path: root/docs/cli-help.txt

usage: 
  certbot [SUBCOMMAND] [options] [-d DOMAIN] [-d DOMAIN] ...

Certbot can obtain and install HTTPS/TLS/SSL certificates.  By default,
it will attempt to use a webserver both for obtaining and installing the
certificate. The most common SUBCOMMANDS and flags are:

obtain, install, and renew certificates:
    (default) run   Obtain & install a certificate in your current webserver
    certonly        Obtain or renew a certificate, but do not install it
    renew           Renew all previously obtained certificates that are near expiry
   -d DOMAINS       Comma-separated list of domains to obtain a certificate for

  --apache          Use the Apache plugin for authentication & installation
  --standalone      Run a standalone webserver for authentication
  --nginx           Use the Nginx plugin for authentication & installation
  --webroot         Place files in a server's webroot folder for authentication
  --manual          Obtain certificates interactively, or using shell script hooks

   -n               Run non-interactively
  --test-cert       Obtain a test certificate from a staging server
  --dry-run         Test "renew" or "certonly" without saving any certificates to disk

manage certificates:
    certificates    Display information about certificates you have from Certbot
    revoke          Revoke a certificate (supply --cert-path)
    delete          Delete a certificate

manage your account with Let's Encrypt:
    register        Create a Let's Encrypt ACME account
  --agree-tos       Agree to the ACME server's Subscriber Agreement
   -m EMAIL         Email address for important account notifications

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -c CONFIG_FILE, --config CONFIG_FILE
                        path to config file (default: /etc/letsencrypt/cli.ini
                        and ~/.config/letsencrypt/cli.ini)
  -v, --verbose         This flag can be used multiple times to incrementally
                        increase the verbosity of output, e.g. -vvv. (default:
                        -2)
  -n, --non-interactive, --noninteractive
                        Run without ever asking for user input. This may
                        require additional command line flags; the client will
                        try to explain which ones are required if it finds one
                        missing (default: False)
  --force-interactive   Force Certbot to be interactive even if it detects
                        it's not being run in a terminal. This flag cannot be
                        used with the renew subcommand. (default: False)
  -d DOMAIN, --domains DOMAIN, --domain DOMAIN
                        Domain names to apply. For multiple domains you can
                        use multiple -d flags or enter a comma separated list
                        of domains as a parameter. (default: Ask)
  --cert-name CERTNAME  Certificate name to apply. Only one certificate name
                        can be used per Certbot run. To see certificate names,
                        run 'certbot certificates'. When creating a new
                        certificate, specifies the new certificate's name.
                        (default: None)
  --dry-run             Perform a test run of the client, obtaining test
                        (invalid) certificates but not saving them to disk.
                        This can currently only be used with the 'certonly'
                        and 'renew' subcommands. Note: Although --dry-run
                        tries to avoid making any persistent changes on a
                        system, it is not completely side-effect free: if used
                        with webserver authenticator plugins like apache and
                        nginx, it makes and then reverts temporary config
                        changes in order to obtain test certificates, and
                        reloads webservers to deploy and then roll back those
                        changes. It also calls --pre-hook and --post-hook
                        commands if they are defined because they may be
                        necessary to accurately simulate renewal. --renew-hook
                        commands are not called. (default: False)
  --debug-challenges    After setting up challenges, wait for user input
                        before submitting to CA (default: False)
  --preferred-challenges PREF_CHALLS
                        A sorted, comma delimited list of the preferred
                        challenge to use during authorization with the most
                        preferred challenge listed first (Eg, "dns" or "tls-
                        sni-01,http,dns"). Not all plugins support all
                        challenges. See
                        https://certbot.eff.org/docs/using.html#plugins for
                        details. ACME Challenges are versioned, but if you
                        pick "http" rather than "http-01", Certbot will select
                        the latest version automatically. (default: [])
  --user-agent USER_AGENT
                        Set a custom user agent string for the client. User
                        agent strings allow the CA to collect high level
                        statistics about success rates by OS, plugin and use
                        case, and to know when to deprecate support for past
                        Python versions and flags. If you wish to hide this
                        information from the Let's Encrypt server, set this to
                        "". (default: CertbotACMEClient/0.15.0 (certbot;
                        Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS) Authenticator/XXX Installer/YYY
                        (SUBCOMMAND; flags: FLAGS) Py/2.7.12). The flags
                        encoded in the user agent are: --duplicate, --force-
                        renew, --allow-subset-of-names, -n, and whether any
                        hooks are set.

