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CLI (Command-Line Interface)

SFBy Sitraka Forler · Lecturer, Durham Business School·Updated 13 September 2026· About this site

A text interface where you control a program by typing commands instead of clicking.

With a CLI you type a command such as git push or curl, add options, and read text output. It matters at work because servers often have no screen, and commands can be scripted, repeated exactly and run by continuous integration (CI) pipelines. Beginners mix up three words: the terminal is the window, the shell (bash, zsh or PowerShell) interprets what you type, and the CLI is the interface a program offers.

# ask a CLI which version it is
git --version
# a subcommand with two options
git log --oneline -5
# -i shows the response headers, then the page
curl -i https://example.com
# most CLIs document their own options
python3 --help