@simochee/backlog-cli

Backlog on the command line.

Note: This is an unofficial tool and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Nulab, Inc. or the Backlog team.

Manage Backlog from your terminal without switching to the browser — issues, pull requests, wikis, notifications, and more. Inspired by GitHub CLI (gh).

Documentation · npm · GitHub

$ backlog issue list --project MYAPP --assignee @me
ID          Type    Priority  Summary
MYAPP-142   Task    High      Investigate API response caching strategy
MYAPP-138   Bug     Medium    Error message not shown on login screen
MYAPP-135   Task    Low       Update dependencies

$ backlog issue view MYAPP-142
MYAPP-142: Investigate API response caching strategy
Status: In Progress  Priority: High  Assignee: @simochee

$ backlog browse MYAPP-142
# => Opens the issue in your browser

Highlights

• 99 commands — Issues, PRs, wikis, notifications, webhooks, teams, and more
• gh CLI-based — list / view / create / edit command structure inspired by GitHub CLI
• Flexible output — Table (default) or --json for pipeline integration
• Interactive & non-interactive — Omit arguments for interactive prompts, or pass flags for CI/scripts
• Multi-space support — Switch between Backlog spaces with backlog auth switch
• Shell completions — Bash, Zsh, and Fish supported

Installation

npm install -g @simochee/backlog-cli

Or use your preferred package manager:

yarn global add @simochee/backlog-cli
pnpm add -g @simochee/backlog-cli
bun add -g @simochee/backlog-cli

Quick Start

Authentication

Log in to your Backlog space:

backlog auth login

An interactive prompt will guide you through selecting your hostname and authentication method. To use an API key directly:

backlog auth login --space your-space.backlog.com --method api-key

Verify your setup:

backlog dashboard

If the dashboard appears, you're ready to go.

Basic Usage

# List issues
backlog issue list --project YOUR_PROJECT

# Create an issue
backlog issue create --project YOUR_PROJECT --title "New issue" --type Task --priority High

# View issue details
backlog issue view PROJECT-123

# Review and merge a pull request
backlog pr view PROJECT/repo/1
backlog pr merge PROJECT/repo/1

# Check notifications
backlog notification list

# Get JSON output and pipe it
backlog issue list --project YOUR_PROJECT --json key,summary | jq '.[].summary'

# Call the Backlog API directly
backlog api /api/v2/space

Commands

| Command | Description | | ---------------------- | -------------------------- | | backlog auth | Manage authentication | | backlog config | Manage CLI configuration | | backlog issue | Manage issues | | backlog pr | Manage pull requests | | backlog project | Manage projects | | backlog repo | Manage Git repositories | | backlog notification | Manage notifications | | backlog wiki | Manage wiki pages | | backlog user | Manage users | | backlog team | Manage teams | | backlog category | Manage categories | | backlog milestone | Manage milestones | | backlog issue-type | Manage issue types | | backlog status | Manage statuses | | backlog space | Manage space settings | | backlog webhook | Manage webhooks | | backlog star | Manage stars | | backlog watching | Manage watches | | backlog alias | Manage command aliases | | backlog dashboard | Show dashboard | | backlog browse | Open in browser | | backlog api | Call Backlog API directly | | backlog completion | Generate shell completions |

Run backlog <command> --help for details, or visit the command reference.

Environment Variables

| Variable | Description | | ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | BACKLOG_SPACE | Default space hostname (equivalent to --space) | | BACKLOG_PROJECT | Default project key (equivalent to --project) | | BACKLOG_API_KEY | API key for authentication. Used as a fallback when no space is configured via config file |

export BACKLOG_PROJECT=YOUR_PROJECT

# Now you can omit --project
backlog issue list
backlog milestone list

Using BACKLOG_API_KEY (for CI/AI workflows)

When no space is configured in ~/.backlogrc, the CLI falls back to BACKLOG_API_KEY combined with BACKLOG_SPACE:

export BACKLOG_SPACE=your-space.backlog.com
export BACKLOG_API_KEY=your-api-key

# No `backlog auth login` needed
backlog issue list --project YOUR_PROJECT

This is useful for CI pipelines, AI agent workflows, and other non-interactive environments.

Output Formats

| Flag | Format | Use case | | ---------------------- | ------------- | ---------------------- | | (none) | Table | Human-readable output | | --json | JSON | Programmatic access | | --json field1,field2 | Filtered JSON | Select specific fields |

AI Agent Integration

Backlog CLI ships with Agent Skill support. Install the skill to let AI coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.) manage Backlog using natural language:

npx skills add simochee/backlog-cli

See the AI Agent Integration guide for details.

Documentation

For full documentation, visit https://backlog-cli.simochee.net

• Getting Started
• Authentication Guide
• Output Formatting
• Shell Completion
• CI Integration
• Configuration

License

MIT