automation:
  Arguments for automating execution & other tweaks

  --keep-until-expiring, --keep, --reinstall
                        If the requested certificate matches an existing
                        certificate, always keep the existing one until it is
                        due for renewal (for the 'run' subcommand this means
                        reinstall the existing certificate). (default: Ask)
  --expand              If an existing certificate is a strict subset of the
                        requested names, always expand and replace it with the
                        additional names. (default: Ask)
  --version             show program's version number and exit
  --force-renewal, --renew-by-default
                        If a certificate already exists for the requested
                        domains, renew it now, regardless of whether it is
                        near expiry. (Often --keep-until-expiring is more
                        appropriate). Also implies --expand. (default: False)
  --renew-with-new-domains
                        If a certificate already exists for the requested
                        certificate name but does not match the requested
                        domains, renew it now, regardless of whether it is
                        near expiry. (default: False)
  --allow-subset-of-names
                        When performing domain validation, do not consider it
                        a failure if authorizations can not be obtained for a
                        strict subset of the requested domains. This may be
                        useful for allowing renewals for multiple domains to
                        succeed even if some domains no longer point at this
                        system. This option cannot be used with --csr.
                        (default: False)
  --agree-tos           Agree to the ACME Subscriber Agreement (default: Ask)
  --duplicate           Allow making a certificate lineage that duplicates an
                        existing one (both can be renewed in parallel)
                        (default: False)
  --os-packages-only    (certbot-auto only) install OS package dependencies
                        and then stop (default: False)
  --no-self-upgrade     (certbot-auto only) prevent the certbot-auto script
                        from upgrading itself to newer released versions
                        (default: Upgrade automatically)
  --no-bootstrap        (certbot-auto only) prevent the certbot-auto script
                        from installing OS-level dependencies (default: Prompt
                        to install OS-wide dependencies, but exit if the user
                        says 'No')
  -q, --quiet           Silence all output except errors. Useful for
                        automation via cron. Implies --non-interactive.
                        (default: False)

security:
  Security parameters & server settings

  --rsa-key-size N      Size of the RSA key. (default: 2048)
  --must-staple         Adds the OCSP Must Staple extension to the
                        certificate. Autoconfigures OCSP Stapling for
                        supported setups (Apache version >= 2.3.3 ). (default:
                        False)
  --redirect            Automatically redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS for
                        the newly authenticated vhost. (default: Ask)
  --no-redirect         Do not automatically redirect all HTTP traffic to
                        HTTPS for the newly authenticated vhost. (default:
                        Ask)
  --hsts                Add the Strict-Transport-Security header to every HTTP
                        response. Forcing browser to always use SSL for the
                        domain. Defends against SSL Stripping. (default:
                        False)
  --uir                 Add the "Content-Security-Policy: upgrade-insecure-
                        requests" header to every HTTP response. Forcing the
                        browser to use https:// for every http:// resource.
                        (default: None)
  --staple-ocsp         Enables OCSP Stapling. A valid OCSP response is
                        stapled to the certificate that the server offers
                        during TLS. (default: None)
  --strict-permissions  Require that all configuration files are owned by the
                        current user; only needed if your config is somewhere
                        unsafe like /tmp/ (default: False)

testing:
  The following flags are meant for testing and integration purposes only.

