# Command Line Interface (CLI)

The command-line command to interact with BigchainDB Server is `bigchaindb`.


## bigchaindb \-\-help

Show help for the `bigchaindb` command. `bigchaindb -h` does the same thing.


## bigchaindb \-\-version

Show the version number. `bigchaindb -v` does the same thing.


## bigchaindb configure

Generate a local configuration file (which can be used to set some or all [BigchainDB node configuration settings](configuration.html)). It will ask you for the values of other configuration settings.
If you press Enter for a value, it will use the default value.

At this point only one database backend is supported: `localmongodb`.

If you use the `-c` command-line option, it will generate the file at the specified path:
```text
bigchaindb -c path/to/new_config.json configure localmongodb
```

If you don't use the `-c` command-line option, the file will be written to `$HOME/.bigchaindb` (the default location where BigchainDB looks for a config file, if one isn't specified).

If you use the `-y` command-line option, then there won't be any interactive prompts: it will use the default values for all the other configuration settings.
```text
bigchaindb -y configure localmongodb
```


## bigchaindb show-config

Show the values of the [BigchainDB node configuration settings](configuration.html).


## bigchaindb init

Create a backend database (Local MongoDB), all database tables/collections,
various backend database indexes, and the genesis block.


## bigchaindb drop

Drop (erase) the backend database (a Local MongoDB database).
You will be prompted to make sure.
If you want to force-drop the database (i.e. skipping the yes/no prompt), then use `bigchaindb -y drop`


## bigchaindb start

Start BigchainDB. It always begins by trying a `bigchaindb init` first. See the note in the documentation for `bigchaindb init`.
The database initialization step is optional and can be skipped by passing the `--no-init` flag i.e. `bigchaindb start --no-init`.

### Options
The log level for the console can be set via the option `--log-level` or its
abbreviation `-l`. Example:

```bash
$ bigchaindb --log-level INFO start
```

The allowed levels are `DEBUG`, `INFO` , `WARNING`, `ERROR`, and `CRITICAL`.
For an explanation regarding these levels please consult the 
[Logging Levels](https://docs.python.org/3.6/library/logging.html#levels)
section of Python's documentation.

For a more fine-grained control over the logging configuration you can use the
configuration file as documented under
[Configuration Settings](configuration.html).