- There is no formal Dropbox support for this project
- Bugs may or may not get fixed
- Not all SDK features may be implemented and implemented features may be buggy or incorrect
- Supports basic file operations like ls, cp, mkdir, mv, rm (via the Files API)
- Supports search with sorting and flexible time formatting
- Supports file revisions and file restore
- Chunked uploads for large files, paginated listing for large directories
- Recursive directory uploads (
put -r) and downloads (get -r) - Retry with exponential backoff for uploads and downloads
- Supports a growing set of Team operations
brew install dbxcliDownload the archive for your architecture, verify its checksum, and install. Replace X.Y.Z with the latest version from the Releases page (without the leading v).
curl -LO https://github.com/dropbox/dbxcli/releases/download/vX.Y.Z/dbxcli_X.Y.Z_linux_amd64.tar.gz
curl -LO https://github.com/dropbox/dbxcli/releases/download/vX.Y.Z/SHA256SUMS
grep 'dbxcli_X.Y.Z_linux_amd64.tar.gz' SHA256SUMS | sha256sum -c -
tar -xzf dbxcli_X.Y.Z_linux_amd64.tar.gz
sudo mv dbxcli_X.Y.Z_linux_amd64/dbxcli /usr/local/bin/For ARM systems, use linux_arm64 or linux_arm instead of linux_amd64.
If you prefer not to use Homebrew:
curl -LO https://github.com/dropbox/dbxcli/releases/download/vX.Y.Z/dbxcli_X.Y.Z_darwin_arm64.tar.gz
curl -LO https://github.com/dropbox/dbxcli/releases/download/vX.Y.Z/SHA256SUMS
grep 'dbxcli_X.Y.Z_darwin_arm64.tar.gz' SHA256SUMS | shasum -a 256 -c -
tar -xzf dbxcli_X.Y.Z_darwin_arm64.tar.gz
sudo mv dbxcli_X.Y.Z_darwin_arm64/dbxcli /usr/local/bin/Use darwin_amd64 for Intel Macs.
Download dbxcli_X.Y.Z_windows_amd64.zip from the Releases page, extract it, and add the directory to your PATH.
All release archives are available at the releases page:
dbxcli_X.Y.Z_darwin_amd64.tar.gzdbxcli_X.Y.Z_darwin_arm64.tar.gzdbxcli_X.Y.Z_linux_amd64.tar.gzdbxcli_X.Y.Z_linux_arm64.tar.gzdbxcli_X.Y.Z_linux_arm.tar.gzdbxcli_X.Y.Z_openbsd_amd64.tar.gzdbxcli_X.Y.Z_windows_amd64.zipSHA256SUMS
- Make sure
gitandgoare installed. - Install the latest released version:
$ go install github.com/dropbox/dbxcli@latest
- Or build from source:
$ git clone https://github.com/dropbox/dbxcli.git $ cd dbxcli $ go build .
To use your own Dropbox app while developing, provide its app key when logging in:
$ dbxcli login --app-key=your-app-keydbxcli is largely self documenting. Run dbxcli -h for a list of supported commands:
$ dbxcli --help
Use dbxcli to quickly interact with your Dropbox, upload/download files,
manage your team and more. It is easy, scriptable and works on all platforms!
Usage:
dbxcli [command]
Available Commands:
account Display account information
completion Generate the autocompletion script for the specified shell
cp Copy a file or folder to a different location
du Display usage information
get Download a file or folder
login Log in and save Dropbox credentials
logout Log out of the current session
ls List files and folders
mkdir Create a new directory
mv Move files
put Upload files or directories
restore Restore files
revs List file revisions
rm Remove files
search Search
share Sharing commands
team Team management commands
version Print version information
Flags:
--as-member string Member ID to perform action as
-v, --verbose Enable verbose logging
Use "dbxcli [command] --help" for more information about a command.By default, dbxcli stores OAuth credentials in ~/.config/dbxcli/auth.json.
Run dbxcli login to authorize dbxcli and save credentials:
$ dbxcli loginCommands require saved credentials. If no saved credentials are available, run
dbxcli login first or provide a token with DBXCLI_ACCESS_TOKEN.