  --test-cert, --staging
                        Use the staging server to obtain or revoke test
                        (invalid) certificates; equivalent to --server https
                        ://acme-staging.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
                        (default: False)
  --debug               Show tracebacks in case of errors, and allow certbot-
                        auto execution on experimental platforms (default:
                        False)
  --no-verify-ssl       Disable verification of the ACME server's certificate.
                        (default: False)
  --tls-sni-01-port TLS_SNI_01_PORT
                        Port used during tls-sni-01 challenge. This only
                        affects the port Certbot listens on. A conforming ACME
                        server will still attempt to connect on port 443.
                        (default: 443)
  --tls-sni-01-address TLS_SNI_01_ADDRESS
                        The address the server listens to during tls-sni-01
                        challenge. (default: )
  --http-01-port HTTP01_PORT
                        Port used in the http-01 challenge. This only affects
                        the port Certbot listens on. A conforming ACME server
                        will still attempt to connect on port 80. (default:
                        80)
  --http-01-address HTTP01_ADDRESS
                        The address the server listens to during http-01
                        challenge. (default: )
  --break-my-certs      Be willing to replace or renew valid certificates with
                        invalid (testing/staging) certificates (default:
                        False)

paths:
  Arguments changing execution paths & servers

  --cert-path CERT_PATH
                        Path to where certificate is saved (with auth --csr),
                        installed from, or revoked. (default: None)
  --key-path KEY_PATH   Path to private key for certificate installation or
                        revocation (if account key is missing) (default: None)
  --fullchain-path FULLCHAIN_PATH
                        Accompanying path to a full certificate chain
                        (certificate plus chain). (default: None)
  --chain-path CHAIN_PATH
                        Accompanying path to a certificate chain. (default:
                        None)
  --config-dir CONFIG_DIR
                        Configuration directory. (default: /etc/letsencrypt)
  --work-dir WORK_DIR   Working directory. (default: /var/lib/letsencrypt)
  --logs-dir LOGS_DIR   Logs directory. (default: /var/log/letsencrypt)
  --server SERVER       ACME Directory Resource URI. (default:
                        https://acme-v01.api.letsencrypt.org/directory)

manage:
  Various subcommands and flags are available for managing your
  certificates:

  certificates          List certificates managed by Certbot
  delete                Clean up all files related to a certificate
  renew                 Renew all certificates (or one specified with --cert-
                        name)
  revoke                Revoke a certificate specified with --cert-path
  update_symlinks       Recreate symlinks in your /etc/letsencrypt/live/
                        directory

run:
  Options for obtaining & installing certificates

certonly:
  Options for modifying how a certificate is obtained

  --csr CSR             Path to a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) in DER or
                        PEM format. Currently --csr only works with the
                        'certonly' subcommand. (default: None)

renew:
  The 'renew' subcommand will attempt to renew all certificates (or more
  precisely, certificate lineages) you have previously obtained if they are
  close to expiry, and print a summary of the results. By default, 'renew'
  will reuse the options used to create obtain or most recently successfully
  renew each certificate lineage. You can try it with `--dry-run` first. For
  more fine-grained control, you can renew individual lineages with the
  `certonly` subcommand. Hooks are available to run commands before and
  after renewal; see https://certbot.eff.org/docs/using.html#renewal for
  more information on these.

  --pre-hook PRE_HOOK   Command to be run in a shell before obtaining any
                        certificates. Intended primarily for renewal, where it
                        can be used to temporarily shut down a webserver that
                        might conflict with the standalone plugin. This will
                        only be called if a certificate is actually to be
                        obtained/renewed. When renewing several certificates
                        that have identical pre-hooks, only the first will be
                        executed. (default: None)
  --post-hook POST_HOOK
                        Command to be run in a shell after attempting to
                        obtain/renew certificates. Can be used to deploy
                        renewed certificates, or to restart any servers that
                        were stopped by --pre-hook. This is only run if an
                        attempt was made to obtain/renew a certificate. If
                        multiple renewed certificates have identical post-
                        hooks, only one will be run. (default: None)
  --renew-hook RENEW_HOOK
                        Command to be run in a shell once for each
                        successfully renewed certificate. For this command,
                        the shell variable $RENEWED_LINEAGE will point to the
                        config live subdirectory (for example,
                        "/etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com") containing the
                        new certificates and keys; the shell variable
                        $RENEWED_DOMAINS will contain a space-delimited list
                        of renewed certificate domains (for example,
                        "example.com www.example.com" (default: None)
  --disable-hook-validation
                        Ordinarily the commands specified for --pre-hook
                        /--post-hook/--renew-hook will be checked for
                        validity, to see if the programs being run are in the
                        $PATH, so that mistakes can be caught early, even when
                        the hooks aren't being run just yet. The validation is
                        rather simplistic and fails if you use more advanced
                        shell constructs, so you can use this switch to
                        disable it. (default: False)

