# Install the vps9 command-line tool

> Download vps9 for Linux, macOS or Windows, check it against SHA256SUMS, log in with an API token, and run your first commands.

Source: https://vpsnine.com/help/install-the-vps9-cli · Updated: 2026-10-10

`vps9` does from a terminal most of what the panel does in a browser. It lists and controls your servers, opens SSH, edits the firewall, takes snapshots, sets reverse DNS and shows invoices. It's one file with nothing else to install, and it uses the same [API](https://vpsnine.com/help/api-quickstart) you can call with `curl`.

## Download it

Downloads open at launch, at `https://vpsnine.com/downloads/vps9/`. There's one file per system:

| System | File |
| --- | --- |
| Linux on Intel or AMD | `vps9-linux-amd64` |
| Linux on ARM (Graviton, Ampere, Raspberry Pi 4 and later with a 64-bit OS) | `vps9-linux-arm64` |
| macOS on Apple silicon | `vps9-darwin-arm64` |
| macOS on Intel | `vps9-darwin-amd64` |
| Windows | `vps9-windows-amd64.exe` |
| Windows on ARM | `vps9-windows-arm64.exe` |

Next to them is `SHA256SUMS`, with a checksum for each file. Download that as well. On Linux, for example:

```bash
curl -LO https://vpsnine.com/downloads/vps9/vps9-linux-amd64
curl -LO https://vpsnine.com/downloads/vps9/SHA256SUMS
```

## Check the download

Your file's checksum has to match its line in `SHA256SUMS`. On Linux, `sha256sum` checks it for you and prints `OK`:

```bash
sha256sum --ignore-missing -c SHA256SUMS
```

On macOS, print both and compare them by eye:

```bash
shasum -a 256 vps9-darwin-arm64
grep vps9-darwin-arm64 SHA256SUMS
```

On Windows, in PowerShell:

```powershell
(Get-FileHash .\vps9-windows-amd64.exe -Algorithm SHA256).Hash.ToLower()
Select-String vps9-windows-amd64.exe .\SHA256SUMS
```

If the two don't match, delete the file and download it again.

## Put it on your PATH

On Linux and macOS:

```bash
chmod +x vps9-linux-amd64
sudo mv vps9-linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/vps9
vps9 version
```

macOS may refuse to run it the first time, because it was downloaded from the internet. Allow it under **System Settings > Privacy & Security**, or remove the quarantine flag with `xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /usr/local/bin/vps9`.

On Windows, rename the file to `vps9.exe` and move it to a folder that's on your `PATH`, or run it from where it is.

## Log in

Make a token under **tokens** in the panel ([how](https://vpsnine.com/help/api-tokens)). Choose **read and write** if you want to change things. **read only** is enough for looking.

Save the token in a file only you can read, then hand that file to `vps9 login`:

```bash
vps9 login < ~/.vps9-token
```

In PowerShell, pipe it in instead: `Get-Content ~\.vps9-token | vps9 login`.

You can also run plain `vps9 login` and paste the token at the prompt. It shows on screen as you paste, though, so the file is the better habit.

Either way, `vps9` checks the token with the API. Then it prints the account the token belongs to and where it saved it, in your user's config folder:

- Linux: `~/.config/vps9/config.json`
- macOS: `~/Library/Application Support/vps9/config.json`
- Windows: `%AppData%\vps9\config.json`

On Linux and macOS the file is readable only by you.

For a script, or a machine you share, skip the saved login and set the token in the environment. It takes priority over a saved one:

```bash
export VPS9_TOKEN="$(cat ~/.vps9-token)"
```

`vps9 logout` deletes the saved token from your machine. The token itself still works until you revoke it in the panel, so do that too if it may have leaked.

## First commands

```bash
vps9 servers                               # your servers
vps9 servers show web-1                    # details and recent events
vps9 ssh web-1                             # runs your own ssh client as root@ the server's IPv4
vps9 servers reboot web-1
vps9 firewall web-1                        # the inbound rules
vps9 snapshots web-1 create before-upgrade
vps9 rdns web-1                            # reverse DNS for each address
vps9 invoices
```

Name a server by its hostname or by its id (`srv_…`). `vps9 ssh` needs an OpenSSH client on your machine, which macOS, Linux and current Windows all include. To log in as someone other than root, put `--user` before the server: `vps9 ssh --user deploy web-1`. Anything after `--` goes to `ssh` as it is, as in `vps9 ssh web-1 -- -L 8080:localhost:80`.

A [snapshot](https://vpsnine.com/help/snapshots) shuts a running server down while it's taken and starts it again afterwards, so pick a quiet moment.

Commands that destroy something ask you to type the server's hostname first: `servers delete`, `servers reinstall`, `snapshots revert` and `snapshots rm`. `keys rm` asks for the key's name. Add `--yes` to skip the question in a script.

`vps9 help` lists every command.

## Scripts and JSON

Add `--json` to get JSON instead of a table. For lists, that's just the array. It works well with `jq`:

```bash
vps9 servers --json | jq -r '.[] | select(.state == "running") | .ipv4'
```

`login`, `logout`, `ssh` and `version` don't print JSON.

`vps9` exits with 0 when the command worked, 1 when it failed and 2 when the command line itself was wrong. Errors go to stderr with the API's own message.

`vps9 servers create` sends an `Idempotency-Key` with every order, so a retry can't place a second one. If the answer gets lost on the way back, `vps9` prints the key and the command to repeat with `--idempotency-key`. Orders open at launch; until then the API refuses them.

The API address is `https://my.vpsnine.com` unless you set `--api` or `VPS9_API`. `vps9` only talks to it over https, except on `localhost`, and never follows a redirect.