kater

Use the Kater CLI to explore data, build analyses and check results directly through the terminal.

Every kater command, in the groups that kater help --all shows. Add --help to any command to see its subcommands and options, such as kater run --help.

Start here

Command	What it answers
`kater debug`	Check your profile, sign-in and warehouses.
`kater ls --select +revenue_by_month`	List a query and what it reads.
`kater build --select +revenue_by_month`	Build them, in the graph’s order.
`kater show --select revenue_by_month --limit 5`	Show the query’s first rows.

Set up

Command	What it does
`kater init`	Set up Kater for your organisation, step by step.
`kater debug`	Check your setup: the profile, the project, the sign-in and each warehouse.
`kater login`	Sign in and save your credentials.
`kater logout`	Clear your saved credentials.

Build and check

Command	What it does
`kater build`	Compile, run and test what you select, in the graph’s order.
`kater run`	Run saved models and get their rows.
`kater compile`	Compile saved models and publish their contracts.
`kater test`	Run the checks of your models, and list and update them.
`kater retry`	Run again what failed or was skipped in the last run.
`kater show`	Show the first rows of a model, a statement or SQL, as dbt show does.
`kater ls`	List the models and tests that you select.
`kater parse`	Check every model and write target/manifest.json.

Make and compare

Command	What it does
`kater new`	Make an app, dashboard, query, chart, project, workflow, field, test or model.
`kater start`	See what Kater can make, a type’s choices, or what you have for a goal.
`kater compare`	Find where two queries or workspaces differ, or how an app’s figures moved.
`kater sync`	Update dataset definitions from your warehouse.

Command	What it does
`kater git`	Work on a local copy of your content.
`kater admin`	Manage members, access, connections and integrations.

Pages you have open or were sent

Command	What it does
`kater here`	List the Kater tabs you have open, front first.
`kater place`	See what a page shows and which files it reads.
`kater answer`	Read the rows a page on screen shows, or a pinned figure’s rows.
`kater open`	Open a Kater page in one of your Kater tabs.
`kater send`	Send an answer in a Slack DM.
`kater message`	Send an answer in a Slack DM from its exact request, and read how a send ended.
`kater inbox`	List what waits for you, and mark an item done.
`kater brief`	Read your Daily brief: what stands out, your projects and what needs you.

Find and understand

Command	What it does
`kater model`	Find, inspect and edit models and their fields.
`kater files`	Find content and organize files and folders.
`kater references`	Find what reads a field before you change it.
`kater library`	Find the agents, skills and workflows you can use.

Explore and try ideas

Command	What it does
`kater explore`	Find starting analyses for a shared model.
`kater scratch`	List scratch files and run the Sandbox’s actions on them.
`kater brainstorm`	Copy a workspace to try changes privately.

Build an analysis

Command	What it does
`kater workspace`	Create a workspace, set its source, or apply a copy.
`kater query`	Create, manage and sample queries.
`kater field`	Create or change a field and preview its rows.
`kater source`	Write content files or update SQL and metadata.
`kater rename`	Rename a field or an object in every place that names it.

Command	What it does
`kater chart`	Create and manage charts.
`kater dashboard`	Arrange charts and text on a workspace’s dashboard.
`kater insight`	Run an insight template over a query’s rows.
`kater app`	Create, find and apply draft apps.
`kater promotion`	Ask for a field to join a shared model.

Undo a change

Command	What it does
`kater history`	See what changed in a workspace, app or file.
`kater undo`	Undo one change, as a new change that reverses it.

Delete and restore

Command	What it does
`kater rm`	Delete objects, files and folders. Each goes to the Trash for 30 days.
`kater trash`	List what was deleted, and fix what still reads it.
`kater restore`	Restore a delete from the Trash, with the fixes made for it.
`kater retire`	Retire a field or a model of the shared layer: what reads it keeps working.

Logs and bugs

Command	What it does
`kater logs`	Investigate errors and run details.
`kater report`	Report a bug in Kater, and follow it to the fix.

Projects and timelines

Command	What it does
`kater project`	Read and change a project.
`kater timeline`	Read a timeline, and add an entry to it.
`kater snapshot`	Draft, save and keep an app’s snapshot.
`kater figure`	Keep one of an app’s figures at every stored period.
`kater workflow`	List, read and change workflows.

Your terminal

Command	What it does
`kater auth`	Check that you’re signed in.
`kater scope`	Set the workspace or model your commands work on.
`kater agent`	Start Claude Code or Codex with Kater’s tools.
`kater vscode`	Install Kater’s editor extension.
`kater help`	List the commands: the ones used each day, or with `--all` every one.

Run Kater’s services

Command	What it does
`kater serve`	Serve Kater’s MCP tools, locally or remotely.
`kater job`	Run scheduled syncs and test runs for a deployment.

Options

Option	Description
`--json`	Machine-readable output.
`--kater-root <kater-root>`	The project folder, which holds kater_project.yml. By default the first folder up from here that holds one.
`--scope <scope>`	The workspace or modeling folder to work in. By default the one kater scope use saved.
`--version`	Show the installed CLI version.
`--log-format <log-format>`	How the lines a command prints while it works look: text, one JSON line for each event, or debug.
`--log-level <log-level>`	The least level of the lines a command prints while it works. The log file keeps every level.
`-q`, `--quiet`	Print only errors while a command works, and its answer.
`--no-color`	Print no colour. NO_COLOR does the same.
`--log-path <path>`	The folder of the log file. By default logs/ at the content root, or ~/.kater/logs outside one.
`--warn-error`	Turn warnings into errors: a command that warns exits 1.
`--profile <profile>`	The profile in profiles.yml to use, in place of the one kater_project.yml names.
`-t`, `--target <target>`	The profile’s target to run on, in place of its default. KATER_TARGET does the same.
`--profiles-dir <folder>`	The folder of profiles.yml. By default KATER_PROFILES_DIR, else the project folder when it holds one, else ~/.kater.
`--help`	Show this message and exit.

See Global options.