves as a lightweight and powerful CLI tool to manage and query TypeDB databases.

Console is the default client distributed with TypeDB, but it can also be installed separately.

For installation instructions, see Studio & Console Installation.

== Connect to TypeDB

TypeDB Console can connect to TypeDB CE, TypeDB Cloud instances, or TypeDB Enterprise deployments. Running TypeDB Console initiates a network connection to a TypeDB server.

Connect to TypeDB
typedb console --address=<server-address> --username=<username>

You will be prompted for a password.

Use --tls-disabled to connect to a server without encryption.

The default username and password are admin and password. After connecting for the first time, you will be able to change the password.

As a result, you get a welcome message from TypeDB Console followed by a command line prompt.

Welcome to TypeDB Console.

>>

== Interactive mode

TypeDB Console provides two levels of interaction via Read–eval–print loop (REPL): Server level and Transaction level.

At any level you can use common commands: help, clear, exit.

=== Server level

Server level is the first level of interaction, i.e., first-level REPL. From this level, you can use commands for managing databases and users on the server. You also can open a transaction to a database, which gets you to the second level of REPL.

=== Transaction level

Transaction level is the second level of interaction, i.e., second-level REPL. You can control a transaction and send queries in the transaction.

To send a query, while in Transaction level, type in or insert a TypeQL query and push btn:[Enter] twice.

=== Example

The following example illustrates how to create a database, define a schema, and insert some data into the database.

  1. Run Console in the interactive mode and connect it to TypeDB:

    typedb console --address=<server-address> --username=<username>

  2. Now, run the following command to create a database:

    database create sample_db

  3. To define a schema, run the transaction command to open a schema transaction to the database. This command opens a Transaction level REPL. Use it to send a define query and commit changes:

    transaction schema sample_db
define entity user;

commit

    To send a query in the Transaction level, push btn:[Enter] twice, as a single push of the btn:[Enter] is recognized as a line break in the query.

  4. Insert data with a write transaction:

    transaction write sample_db
insert $u isa user;

commit

The above example creates a database with the name sample_db, defines a simple schema with a single user type, then inserts a single instance of the type into the database.

== Non-interactive mode

You can run Console commands using the --command argument:

typedb console --command=<command1> --command=<command2>

The following example achieves the same results as the one in the interactive mode via the command line arguments. Run the following command in a terminal to start TypeDB and execute queries:

typedb console --address=<server-address> --username=<username> \
--command="database create sample_db" \
--command="database list" \
--command="transaction schema sample_db" \
--command="define entity user;" \
--command="commit" \
--command="transaction write sample_db" \
--command='insert $u isa user;' \
--command="commit"

== Scripting

You can create a script file that contains the list of commands to run. These are the very same commands that are used in the interactive mode or non-interactive mode.

To use a script file with commands, run Console with the --script argument and a path to the script file:

typedb console --script=<script-file-path>

By convention, console scripts, which can manipulate transactions and server state, use the .tqls extension. In contrast, files containing only TypeQL queries normally use the .tql extension.

Scripts use the exact same format as the interactive REPL. This means queries in the script must be terminated with an empty newline.

=== Script example

Prepare the script to run and save it to a local file. For example, let’s try the following script.tqls file:

script.tqls
database create test
transaction schema test
    define
      entity user owns name;
      attribute name value string;

    commit
transaction write test
    insert $u isa user, has name "Bob";

    commit
transaction read test
    match $u isa user, has name $n; select $n;

    close
database delete test

Execute the script with TypeDB Console non-interactively:

typedb console --username=<username> --password=<password> --script=<PATH/script.tqls>

Where <PATH/script.tqls> is the path to the file and the filename.

== Run query(ies) from a file

To run a series of TypeQL queries stored in a file from within a REPL, use the source <filename> command. Each query should be separated with an empty newline. Note that this means long queries cannot be split over multiple lines containing empty lines. Use comments instead.

This command is available from the Transaction level REPL:

transaction schema sample_db
source schema.tql
commit

The schema.tql file should be located in the working directory or be an absolute path.

== Troubleshooting

=== Non-ASCII characters

TypeDB can use type and variable labels and store string value attributes that have characters outside the ASCII range, for example, non-English letters, symbols, and emojis. To manipulate them using Console, the Console’s terminal must use a locale with a compatible code set, such as Unicode.

If it doesn’t, these characters will most likely be rendered as ? symbols in Console. If this issue occurs, you can use the following fix:

  • Linux

Use locale -a to list all installed locales, and use export to set the environment. For example, to use en_US.UTF-8 run:

export LANG=en_US.UTF-8 && export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
macOS

Use locale -a to list all installed locales, and use export to set the environment. For example, to use en_US.UTF-8 run:

export LANG=en_US.UTF-8 && export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
Windows

Use Windows Terminal or run chcp in the terminal (e.g., chcp 936 for Chinese text).

Most systems also allow us to set the system-wide locale. However, this impacts the appearance of other applications.

== References

=== Console CLI arguments

The following arguments can be used when invoking TypeDB Console:

Argument

Alias

Description

--address=<address>

Address to which Console will connect to: IP address and IP port separated by colon. Note that by default, TLS is enabled, which will require an https:// endpoint.

--help

-h

Show help message.

--username=<username>

Username.

--password=<password>

Explicitly pass in the password (not recommended). Interactive sessions should let the console safely request for the password.

--tls-disabled

Disable TLS connections. For TypeDB Cloud deployments, there is no reason to use this setting as they can only operate with network TLS encryption. Typically used for development or local work. When using this option, username/password will be sent over the network in plaintext.

--tls-root-ca=<path>

Path to the root CA certificate file for TLS connections.

--command=<command>

Execute a command and exit. Can be used multiple times.

--script=<script-file>

Execute commands from a script file and exit.

--version

-v

Show version information.