# help

A command to display all possible top-level commands and arguments used in the SurrealDB binary.

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

> [!NOTE]
> **Before you start** - make sure you’ve [installed SurrealDB](/docs/running/installation.md).

<Synopsis>
surreal help
surreal <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 command-line tool."
        },
        {
            "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 command-line tool, in a terminal run the `surreal help` command without any further arguments. This command gives general information on the other functionality which can be run with the command-line tool.

```bash
surreal 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
  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
  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]
```

> [!NOTE]
> The pasted output above predates SurrealDB 3.1.0 and so does not list [`surreal mcp`](/docs/reference/cli/surrealdb-cli/commands/mcp.md). For the current list of subcommands, see [CLI commands](/docs/reference/cli/surrealdb-cli/commands.md).

## Getting help on individual commands

For individual commands, such as `surreal start` and `surreal 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 start --help
surreal start --user root --pass secret --log debug --help
```