> Full SurrealDB documentation index: https://surrealdb.com/docs/llms.txt

# help

surreal db help and surreal db <COMMAND> --help print the database help. surreal help and surreal --help print the launcher help, which lists components and version commands instead.

Print the help information for `surreal db`, or for one of its subcommands.

`surreal db help` and `surreal help` print different things. `surreal db help` is the database's own help, described on this page, because everything after `db` is forwarded to the database. `surreal help` and `surreal --help` are the launcher's help, which lists the components and the commands that manage what is installed. See [Launcher help](#launcher-help).

<Synopsis>
surreal db help [COMMAND]
surreal db <COMMAND> --help
</Synopsis>

<OptionsTable
    title="Global options"
    options={[
        {
            "name": "--online-version-check",
            "env": "SURREAL_ONLINE_VERSION_CHECK",
            "description": "Whether to allow a web check for client version upgrades at start."
        },
        {
            "name": "--help",
            "short": "-h",
            "description": "Print help. Accepted by the binary and by every subcommand."
        },
        {
            "name": "--version",
            "short": "-V",
            "description": "Print the version of the database component."
        },
        {
            "name": "--log",
            "short": "-l",
            "value": "<LOG>",
            "default": "info",
            "env": "SURREAL_LOG",
            "description": "The logging level for the command-line tool. Possible values: `none`, `full`, `error`, `warn`, `info`, `debug`, `trace`."
        }
    ]}
/>

## Show the command-line help information

To see the general help information for the database, run `surreal db help` without any further arguments. This command lists the subcommands of `surreal db`.

```bash
surreal db help
```

The output of the above command:

```text
 .d8888b.                                             888 8888888b.  888888b.
d88P  Y88b                                            888 888  'Y88b 888  '88b
Y88b.                                                 888 888    888 888  .88P
 'Y888b.   888  888 888d888 888d888  .d88b.   8888b.  888 888    888 8888888K.
    'Y88b. 888  888 888P'   888P'   d8P  Y8b     '88b 888 888    888 888  'Y88b
      '888 888  888 888     888     88888888 .d888888 888 888    888 888    888
Y88b  d88P Y88b 888 888     888     Y8b.     888  888 888 888  .d88P 888   d88P
 'Y8888P'   'Y88888 888     888      'Y8888  'Y888888 888 8888888P'  8888888P'


To get started using SurrealDB, and for guides on connecting to and building applications
on top of SurrealDB, check out the SurrealDB documentation (https://surrealdb.com/docs).

If you have questions or ideas, join the SurrealDB community (https://surrealdb.com/community).

If you find a bug, submit an issue on GitHub (https://github.com/surrealdb/surrealdb/issues).

We would love it if you could star the repository (https://github.com/surrealdb/surrealdb).

----------

Usage: surreal [OPTIONS] <COMMAND>

Commands:
  start     Start the database server
  import    Import a SurrealQL script into an existing database
  export    Export an existing database as a SurrealQL script
  version   Output the command-line tool and remote server version information
  upgrade   Upgrade to the latest stable version
  sql       Start an SQL REPL in your terminal with pipe support
  mcp       Start the MCP server over stdio for AI assistant integration
  ml        Manage SurrealML models within an existing database
  module    Manage and execute WASM modules
  is-ready  Check if the SurrealDB server is ready to accept connections [aliases: isready]
  validate  Validate SurrealQL query files
  fix       Fix database storage issues
  v2        Run commands in version 2 of the database for backwards compatibility
  help      Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)

Options:
      --online-version-check  Whether to allow web check for client version upgrades at start [env: SURREAL_ONLINE_VERSION_CHECK=]
  -h, --help                  Print help
  -V, --version               Print version

Logging:
  -l, --log <LOG>                              The logging level for the command-line tool [env: SURREAL_LOG=] [default: info] [possible
                                               values: none, full, error, warn, info, debug, trace]
      --log-format <LOG_FORMAT>                The format for terminal log output [env: SURREAL_LOG_FORMAT=] [default: text] [possible
                                               values: text, json]
      --log-socket <LOG_SOCKET>                Send logs to the specified host:port [env: SURREAL_LOG_SOCKET=]
      --log-file-level <LOG_FILE_LEVEL>        Override the logging level for file output [env: SURREAL_LOG_FILE_LEVEL=] [possible values:
                                               none, full, error, warn, info, debug, trace]
      --log-otel-level <LOG_OTEL_LEVEL>        Override the logging level for OpenTelemetry output [env: SURREAL_LOG_OTEL_LEVEL=] [possible
                                               values: none, full, error, warn, info, debug, trace]
      --log-socket-level <LOG_SOCKET_LEVEL>    Override the logging level for unix socket output [env: SURREAL_LOG_SOCKET_LEVEL=] [possible
                                               values: none, full, error, warn, info, debug, trace]
      --log-socket-format <LOG_SOCKET_FORMAT>  The format for socket output [env: SURREAL_LOG_SOCKET_FORMAT=] [default: text] [possible
                                               values: text, json]
      --log-file-enabled                       Whether to enable log file output [env: SURREAL_LOG_FILE_ENABLED=]
      --log-file-path <LOG_FILE_PATH>          The directory where log files will be stored [env: SURREAL_LOG_FILE_PATH=] [default: logs]
      --log-file-name <LOG_FILE_NAME>          The name of the log file [env: SURREAL_LOG_FILE_NAME=] [default: surrealdb.log]
      --log-file-format <LOG_FILE_FORMAT>      The format for log file output [env: SURREAL_LOG_FILE_FORMAT=] [default: text] [possible
                                               values: text, json]
      --log-file-rotation <LOG_FILE_ROTATION>  The log file rotation interval [env: SURREAL_LOG_FILE_ROTATION=] [default: daily] [possible
                                               values: daily, hourly, never]
```

The `upgrade` entry appears in the database's own list, but `surreal db upgrade` is refused. Use [`surreal upgrade db`](/docs/reference/cli/db/commands/upgrade.md).

## Launcher help {#launcher-help}

`surreal help` and `surreal --help` print the launcher's help. It lists the components (`db`, `cloud`), the commands that manage what is installed (`version`, `install`, `upgrade`, `use`, `uninstall`), and the `+VERSION` option that runs another version for one command. Run `surreal <COMPONENT> help`, such as `surreal cloud help`, for the help of a component. The `--no-banner` option, or `SURREAL_CLI_NO_BANNER`, prints the launcher help without the banner. See the [launcher reference](/docs/reference/cli/launcher.md) for each of these commands.

## Getting help on individual commands

For individual commands, such as `surreal db start` and `surreal db sql`, a help prompt can be displayed by adding the `--help` flag. This flag overrides all other flags, and thus can be added to the end of any command regardless of length.

```bash
surreal db start --help
surreal db start --user root --pass secret --log debug --help
```