Overview

The CLI wraps the same adapters as the SDK behind a single files binary - JSON-by-default output, stdin/stdout streaming, and a built-in MCP server. Install it, point it at a provider, and every SDK method is available as a command.

Install

The CLI ships with the files-sdk package — install it globally to get a files binary on your PATH, or invoke it via npx / bunx for one-off commands.

npm install -g files-sdk

One-shot, no install:

npx -p files-sdk files --provider fs --root ./uploads list

Adapter SDKs (AWS, GCP, Azure, Dropbox, etc.) are loaded lazily on first use, so cold-start cost matches whichever single provider you select — not the union of all of them. Those SDKs are optional peer dependencies of files-sdk, so install the one for the provider you intend to use alongside the CLI — for example npm install -g files-sdk @aws-sdk/client-s3 @aws-sdk/s3-presigned-post @aws-sdk/s3-request-presigner for S3. See the per-adapter docs for the exact package list.

Pick a provider

Pass --provider <name> on every call, or set FILES_SDK_PROVIDER once. Provider-specific credentials come from the adapter's standard env vars (AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, BLOB_READ_WRITE_TOKEN, GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS, etc.), so the same environment that works with the SDK works with the CLI.

Common short flags cover the obvious fields (--bucket, --region, --endpoint, --root, --container, --token, etc.). For the long tail, --config-json '{...}' accepts the raw adapter options blob — anything the SDK factory accepts, the CLI can pass through.