CLI overview - Runpod Documentation

The Flash CLI is now part of the rp CLI that ships with the Runpod SDK. This page documents the standalone flash command from the runpod-flash package, which keeps working but no longer gets new features. For new projects, use the rp CLI. To see how flash commands map to rp flash, see What changed.

The Flash CLI provides commands for initializing projects, running local development servers, building deployment artifacts, and managing your applications on Runpod Serverless. Before using the CLI, make sure you’ve installed Flash.

Available commands

Command	Description
`flash init`	Create a new Flash project with a template structure
`flash login`	Authenticate with Runpod using your API key
`flash dev`	Start the local development server with automatic updates
`flash build`	Build a deployment artifact without deploying
`flash deploy`	Build and deploy your application to Runpod
`flash env`	Manage deployment environments
`flash app`	Manage Flash applications
`flash undeploy`	Remove deployed endpoints
`flash update`	Update Flash to the latest or a specific version

Getting help

View help for any command by adding --help:

flash --help
flash deploy --help
flash env --help

Authentication

Authenticate with Runpod:

flash login

This command opens your browser to authenticate with Runpod. After you approve the request, your API key is saved locally for future CLI operations. See flash login for details. Alternatively, set the RUNPOD_API_KEY environment variable:

export RUNPOD_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

Using uv

If you installed Flash with uv, prefix all Flash commands with uv run:

uv run flash login
uv run flash dev
uv run flash deploy

Common workflows

Local development

# Create a new project
flash init PROJECT_NAME
cd PROJECT_NAME

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Add your API key to .env
# Start the development server
flash dev

Deploy to production

# Build and deploy
flash deploy

# Deploy to a specific environment
flash deploy --env ENVIRONMENT_NAME

Manage deployments

# List environments
flash env list

# Check environment status
flash env get ENVIRONMENT_NAME

# Remove an environment
flash env delete ENVIRONMENT_NAME

Clean up endpoints

# List deployed endpoints
flash undeploy list

# Remove specific endpoint
flash undeploy ENDPOINT_NAME

# Remove all endpoints
flash undeploy --all

​Available commands

​Getting help

​Authentication

​Using uv

​Common workflows

​Local development

​Deploy to production

​Manage deployments

​Clean up endpoints

Available commands

Getting help

Authentication

Using uv

Common workflows

Local development

Deploy to production

Manage deployments

Clean up endpoints