Personal and team logins use bundled Dropbox app keys by default. You can pass a custom app key as an option:
$ dbxcli login --app-key=your-app-keyYou can also set custom app keys with environment variables:
$ DROPBOX_PERSONAL_APP_KEY=your-app-key dbxcli login
$ DROPBOX_TEAM_APP_KEY=your-app-key dbxcli login team-access
$ DROPBOX_MANAGE_APP_KEY=your-app-key dbxcli login team-manageSaved login credentials include a Dropbox refresh token and are refreshed
automatically when the access token expires. If saved credentials are revoked or
need to be replaced, run dbxcli login again.
Set DBXCLI_AUTH_FILE to use a different credentials file:
$ DBXCLI_AUTH_FILE=/path/to/auth.json dbxcli loginFor automation with short-lived Dropbox access tokens, set DBXCLI_ACCESS_TOKEN.
This token is used directly and is not saved or refreshed. If it expires, the
command fails and you must provide a fresh token:
$ DBXCLI_ACCESS_TOKEN=sl.xxxxxx dbxcli ls /$ dbxcli ls -l /Photos
Revision Size Last modified Path
abc123 1.2 MiB 3 weeks ago /Photos/vacation.jpg
def456 4.5 MiB 1 month ago /Photos/family.pngBy default, ls -l, search -l, and revs -l show relative timestamps ("3 weeks ago"). Use --time-format for absolute dates:
$ dbxcli ls -l --time-format=short /Photos
Revision Size Last modified Path
abc123 1.2 MiB 2026-05-15 10:30 /Photos/vacation.jpg
$ dbxcli ls -l --time-format=rfc3339 /Photos
Revision Size Last modified Path
abc123 1.2 MiB 2026-05-15T10:30:00Z /Photos/vacation.jpgUse --time=client to display client-modified time instead of server-modified (default):
$ dbxcli ls -l --time=client --time-format=short /PhotosSort results with --sort and optionally --reverse:
$ dbxcli ls -l --sort=size /Documents # smallest first
$ dbxcli ls -l --sort=size --reverse /Documents # largest first
$ dbxcli ls -l --sort=name /Documents # alphabetical
$ dbxcli ls -l --sort=time /Documents # oldest first
$ dbxcli ls -l --sort=type /Documents # folders, files, deleted$ dbxcli search -l --time-format=short --sort=size "report"All --sort, --reverse, --time, and --time-format flags work with both ls and search. The --time and --time-format flags also work with revs -l.
$ dbxcli team --help
Team management commands
Usage:
dbxcli team [command]
Available Commands:
add-member Add a new member to a team
info Get team information
list-groups List groups
list-members List team members
remove-member Remove member from a team
Global Flags:
--as-member string Member ID to perform action as
-v, --verbose Enable verbose logging
Use "dbxcli team [command] --help" for more information about a command.The --verbose option will turn on verbose logging and is useful for debugging.
$ dbxcli put file.txt /destination/file.txt # upload a single file
$ dbxcli put -r ./project /backup/project # recursively upload a directory
$ dbxcli put -r -w 8 ./large-folder /backup/large # use 8 workers per large file$ dbxcli get /remote/file.txt ./local-file.txt # download a single file
$ dbxcli get -r /remote/folder ./local-folder # recursively download a folderUse - as the local operand to stream through pipes:
$ printf 'hello' | dbxcli put - /hello.txt # upload from stdin
$ tar cz ./src | dbxcli put - /backups/src.tgz # pipe archive to Dropbox
$ dbxcli get /backups/src.tgz - | tar tz # download to stdout and list
$ dbxcli get /file.txt - > local-copy.txt # download to stdout, redirect to fileStdin uploads are spooled to a temp file before uploading, so disk space up to the full input size is required. Stdout downloads are byte-clean: all progress and diagnostic output goes to stderr.
A bare - means stream only when it is the local operand. Dropbox paths named - are valid, for example dbxcli put - /- and dbxcli get /- -. To upload a local file literally named -, use ./-.
$ dbxcli rm /remote/file.txt # move a file to Dropbox trash
$ dbxcli rm -r /remote/folder # remove a non-empty folder
$ dbxcli rm --permanent /remote/file.txt # permanently delete when Dropbox permits it$ dbxcli mkdir /projects/2026/reports # creates all intermediate directories
$ dbxcli mkdir -p /projects/2026/reports # no error if directory already exists- Step 1: If you're submitting a non-trivial change, please fill out the Dropbox Contributor License Agreement first.
- Step 2: send a pull request
- Step 3: Profit!