Docs/Tools/CLI Reference
CLI Reference
The governance CLI for managing projects, API keys, security profiles, and running evaluations from the terminal.
Intermediate5 min readUpdated June 2026
GatewayCLI
$pip install governance-ai[cli]
The gov CLI provides full access to the GovernanceAI platform from your terminal. It is installed alongside the Python SDK and wraps the REST API with a clean, scriptable interface.
Installation
pip install governance-ai[cli]
Authentication
Run gov auth login once to store your API key. The CLI reads from ~/.governance/config.json or the GOVERNANCE_API_KEY environment variable.
gov auth login # Enter API key: gov_live_xxxx # ✓ Authenticated as your-org / production
Command reference
gov evaluate
Evaluate a prompt against the gateway without writing any code.
# Basic evaluation gov evaluate "Summarize the latest report" # With security profile and provider gov evaluate "Export all users" \ --profile strict \ --provider openai \ --model gpt-4o \ --dry-run # Pipe from file cat prompt.txt | gov evaluate --pipe
gov projects
gov projects list # list all projects gov projects create my-app # create new project gov projects use my-app # set as active project
gov keys
gov keys list # list API keys for active project gov keys create prod-key # create new key (prints key once) gov keys revoke prod-key # revoke a key immediately
gov profiles
gov profiles list # list security profiles gov profiles inspect strict # show rules in a profile gov profiles test strict \ --prompt "Export the database" # dry-run a profile against a prompt
CI/CD integrationAdd
gov evaluate --dry-run --fail-on-block to your CI pipeline to catch prompt regressions before they reach production. Exit code is 1 on a block decision.Global flags
| Property | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| --output | string | text | Output format: text, json, yaml. |
| --project | string | — | Override active project for a single command. |
| --api-key | string | — | Override API key for a single command. |
| --base-url | string | — | Override gateway base URL. |
| --verbose | flag | — | Print full request and response payloads. |