DOKK / manpages / debian 12 / pipewire-bin / pw-cli.1.en
PW-CLI(1) General Commands Manual PW-CLI(1)

pw-cli - The PipeWire Command Line Interface

pw-cli [command]

Interact with a PipeWire instance.

When a command is given, pw-cli will execute the command and exit

When no command is given, pw-cli starts an interactive session with the default PipeWire instance pipewire-0.

Connections to other, remote instances can be made. The current instance name is displayed at the prompt. Some commands operate on the current instance and some on the local instance.

Use the 'help' command to list the available commands.

Show a quick help on the commands available. It also lists the aliases for many commands.
Exit from pw-cli

Modules are loaded and unloaded in the local instance, thus the pw-cli
binary itself and can add functionality or objects to the local
instance. It is not possible in PipeWire to load modules in another
instance.

Load a module specified by its name and arguments. For most modules it is OK to be loaded more than once.

This command returns a module variable that can be used to unload the module.

Unload a module, specified either by its variable.

List the objects of the current instance.

Objects are listed with their id, type and version.

Get information about a specific object or all objects.

Requesting info about an object will also notify you of changes.


Connect to a remote instance and make this the new current instance.

If no remote name is specified, a connection is made to the default remote instance, usually pipewire-0.

This command returns a remote var that can be used to disconnect or switch remotes.

Disconnect from a remote instance.

If no remote name is specified, the current instance is disconnected.

List all remote instances.
Make the specified remote the current instance.

If no remote name is specified, the local instance is made current.


Create a node from a factory in the current instance.

Properties are key=value pairs separated by whitespace.

This command returns a node variable.

Export a node from the local instance to the specified instance. When no instance is specified, the node will be exported to the current instance.

Create a device from a factory in the current instance.

Properties are key=value pairs separated by whitespace.

This command returns a device variable.


Create a link between 2 nodes and ports.

Port ids can be -1 to automatically select an available port.

Properties are key=value pairs separated by whitespace.

This command returns a link variable.


Destroy a global object.

Enumerate params of an object.

param-id can also be given as the param short name.

Set param of an object.

param-id can also be given as the param short name.


Set permissions for a client.

object-id can be -1 to set the default permissions.

Get permissions of a client.

Send a command to an object.

The PipeWire Developers <https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire/issues>; PipeWire is available from https://pipewire.org

pipewire(1), pw-mon(1),