OpenWorkers CLI

Command-line interface for managing OpenWorkers deployments.

Installation

Prebuilt binaries (recommended):

# Using cargo-binstall (auto-detects prebuilt binaries)
cargo install cargo-binstall
cargo binstall openworkers-cli

# Or download manually from GitHub Releases
curl -L https://github.com/openworkers/openworkers-cli/releases/latest/download/ow-linux-x86_64.tar.gz | tar xz
sudo mv ow /usr/local/bin/

# macOS (Intel)
curl -L https://github.com/openworkers/openworkers-cli/releases/latest/download/ow-macos-x86_64.tar.gz | tar xz
sudo mv ow /usr/local/bin/

# macOS (Apple Silicon)
curl -L https://github.com/openworkers/openworkers-cli/releases/latest/download/ow-macos-aarch64.tar.gz | tar xz
sudo mv ow /usr/local/bin/

Docker:

docker run --rm ghcr.io/openworkers/openworkers-cli --help

Build from source:

cargo install --git https://github.com/openworkers/openworkers-cli

Quick Start

# Configure your API backend
ow alias set prod --api https://dash.openworkers.com

# Login (prompts for API token)
ow login

# Create and deploy a worker
ow workers create my-api
ow workers deploy my-api worker.ts

# Your worker is live at https://my-api.workers.rocks

Commands

Common operations: list (ls), get, create, delete (rm)

Workers

Workers are serverless functions deployed to the edge.

ow workers list
ow workers create my-api -d "REST API"
ow workers get my-api

# Deploy a single file
ow workers deploy my-api ./worker.ts -m "Initial deploy"

# Deploy a folder with worker.js + static assets (SvelteKit, etc.)
ow workers upload my-app ./dist

ow workers delete my-api

Supported file types: .js, .ts, .wasm

Environments

Environments group configuration for your workers: variables, secrets, and bindings to resources.

ow env list
ow env create my-env -d "Production"
ow env get my-env

# Variables (plain text, visible in logs)
ow env set my-env API_URL "https://api.example.com"

# Secrets (encrypted, masked in output)
ow env set my-env API_KEY "secret" --secret

ow env unset my-env OLD_VAR

# Bindings connect resources to your worker code (accessible via env.CACHE, env.DB, etc.)
ow env bind my-env CACHE my-kv --type kv
ow env bind my-env DB my-db --type database
ow env bind my-env ASSETS my-storage --type assets

# Link environment to a worker
ow workers link my-api my-env

ow env delete old-env

Storage

S3-compatible object storage for files, images, and static assets.

ow storage list

# Platform-managed storage
ow storage create my-storage

# Bring your own S3/R2 bucket
ow storage create my-s3 --provider s3 \
  --bucket my-bucket \
  --endpoint https://xxx.r2.cloudflarestorage.com \
  --access-key-id AKIA... \
  --secret-access-key ...

ow storage delete my-storage

KV

Fast key-value store for caching, sessions, and feature flags.

ow kv list
ow kv create my-kv -d "API cache"
ow kv get my-kv
ow kv delete my-kv

Databases

SQL databases for persistent data. Query with env.DB.execute() in your worker.

ow databases list

# Platform-managed database
ow databases create my-db

# Bring your own Postgres
ow databases create my-pg --provider postgres \
  --connection-string "postgres://user:pass@host/db"

ow databases delete my-db

Aliases

Aliases let you manage multiple backends (production, staging, local) from the same CLI.

# API backend (hosted platform)
ow alias set prod --api https://dash.openworkers.com

# API backend (self-hosted, skip TLS verification)
ow alias set dev --api http://localhost:8080 --insecure

# DB backend (direct PostgreSQL access for migrations)
ow alias set local --db postgres://user:pass@localhost/ow --user admin@example.com

ow alias list
ow alias set-default prod
ow alias rm old-alias

Prefix any command with an alias name:

ow workers list           # Uses default alias
ow prod workers list      # Uses 'prod' alias
ow dev workers get my-api # Uses 'dev' alias

Config stored in ~/.openworkers/config.json.

Model Context Protocol (MCP)

OpenWorkers CLI includes an MCP server that exposes CLI commands as tools for AI assistants like Claude.

Available tools:

• Workers: list, get, create, deploy, delete, link
• Environments: list, set variables/secrets, bind resources
• KV: list, create, delete
• Storage: list, create, delete
• Databases: list, create, delete

Setup for Claude CLI

Create .mcp.json in your project:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openworkers": {
      "command": "ow",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Or with a specific alias:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openworkers": {
      "command": "ow",
      "args": ["local", "mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Run claude in your project directory and enable the OpenWorkers server when prompted.

Setup for Claude Desktop

Edit Claude Desktop config file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Add:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openworkers": {
      "command": "ow",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. The 🔨 icon indicates MCP tools are available.

Usage

Once configured, you can use natural language:

"List my OpenWorkers workers"

"Create a new worker called my-api"

"Deploy worker.ts to my-api"

Claude will automatically use the appropriate MCP tools.

Note: The MCP server uses your configured alias for authentication. Ensure you have set up an alias and logged in before using MCP tools.

Migrations

Database schema migrations for self-hosted deployments. Requires a DB alias.

ow local migrate status    # Show pending migrations
ow local migrate run       # Apply pending migrations
ow local migrate baseline  # Mark all as applied (for existing databases)

Config File

{
  "version": 1,
  "default": "prod",
  "aliases": {
    "prod": {
      "type": "api",
      "url": "https://dash.openworkers.com/api/v1",
      "token": "ow_xxx"
    },
    "local": {
      "type": "db",
      "database_url": "postgres://localhost/openworkers",
      "user": "admin@example.com"
    }
  }
}

Development

cargo build
cargo run -- workers list
cargo run -- local migrate status