CLI Commands
Protocol Tools
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
ze bgp decode |
Decode BGP message from hex to JSON |
ze bgp encode |
Encode text route command to BGP wire hex |
Configuration Management
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
ze config validate <file> |
Validate configuration file |
ze config edit |
Interactive configuration editor |
ze config migrate |
Convert an older ze config to the current format |
ze config fmt |
Format and normalize config file |
ze config dump |
Dump parsed configuration tree |
ze config diff <a> <b> |
Compare two configuration files |
ze config set |
Set a configuration value programmatically |
ze config import |
Import a configuration file into ze |
ze config rename |
Rename a configuration element |
ze config archive <name> |
Archive config to a named destination (guide) |
ze config history |
List rollback revisions |
ze config rollback <N> |
Restore revision N |
Schema Discovery
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
ze schema list |
List all registered YANG schemas |
ze schema show <module> |
Show YANG content for a module |
ze schema handlers |
List handler→module mapping |
ze schema methods [module] |
List RPCs from YANG modules |
ze schema events |
List notifications from YANG |
ze schema protocol |
Show protocol version and format info |
Daemon Control
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
ze <config-file> |
Start daemon with configuration |
ze signal reload |
Send SIGHUP and reload configuration |
ze signal stop |
Graceful shutdown (no GR marker) |
ze signal restart |
Graceful restart (writes GR marker, then shuts down) |
ze signal status |
Dump process status (SIGUSR1 equivalent) |
ze signal quit |
Send SIGQUIT, dump goroutines, and halt |
ze status |
Check if daemon is running |
Runtime Interaction
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
ze cli |
Interactive CLI (with -c <cmd> for single command) |
ze show <command> |
Read-only daemon commands |
Ping and traceroute: show ping and show traceroute run one-shot ICMP checks from the router itself using ze's internal engine -- no daemon required, they work as local handlers. monitor ping and monitor traceroute open a live, continuously-updating view (Ctrl-C to stop); pipe either through | log for scrollback, or add | resolve / | origin to enrich traceroute hops with reverse DNS or ASN info.
size sets the ICMP payload length (1-65507), not the total packet: unlike ping(8)'s "64 bytes" (56 payload + 8 header), size 1400 sends 1400 payload bytes on top of the ICMP and IP headers. Both show ping and monitor ping take count (1-100) and size; omitting count on monitor ping is what makes it stream until Ctrl-C, and it additionally takes interval (100ms-30s).
ze show ping 8.8.8.8 count 5 timeout 3s
ze show ping 8.8.8.8 size 1400
ze show traceroute 8.8.8.8 max-hops 10 probes 1
ze cli -c "monitor ping 8.8.8.8 interval 500ms"
ze cli -c "monitor ping 8.8.8.8 count 5 size 1400"
ze cli -c "monitor traceroute 8.8.8.8 | log | resolve"
Live peer dashboard: monitor bgp in the interactive CLI opens a live dashboard showing router identity, a sortable colour-coded peer table with update rates, and a drill-down detail view. It refreshes every 2 seconds. Use j/k to move, s/S to sort, Enter for detail, and Esc to exit.
Operate BGP from the live dashboard
Connect to Ze over SSH, open the live BGP dashboard, sort peers, and inspect one session.
Read the demonstration transcript
$ ssh ze-demo
ze# exit
ze> monitor bgp
The dashboard polls three local BGP sessions. Press "s" to sort by the next column, use the arrow keys to select a peer, and press Enter for live session details. Press Escape to return and "q" to leave the dashboard.Commit confirmed: The editor supports commit confirmed <seconds> for safe remote changes. The config is applied immediately but auto-reverts if confirm is not issued within the timeout window (1-3600 seconds). Use confirm abort to revert manually. Modeled after Junos commit confirmed.
Command history persistence: Both ze config edit and ze cli persist command history to the zefs blob store. History survives application restarts, is stored per-mode (edit vs command) and per-user, with consecutive dedup and a configurable rolling window (default 100, max 10000). Graceful degradation when no blob store is available (in-memory only).
Login warnings: When an operator connects via SSH, ze checks for conditions requiring attention and displays warnings in the welcome area. Each warning includes a message and an actionable command. Currently checks for stale prefix data (peers with prefix-updated older than 6 months); run update bgp peer * prefix to refresh from PeeringDB.
Plugin debug shell: ze bgp plugin cli connects to the daemon via SSH, runs the 5-stage plugin handshake, and enters interactive command mode. Developers can test plugin protocol interactions by hand -- sending dispatch-command, subscribe-events, decode-nlri, etc. Accepts defaults (Enter through Q&A) or custom registration parameters (families, plugin name).
Other
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
ze plugin <name> |
Run a registered plugin |
ze exabgp plugin |
Run ExaBGP plugin with ze bridge |
ze exabgp migrate |
Convert ExaBGP config to ze |
ze completion bash/zsh/fish/nushell |
Generate shell completion scripts |
ze --plugins |
List available internal plugins |