certificates:
  List certificates managed by Certbot

delete:
  Options for deleting a certificate

revoke:
  Options for revocation of certificates

  --reason {keycompromise,affiliationchanged,superseded,unspecified,cessationofoperation}
                        Specify reason for revoking certificate. (default: 0)

register:
  Options for account registration & modification

  --register-unsafely-without-email
                        Specifying this flag enables registering an account
                        with no email address. This is strongly discouraged,
                        because in the event of key loss or account compromise
                        you will irrevocably lose access to your account. You
                        will also be unable to receive notice about impending
                        expiration or revocation of your certificates. Updates
                        to the Subscriber Agreement will still affect you, and
                        will be effective 14 days after posting an update to
                        the web site. (default: False)
  --update-registration
                        With the register verb, indicates that details
                        associated with an existing registration, such as the
                        e-mail address, should be updated, rather than
                        registering a new account. (default: False)
  -m EMAIL, --email EMAIL
                        Email used for registration and recovery contact.
                        (default: Ask)
  --eff-email           Share your e-mail address with EFF (default: None)
  --no-eff-email        Don't share your e-mail address with EFF (default:
                        None)

unregister:
  Options for account deactivation.

  --account ACCOUNT_ID  Account ID to use (default: None)

install:
  Options for modifying how a certificate is deployed

config_changes:
  Options for controlling which changes are displayed

  --num NUM             How many past revisions you want to be displayed
                        (default: None)

rollback:
  Options for rolling back server configuration changes

  --checkpoints N       Revert configuration N number of checkpoints.
                        (default: 1)

plugins:
  Options for for the "plugins" subcommand

  --init                Initialize plugins. (default: False)
  --prepare             Initialize and prepare plugins. (default: False)
  --authenticators      Limit to authenticator plugins only. (default: None)
  --installers          Limit to installer plugins only. (default: None)

update_symlinks:
  Recreates certificate and key symlinks in /etc/letsencrypt/live, if you
  changed them by hand or edited a renewal configuration file

plugins:
  Plugin Selection: Certbot client supports an extensible plugins
  architecture. See 'certbot plugins' for a list of all installed plugins
  and their names. You can force a particular plugin by setting options
  provided below. Running --help <plugin_name> will list flags specific to
  that plugin.

  --configurator CONFIGURATOR
                        Name of the plugin that is both an authenticator and
                        an installer. Should not be used together with
                        --authenticator or --installer. (default: Ask)
  -a AUTHENTICATOR, --authenticator AUTHENTICATOR
                        Authenticator plugin name. (default: None)
  -i INSTALLER, --installer INSTALLER
                        Installer plugin name (also used to find domains).
                        (default: None)
  --apache              Obtain and install certificates using Apache (default:
                        False)
  --nginx               Obtain and install certificates using Nginx (default:
                        False)
  --standalone          Obtain certificates using a "standalone" webserver.
                        (default: False)
  --manual              Provide laborious manual instructions for obtaining a
                        certificate (default: False)
  --webroot             Obtain certificates by placing files in a webroot
                        directory. (default: False)
  --dns-cloudflare      Obtain certificates using a DNS TXT record (if you are
                        using Cloudflare for DNS). (default: False)
  --dns-cloudxns        Obtain certificates using a DNS TXT record (if you are
                        using CloudXNS for DNS). (default: False)
  --dns-digitalocean    Obtain certificates using a DNS TXT record (if you are
                        using DigitalOcean for DNS). (default: False)
  --dns-dnsimple        Obtain certificates using a DNS TXT record (if you are
                        using DNSimple for DNS). (default: False)
  --dns-google          Obtain certificates using a DNS TXT record (if you are
                        using Google Cloud DNS). (default: False)
  --dns-nsone           Obtain certificates using a DNS TXT record (if you are
                        using NS1 for DNS). (default: False)
  --dns-route53         Obtain certificates using a DNS TXT record (if you are
                        using Route53 for DNS). (default: False)

