JFrog CLI Basics¶

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The JFrog CLI (jf) is a powerful command-line tool for interacting with the JFrog Platform. It provides a unified interface to upload/download artifacts, manage repositories, publish build info, and integrate Artifactory into any CI/CD pipeline.

All steps use JFrog SaaS at https://<company>.jfrog.io.

Step 1: Install JFrog CLI¶

macOS (Homebrew)¶

brew install jfrog-cli

Linux¶

curl -fL https://install-cli.jfrog.io | sh
sudo mv jf /usr/local/bin/

Windows (PowerShell)¶

winget install jfrog.cli

Verify installation¶

jf --version

Expected output: jf version 2.x.x

Step 2: Configure JFrog CLI to Connect to JFrog SaaS¶

Interactive setup:¶

jf config add my-jfrog-server

You will be prompted for: - JFrog URL: https://<company>.jfrog.io - Username: your JFrog username or email - Access Token: your personal access token (from Administration → User Management → Access Tokens)

Non-interactive setup (CI/CD):¶

jf config add my-jfrog-server \
  --url https://<company>.jfrog.io \
  --user your-username \
  --access-token "${JFROG_TOKEN}" \
  --interactive=false

Verify the connection:¶

jf config show
jf rt ping --server-id my-jfrog-server

Expected: OK

Step 3: Upload Artifacts¶

# Upload a single file
jf rt upload my-app.jar libs-release-local/com/example/my-app/1.0.0/

# Upload with metadata properties
jf rt upload my-app.jar libs-release-local/com/example/my-app/1.0.0/ \
  --props "build.name=my-app;build.number=42;env=production"

# Upload directory with pattern
jf rt upload "build/libs/*.jar" libs-release-local/com/example/my-app/1.0.0/

# Upload and do NOT fail-fast (continue even if one file fails)
jf rt upload "dist/*" binaries-local/ --fail-no-op=false

Step 4: Download Artifacts¶

# Download a specific file
jf rt download libs-release-local/com/example/my-app/1.0.0/my-app.jar ./

# Download all files in a path
jf rt download "libs-release-local/com/example/my-app/1.0.0/*" ./downloads/

# Download filtered by properties
jf rt download \
  --props "env=production;build.number=42" \
  "binaries-local/*" ./output/

Step 5: Search for Artifacts¶

# Search all artifacts in a repo
jf rt search libs-release-local/

# Search by pattern
jf rt search "libs-release-local/com/example/my-app/*/my-app*.jar"

# Search by properties
jf rt search --props "env=production" binaries-local/

Step 6: Configure Package Managers with JFrog CLI¶

JFrog CLI can auto-configure package managers to use Artifactory:

Maven:¶

jf mvnc \
  --repo-resolve-releases libs-release-local \
  --repo-resolve-snapshots libs-snapshot-local \
  --repo-deploy-releases libs-release-local \
  --repo-deploy-snapshots libs-snapshot-local

Then run Maven through JFrog CLI to capture build info:

jf mvn clean install

npm:¶

jf npmc --repo-resolve npm-virtual --repo-deploy npm-local
jf npm install
jf npm publish

PyPI:¶

jf pipc --repo-resolve pypi-virtual --repo-deploy pypi-local
jf pip install -r requirements.txt

Docker:¶

jf docker push <company>.jfrog.io/docker-dev-local/my-app:1.0.0
jf docker pull <company>.jfrog.io/docker-virtual/nginx:latest

Step 7: Publish Build Info¶

Build info is metadata that links artifacts to their build — tracking which commits, dependencies, and modules produced each artifact.

# Before running build, set build name and number
export JFROG_CLI_BUILD_NAME=my-app
export JFROG_CLI_BUILD_NUMBER=42

# Run your build
jf mvn clean install

# Publish build info to Artifactory
jf rt build-publish my-app 42

# View build info
jf rt build-info my-app 42

Common CLI Commands Reference¶

Command	Description
`jf config add`	Add a new server configuration
`jf rt ping`	Test connectivity to Artifactory
`jf rt upload`	Upload files to a repository
`jf rt download`	Download files from a repository
`jf rt search`	Search for artifacts
`jf rt copy`	Copy artifacts between repositories
`jf rt move`	Move artifacts between repositories
`jf rt delete`	Delete artifacts
`jf rt set-props`	Set properties on artifacts
`jf rt build-publish`	Publish build info
`jf rt build-promote`	Promote a build

Next Steps¶

👉 Permissions & Users 👉 Build Info & Promotion

🧠 Quick Quiz¶

#

What JFrog CLI command publishes build metadata (build info) to Artifactory after a build completes?

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