CLI quickstart

Pinecone CLI quickstart for installing pc, authenticating, and managing indexes, vectors, and data imports directly from your terminal.

The Pinecone CLI (pc) lets you manage Pinecone resources directly from your terminal.

Install

macOS (Homebrew)

brew tap pinecone-io/tap
brew install pinecone-io/tap/pinecone

Other platforms

Pre-built binaries for macOS, Linux, and Windows are available on the GitHub Releases page.

Platform	Architectures
macOS	Intel (x86_64), Apple Silicon (ARM64)
Linux	x86_64, ARM64, i386
Windows	x86_64, i386

Authenticate

pc auth login

Visit the URL in your terminal to sign in. The CLI automatically sets your default organization and project.

To target a different org/project:

pc target -o "my-org" -p "my-project"

For CI/CD or automation, you can also authenticate with a service account or API key.

Manage indexes

# List indexes
pc index list

# Create an index
pc index create -n my-index -d 3 -m cosine -c aws -r us-east-1

# Get index details
pc index describe -i my-index

# Get index statistics
pc index stats -i my-index

Work with vectors

# Upsert vectors (from file or inline JSON)
pc index vector upsert -i my-index \
  --body '{"vectors": [{"id": "vec1", "values": [0.1, 0.2, 0.3], "metadata": {"genre": "comedy"}}]}'

# Import from a large dataset in object storage (S3, GCS, Azure)
pc index import start -i my-index --uri s3://my-bucket/data/

# Check the progress of an import operation
pc index import list --i my-index
pc index import describe --i my-index --id import-123

# Query (vector can be inline or in a file)
pc index vector query -i my-index \
  --vector '[0.1, 0.2, 0.3]' \
  --top-k 10 \
  --include-metadata

# Fetch by ID (from file or inline JSON)
pc index vector fetch -i my-index --ids '["vec1","vec2"]'

# List vector IDs from an index
pc index vector list -i my-index

Manage namespaces

# List namespaces
pc index namespace list -i my-index

# Create a namespace
pc index namespace create -i my-index --name tenant-a

# Delete a namespace
pc index namespace delete -i my-index --name tenant-a

Back up and restore

# Create a backup
pc index backup create -i my-index --name "my-index-backup"

# List backups (show index, backup name, backup ID, etc.)
pc index backup list -i my-index

# Restore from backup (by ID, not name)
pc index restore -i c84725e5-5956-41ba-ab62-21ac7b5f2a2f -n restored-index

JSON output

Add -j to any command for JSON output:

pc index list -j
pc index describe -i my-index -j

Getting help

Use -h or --help with any command to see available options:

pc -h
pc index -h
pc index create -h

Next steps

• Command reference — Full list of commands and flags
• Authentication — Service accounts, API keys, and auth priority
• Target context — How org/project targeting works