apache:
  Apache Web Server plugin

  --apache-enmod APACHE_ENMOD
                        Path to the Apache 'a2enmod' binary. (default:
                        a2enmod)
  --apache-dismod APACHE_DISMOD
                        Path to the Apache 'a2dismod' binary. (default:
                        a2dismod)
  --apache-le-vhost-ext APACHE_LE_VHOST_EXT
                        SSL vhost configuration extension. (default: -le-
                        ssl.conf)
  --apache-server-root APACHE_SERVER_ROOT
                        Apache server root directory. (default: /etc/apache2)
  --apache-vhost-root APACHE_VHOST_ROOT
                        Apache server VirtualHost configuration root (default:
                        /etc/apache2/sites-available)
  --apache-logs-root APACHE_LOGS_ROOT
                        Apache server logs directory (default:
                        /var/log/apache2)
  --apache-challenge-location APACHE_CHALLENGE_LOCATION
                        Directory path for challenge configuration. (default:
                        /etc/apache2)
  --apache-handle-modules APACHE_HANDLE_MODULES
                        Let installer handle enabling required modules for
                        you.(Only Ubuntu/Debian currently) (default: True)
  --apache-handle-sites APACHE_HANDLE_SITES
                        Let installer handle enabling sites for you.(Only
                        Ubuntu/Debian currently) (default: True)

certbot-route53:auth:
  Obtain certificates using a DNS TXT record (if you are using AWS Route53
  for DNS).

  --certbot-route53:auth-propagation-seconds CERTBOT_ROUTE53:AUTH_PROPAGATION_SECONDS
                        The number of seconds to wait for DNS to propagate
                        before asking the ACME server to verify the DNS
                        record. (default: 10)

dns-cloudflare:
  Obtain certificates using a DNS TXT record (if you are using Cloudflare
  for DNS).

  --dns-cloudflare-propagation-seconds DNS_CLOUDFLARE_PROPAGATION_SECONDS
                        The number of seconds to wait for DNS to propagate
                        before asking the ACME server to verify the DNS
                        record. (default: 10)
  --dns-cloudflare-credentials DNS_CLOUDFLARE_CREDENTIALS
                        Cloudflare credentials INI file. (default: None)

dns-cloudxns:
  Obtain certificates using a DNS TXT record (if you are using CloudXNS for
  DNS).

  --dns-cloudxns-propagation-seconds DNS_CLOUDXNS_PROPAGATION_SECONDS
                        The number of seconds to wait for DNS to propagate
                        before asking the ACME server to verify the DNS
                        record. (default: 30)
  --dns-cloudxns-credentials DNS_CLOUDXNS_CREDENTIALS
                        CloudXNS credentials INI file. (default: None)

dns-digitalocean:
  Obtain certs using a DNS TXT record (if you are using DigitalOcean for
  DNS).

  --dns-digitalocean-propagation-seconds DNS_DIGITALOCEAN_PROPAGATION_SECONDS
                        The number of seconds to wait for DNS to propagate
                        before asking the ACME server to verify the DNS
                        record. (default: 10)
  --dns-digitalocean-credentials DNS_DIGITALOCEAN_CREDENTIALS
                        DigitalOcean credentials INI file. (default: None)

dns-dnsimple:
  Obtain certificates using a DNS TXT record (if you are using DNSimple for
  DNS).

