pb CLI

Query logs, explore metrics, tail live events, and manage Parseable from your terminal.

pb is the official command line interface for Parseable. It gives developers and operators a fast terminal workflow for SQL log queries, PromQL metrics exploration, live event tailing, saved investigations, profiles, datasets, users, and roles.

Use it as a regular CLI in scripts and CI, or open the full-screen interactive TUIs when you want a table-driven way to explore logs or metrics without leaving your shell.

Quick start

# Connect to a Parseable server
pb login

# Open the interactive SQL table view
pb sql run -i

# Run SQL directly
pb sql run "SELECT * FROM backend WHERE status >= 500" --from=1h

# Open the interactive PromQL table view
pb promql run -i

# Run PromQL directly
pb promql run "rate(http_requests_total[5m])" --dataset otel_metrics --from=1h

# Stream live events
pb tail backend

Commands

Command	Description
`pb login`	Start an interactive wizard to connect to a Parseable server and save the connection as a profile
`pb profile`	Add, list, switch, update, and remove saved server profiles
`pb status`	Verify the active connection and display server version information
`pb sql`	Run SQL queries, save SQL queries, and open the interactive SQL table view
`pb promql`	Run PromQL range and instant queries, explore labels and series, and inspect cardinality
`pb tail`	Stream live log events from a dataset in real time as newline-delimited JSON
`pb dataset`	List, create, inspect, and delete log, metrics, and traces datasets
`pb user`	Create users, assign roles, and manage user access
`pb role`	Define roles with specific privilege levels and dataset scopes
`pb version`	Print the CLI version and build commit

Interactive mode

SQL and PromQL both support an interactive full-screen TUI with -i. In this mode, pb opens a panel-based interface where you can write a query, select a dataset, adjust the time range, and browse paginated results.

pb sql run -i

pb promql run -i

Navigate between panels with Tab and Shift+Tab. Press Ctrl+R to run the query. Results open in a scrollable table with row navigation, column navigation, and filtering.

Output modes

Commands that return structured data support --output json for automation. SQL queries without -i print plain terminal output; add -i to open the interactive table view.

pb dataset list
pb dataset list --output json
pb sql run "SELECT * FROM logs LIMIT 50" --from=1h
pb sql run "SELECT * FROM logs LIMIT 50" --from=1h -i
pb sql run "SELECT level, count(*) FROM logs GROUP BY level" --from=1h --output json
pb promql run "up" --dataset otel_metrics --instant --output json

Getting started

Install pb - install with the script, Homebrew, Go, or a release archive
Connect to a server - authenticate and save a server profile
Run a SQL query - query logs with pb sql
Run a PromQL query - query metrics with pb promql
Use aliases - learn the short command forms such as ls, rm, stat, and set-url