by timescale
Tiger CLI is the command-line interface for Tiger Cloud. It includes an MCP server for helping coding agents write production-level Postgres code.
# Add to your Claude Code skills
git clone https://github.com/timescale/tiger-cliTiger CLI is the command-line interface for Tiger Cloud. It provides commands for managing and querying database services, as well as an integrated Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for use with AI assistants.
Multiple installation methods are provided. Choose your preferred method from the options below. If you aren't sure, use the first one!
curl -fsSL https://cli.tigerdata.com | sh
irm https://cli.tigerdata.com/install.ps1 | iex
brew install --cask timescale/tap/tiger-cli
# Add repository
curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/timescale/tiger-cli/script.deb.sh | sudo os=any dist=any bash
# Install tiger-cli
sudo apt-get install tiger-cli
For manual repository installation instructions, see here.
# Add repository
curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/timescale/tiger-cli/script.rpm.sh | sudo os=rpm_any dist=rpm_any bash
# Install tiger-cli
sudo yum install tiger-cli
For manual repository installation instructions, see here.
go install github.com/timescale/tiger-cli/cmd/tiger@latest
After installing Tiger CLI, authenticate with your Tiger Cloud account:
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# Login to your Tiger account
tiger auth login
# View available commands
tiger --help
# List your database services
tiger service list
# Create a new database service
tiger service create --name my-database
# Get connection string
tiger db connection-string
# Connect to your database
tiger db connect
# Install the MCP server
tiger mcp install
Tiger CLI provides the following commands:
tiger auth - Authentication management
login - Log in to your Tiger accountlogout - Log out from your Tiger accountstatus - Show current authentication status and project IDtiger service - Service lifecycle management
list - List all servicescreate - Create a new serviceget - Show detailed service information (aliases: describe, show)fork - Fork an existing servicestart - Start a stopped servicestop - Stop a running serviceresize - Resize service CPU and memory allocationdelete - Delete a serviceupdate-password - Update service master passwordlogs - View service logstiger db - Database operations
connect - Connect to a database with psqlconnection-string - Get connection string for a servicetest-connection - Test database connectivitytiger config - Configuration management
show - Show current configurationset - Set configuration valueunset - Remove configuration valuereset - Reset configuration to defaultstiger mcp - MCP server setup and management
install - Install and configure MCP server for an AI assistantstart - Start the MCP serverlist - List available MCP tools, prompts, and resourcesget - Get detailed information about a specific MCP capability (aliases: describe, show)tiger version - Show version informationUse tiger <command> --help for detailed information about each command.
Tiger CLI includes a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables AI assistants like Claude Code to interact with your Tiger Cloud infrastructure. The MCP server provides programmatic access to database services and operations.
Configure the MCP server for your AI assistant:
# Interactive installation (prompts for client selection)
tiger mcp install
# Or specify your client directly
tiger mcp install claude-code # Claude Code
tiger mcp install codex # Codex
tiger mcp install cursor # Cursor IDE
tiger mcp install gemini # Gemini CLI
tiger mcp install vscode # VS Code
tiger mcp install windsurf # Windsurf
After installation, restart your AI assistant to activate the Tiger MCP server.
If your MCP client is not supported by tiger mcp install, follow the client's
instructions for installing MCP servers. Use tiger mcp start as the command to
start the MCP server. For example, many clients use a JSON file like the
following:
{
"mcpServers": {
"tiger": {
"command": "tiger",
"args": [
"mcp",
"start"
]
}
}
}
The above instructions install the MCP server using the stdio transport. If you
need to use the Streamable HTTP transport instead, you can start the server with
tiger mcp start http --port 8080 and install it into your client using
http://localhost:8080 as the URL.
The MCP server exposes the following tools to AI assistants:
Service Management:
service_list - List all database services in your projectservice_get - Get detailed information about a specific serviceservice_create - Create new database services with configurable resourcesservice_fork - Fork an existing database service to create an independent copyservice_start - Start a stopped database serviceservice_stop - Stop a running database serviceservice_resize - Resize a database service by changing CPU and memory allocationservice_update_password - Update the master password for a serviceservice_logs - View logs for a database serviceDatabase Operations:
db_execute_query - Execute SQL queries against a database service with support for parameterized queries, custom timeouts, and connection poolingThe MCP server automatically uses your CLI authentication and configuration, so no additional setup is required beyond tiger auth login.
In addition to the service management tools listed above, the Tiger MCP server also proxies tools from a remote documentation MCP server. This feature provides AI assistants with semantic search capabilities for PostgreSQL, TimescaleDB, and Tiger Cloud documentation, as well as prompts/guides for various Tiger Cloud features.
The proxied documentation server (pg-aiguide) currently provides the following tools:
view_skill - Retrieve comprehensive guides for Postgres and TimescaleDB features and best practicessearch_docs - Search PostgreSQL and TimescaleDB documentation using natural language queriesThis proxy connection is enabled by default and requires no additional configuration.
To disable the documentation proxy:
tiger config set docs_mcp false
The CLI stores configuration in ~/.config/tiger/config.yaml by default, and supports hierarchical configuration through environment variables and command-line flags.
# Show current configuration
tiger config show
# Set configuration values
tiger config set output json
# Remove configuration value
tiger config unset output
# Reset to defaults
tiger config reset
All configuration options can be set via tiger config set <key> <value>:
analytics - Enable/disable analytics (default: true)color - Enable/disable colored output (default: true)debug - Enable/disable debug logging (default: false)docs_mcp - Enable/disable docs MCP proxy (default: true)output - Output format: json, yaml, or table (default: table)password_storage - Password storage method: keyring, pgpass, or none (default: keyring)read_only - When true, write/destructive Tiger MCP tools (service_create, service_fork, service_start, service_stop, service_resize, service_update_password) refuse to run. Read tools are unaffected. db_execute_query is still available, but its database connection is opened with an immutable Tiger Cloud read-only GUC so writes and DDL are rejected by the server. Default: false.service_id - Default service IDversion_check_interval - How often the CLI will check for new versions, 0 to disable (default: 24h)Environment variables override configuration file values. All variables use the TIGER_ prefix:
TIGER_ANALYTICS - Enable/disable analyticsTIGER_COLOR - Enable/disable colored outputTIGER_CONFIG_DIR - Path to configuration directory (default: ~/.config/tiger)TIGER_DEBUG - Enable/disable debug loggingTIGER_DOCS_MCP - Enable/disable docs MCP proxyTIGER_OUTPUT - Output format: json, yaml, or tableTIGER_PASSWORD_STORAGE - Password storage method: keyring, pgpass, or noneTIGER_READ_ONLY - When true, write/destructive Tiger MCP tools refuse to run and db_execute_query runs against a read-only database connectionTIGER_PUBLIC_KEY - Public key to use for authentication (takes priority over stored credentials)TIGER_SECRET_KEY - Secret key to use for authentication (takes priority over stored credentials)TIGER_SERVICE_ID - Default service IDTIGER_VERSION_CHECK_INTERVAL - How often the CLI will check for new versions, 0 to disableThese flags are available on all commands and take precedence over both environment variables and configuration file values:
--analytics - Enable/disable analytics--color - Enable/disable colored output--config-dir <path> - Path to configuration directory (default: ~/.config/tiger)--debug - Enable/disable debug logging--password-storage <method> - Password storage method: keyring, pgpass, or none--service-id <id> - Specify service ID--skip-update-check - Skip checking for updates on startup (default: false)-h, --help - Show help informationWe welcome contributions! He