autobahn-cli

Query live traffic data — roadworks, warnings, closures, parking, webcams and charging stations — along Germany's motorway network, straight from your terminal. autobahn is a command-line tool over the open Autobahn App API (verkehr.autobahn.de) operated by Autobahn GmbH des Bundes.

• Works out of the box — no account, no API key, no configuration. Install and query.
• Clean JSON output — pretty-printed by default, --compact for one-line/scripting.
• Seven commands — roads plus six service groups (roadworks, webcams, parking, warnings, closures, charging), each with list and get.
• Nothing to configure — the API is fully open and read-only; no credentials ever leave your machine.

Want to use this as a TypeScript library or understand how it's built? See DEVELOPING.md.

Install

npm i -g @maschinenlesbar.org/autobahn-cli

This installs the autobahn command. Requires Node.js 20+.

Check it works:

autobahn --help

Quickstart

No setup needed — the API requires no key. Your first command:

autobahn roads

That returns a JSON array of every motorway the API knows about (A1, A2, …). Pull out a flat list with jq:

autobahn roads | jq -r '.[]'

Pick a road id and query a service:

autobahn roadworks list A1

Commands

roads                              list all motorways (A1, A2, ...)
roadworks   list <roadId> | get <identifier>
webcams     list <roadId> | get <identifier>
parking     list <roadId> | get <identifier>   (lorry parking areas)
warnings    list <roadId> | get <identifier>   (traffic warnings)
closures    list <roadId> | get <identifier>
charging    list <roadId> | get <identifier>   (electric charging stations)

The <roadId> is a motorway designation from autobahn roads (e.g. A1). The <identifier> for a get command is the identifier field of an item returned by the matching list.

On the rare occasion an identifier begins with -, it would be read as an option; pass it after a -- separator: autobahn roadworks get -- -odd.identifier.

Service commands — subcommand reference

Each of the six service groups (roadworks, webcams, parking, warnings, closures, charging) supports the same two subcommands:

| Subcommand | Argument | Description | | --- | --- | --- | | list | <roadId> | All items for that service along the motorway | | get | <identifier> | Full detail for one item by its base64 identifier |

A list that matches no items is not an error — it prints [] and exits 0. A get with an unknown or mistyped identifier exits 4.

Common tasks

A few recipes to get going — see Usage.md for the full, use-case-driven set.

# Which motorways are covered?
autobahn roads

# Current roadworks on the A1
autobahn roadworks list A1

# Titles of all active roadworks (jq)
autobahn roadworks list A1 | jq -r '.[].title'

# Full detail of one roadwork item (two-step: list → get)
autobahn roadworks list A1 | jq -r '.[0].identifier'
autobahn roadworks get <identifier>

# Webcam URLs along the A99 Munich ring
autobahn webcams list A99 | jq -r '.[].linkurl'

# EV charging stations on the A9 (compact, for scripting)
autobahn --compact charging list A9

# How many active roadworks on the A7?
autobahn roadworks list A7 | jq 'length'

Output & scripting

Every command prints pretty JSON to stdout. Errors and diagnostics go to stderr, so piping stdout into jq stays clean.

# First roadwork title on the A3
autobahn roadworks list A3 | jq -r '.[0].title'

# All warning descriptions on the A2 as a flat list
autobahn warnings list A2 | jq -r '.[].description[]?'

Use --compact for single-line JSON in pipelines and logs:

autobahn --compact roadworks list A1

--compact is a global option and works before or after the command.

Exit codes make the CLI easy to use in scripts:

| Code | Meaning | | --- | --- | | 0 | Success (also --help / --version) | | 4 | Not found — the API returned 404, or a get <identifier> matched no item | | 1 | Any other API, network, parse, or usage error |

A list returning zero items is not an error — it exits 0 with [].

Troubleshooting

• command not found: autobahn — the global npm bin directory isn't on your PATH. Run npm bin -g to find it and add it, or run via npx @maschinenlesbar.org/autobahn-cli ….
• Exit 4 / "not found" from get — the identifier doesn't exist or has changed. Re-fetch it from a fresh list result; identifiers are base64-encoded and can change as the live data updates.
• Empty [] from list — there are currently no items of that type on that motorway. This is normal and exits 0.
• Exit 1 / network error — connectivity, DNS, or a timeout. Try again, or raise the limit with --timeout 60000.
• 3xx redirect error — the CLI deliberately does not follow redirects (a safety choice for --base-url); this means the upstream host moved. Try the default base URL: --base-url https://verkehr.autobahn.de.

Global options

These apply to every command and may be given before or after it:

| Option | Description | | --- | --- | | -v, --version | Print the version number | | -h, --help | Show help for the program or a command | | --compact | Print JSON on a single line instead of pretty-printed | | --base-url <url> | API base URL (default https://verkehr.autobahn.de) | | --timeout <ms> | Per-request timeout in ms (default 30000; 0 disables) | | --user-agent <ua> | User-Agent header value | | --max-retries <n> | Retries for transient 429/503 responses (default 2) | | --max-response-bytes <n> | Cap response body size in bytes (0 = unlimited; default 100 MiB) |

Learn more

• Usage.md — full use-case-driven cookbook.
• GLOSSARY.md — every command, resource, and domain term explained.
• DEVELOPING.md — TypeScript library usage, architecture, testing, CI.
• SKILLS.md — Claude Code Agent Skills bundled with this repo (route check, EV charging planner, GeoJSON export), installable as a plugin.

Data license

This CLI is a client — it accesses data it does not own or redistribute. The upstream data is © its provider and licensed separately from this tool's code. See DATA_LICENSE.md.

Die Autobahn GmbH des Bundes — Datenlizenz Deutschland Namensnennung 2.0 (dl-de/by-2-0, by analogy; not declared on the App API itself). Attribution required; commercial use and modification allowed.

License

Dual-licensed — use it under either:

• AGPL-3.0-or-later (default, free). Note the AGPL's §13 network clause: if you run a modified version as a network service, you must offer that modified source to the service's users.
• Commercial license (paid), for closed-source / proprietary or SaaS use without the AGPL's obligations.

See LICENSING.md for details, and CONTRIBUTING.md for the contribution policy (this project does not accept external code contributions). Commercial enquiries: [email protected].