  --dns-dnsimple-propagation-seconds DNS_DNSIMPLE_PROPAGATION_SECONDS
                        The number of seconds to wait for DNS to propagate
                        before asking the ACME server to verify the DNS
                        record. (default: 30)
  --dns-dnsimple-credentials DNS_DNSIMPLE_CREDENTIALS
                        DNSimple credentials INI file. (default: None)

dns-google:
  Obtain certificates using a DNS TXT record (if you are using Google Cloud
  DNS for DNS).

  --dns-google-propagation-seconds DNS_GOOGLE_PROPAGATION_SECONDS
                        The number of seconds to wait for DNS to propagate
                        before asking the ACME server to verify the DNS
                        record. (default: 60)
  --dns-google-credentials DNS_GOOGLE_CREDENTIALS
                        Path to Google Cloud DNS service account JSON file.
                        (See https://developers.google.com/identity/protocols/
                        OAuth2ServiceAccount#creatinganaccount forinformation
                        about creating a service account and
                        https://cloud.google.com/dns/access-
                        control#permissions_and_roles for information about
                        therequired permissions.) (default: None)

dns-nsone:
  Obtain certificates using a DNS TXT record (if you are using NS1 for DNS).

  --dns-nsone-propagation-seconds DNS_NSONE_PROPAGATION_SECONDS
                        The number of seconds to wait for DNS to propagate
                        before asking the ACME server to verify the DNS
                        record. (default: 30)
  --dns-nsone-credentials DNS_NSONE_CREDENTIALS
                        NS1 credentials file. (default: None)

dns-route53:
  Obtain certificates using a DNS TXT record (if you are using AWS Route53
  for DNS).

  --dns-route53-propagation-seconds DNS_ROUTE53_PROPAGATION_SECONDS
                        The number of seconds to wait for DNS to propagate
                        before asking the ACME server to verify the DNS
                        record. (default: 10)

manual:
  Authenticate through manual configuration or custom shell scripts. When
  using shell scripts, an authenticator script must be provided. The
  environment variables available to this script are $CERTBOT_DOMAIN which
  contains the domain being authenticated, $CERTBOT_VALIDATION which is the
  validation string, and $CERTBOT_TOKEN which is the filename of the
  resource requested when performing an HTTP-01 challenge. An additional
  cleanup script can also be provided and can use the additional variable
  $CERTBOT_AUTH_OUTPUT which contains the stdout output from the auth
  script.

  --manual-auth-hook MANUAL_AUTH_HOOK
                        Path or command to execute for the authentication
                        script (default: None)
  --manual-cleanup-hook MANUAL_CLEANUP_HOOK
                        Path or command to execute for the cleanup script
                        (default: None)
  --manual-public-ip-logging-ok
                        Automatically allows public IP logging (default: Ask)

nginx:
  Nginx Web Server plugin

  --nginx-server-root NGINX_SERVER_ROOT
                        Nginx server root directory. (default: /etc/nginx)
  --nginx-ctl NGINX_CTL
                        Path to the 'nginx' binary, used for 'configtest' and
                        retrieving nginx version number. (default: nginx)

null:
  Null Installer

standalone:
  Spin up a temporary webserver

webroot:
  Place files in webroot directory

  --webroot-path WEBROOT_PATH, -w WEBROOT_PATH
                        public_html / webroot path. This can be specified
                        multiple times to handle different domains; each
                        domain will have the webroot path that preceded it.
                        For instance: `-w /var/www/example -d example.com -d
                        www.example.com -w /var/www/thing -d thing.net -d
                        m.thing.net` (default: Ask)
  --webroot-map WEBROOT_MAP
                        JSON dictionary mapping domains to webroot paths; this
                        implies -d for each entry. You may need to escape this
                        from your shell. E.g.: --webroot-map
                        '{"eg1.is,m.eg1.is":"/www/eg1/", "eg2.is":"/www/eg2"}'
                        This option is merged with, but takes precedence over,
                        -w / -d entries. At present, if you put webroot-map in
                        a config file, it needs to be on a single line, like:
                        webroot-map = {"example.com":"/var/www"}. (default:
                        {})