Summary: Install the Neon CLI (neon) with npm i -g neon@latest, or on macOS, Windows, or Linux via Homebrew, bun, or a standalone binary, with no-install options via npx or bunx. After installing, connect by running neon login for browser-based authentication, or set the NEON_API_KEY environment variable or pass --api-key per command. Vercel-Managed Integration users must use an API key because web auth requires a Neon-registered account.

Install the Neon CLI and connect with web auth or API key

Install the Neon CLI globally with npm:

npm i -g neon@latest

Requires Node.js 20.19.0 or higher. The CLI is invoked as neon, and neonctl is an alias for neon.

brew install neonctl

bun install -g neon

curl -sL https://github.com/neondatabase/neon-pkgs/releases/latest/download/neon-macos-x64 -o neon

neon <command> [options]

bun install -g neon

curl -sL -O https://github.com/neondatabase/neon-pkgs/releases/latest/download/neon-win-x64.exe

neon-win-x64.exe <command> [options]

bun install -g neon

curl -sL https://github.com/neondatabase/neon-pkgs/releases/latest/download/neon-linux-x64 -o neon

curl -sL https://github.com/neondatabase/neon-pkgs/releases/latest/download/neon-linux-arm64 -o neon

neon <command> [options]

# npx
npx neon <command>

# bunx
bunx neon <command>

Upgrade using the method that matches how you installed the CLI. To check for the latest version, see the Neon CLI Releases page. To check your installed version, run:

neon --version

Note: Node.js 20.19.0 is required to upgrade

The current CLI requires Node.js 20.19.0 or higher. An existing installation keeps working on your current Node.js version, but upgrading to the latest CLI on an older version (such as Node.js 18) fails. If you're on an older version, upgrade Node.js before you upgrade the CLI.

npm

npm update -g neon

Homebrew

brew upgrade neonctl

Binary

To upgrade a binary version, download the latest binary as described in the install instructions above, and replace your old binary with the new one.

In CI/CD tools like GitHub Actions, you can safely pin the Neon CLI to latest, as we prioritize stability for CI/CD processes.

npm (recommended)

In your GitHub Actions workflow, use the latest tag with npm:

- name: Install Neon CLI
  run: npm install -g neon@latest

Binary

If you're downloading a binary, reference the latest release from the Releases page using curl or wget in your workflow:

- name: Install Neon CLI
  run: |
    curl -L https://github.com/neondatabase/neon-pkgs/releases/latest/download/neon-linux-x64 -o /usr/local/bin/neon
    chmod +x /usr/local/bin/neon

The Neon CLI supports connecting via web authentication or API key.

Run the following command to connect to Neon via web authentication:

neon login

The neon login command launches a browser window where you can authorize the Neon CLI to access your Neon account. If you haven't authenticated previously, running any Neon CLI command launches the web authentication process automatically unless you've specified an API key.

Note: If you use Neon through the Vercel-Managed Integration, you must authenticate connections from the CLI client using a Neon API key (see below). The neon login command requires an account registered through Neon rather than Vercel.

To authenticate with a Neon API key, specify the --api-key option when running a Neon CLI command:

neon projects list --api-key <neon_api_key>

To avoid including --api-key with each command, export your API key to the NEON_API_KEY environment variable.

export NEON_API_KEY=<neon_api_key>

For information about obtaining a Neon API key, see Creating API keys.

The Neon CLI supports autocompletion. See Neon CLI commands: completion to set it up.

• Quickstart

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