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Authentication

The Operately CLI uses API tokens to authenticate requests.

Create an API token#

Before you log in with the CLI, create an API token in Operately and copy it from the confirmation modal.

Log in#

Save a token to your default profile:

operately auth login --token <your-token>

After logging in, verify which account the CLI is using:

operately auth whoami

You can inspect the current profile and base URL at any time:

operately auth status

To remove the saved token from a profile:

operately auth logout

Use another base URL#

If you are connecting to a self-hosted or staging environment, pass --base-url when you log in:

operately auth login --token <token> --base-url https://operately.example.com

If you do not set a base URL, the CLI defaults to:

https://app.operately.com

Profiles#

You can keep separate profiles for different environments:

# Production
operately auth login --token op_live_xxx

# Staging
operately auth login --token op_staging_xxx --profile staging --base-url https://staging.operately.com

# Local development
operately auth login --token op_local_xxx --profile local --base-url http://localhost:4000

Use a profile on any command:

operately auth whoami --profile staging
operately people get_me --profile local

Saved profiles are stored in:

~/.operately/config.json

Environment variables#

For scripts and CI, you can provide credentials through environment variables:

export OPERATELY_API_TOKEN=op_live_xxx
export OPERATELY_BASE_URL=https://app.operately.com
export OPERATELY_PROFILE=default

Resolution order#

When the CLI resolves authentication settings, it uses this order:

  1. Command flags
  2. Environment variables
  3. Saved profile values

That means command-line overrides such as --token, --base-url, and --profile always win.

Next step#

Once authentication is working, learn how to discover and run commands.