CLI Overview

l4 is the official LevelFour command-line tool. It surfaces the same data as the dashboard — recommendations, costs, integrations — plus terminal-only features like local Terraform cost estimation, structured output for scripting, and an interactive TUI for browsing recommendations.

Installation

brew install LevelFourAI/tap/levelfour

See Installation for go install, GitHub releases, and shell completion.

Quick start

l4 auth login                                  # browser-based authentication
l4 whoami                                      # confirm identity
l4 costs summary                               # KPI overview
l4 recommendations list --status available     # pending savings opportunities
l4 estimate ./infra/                           # estimate Terraform costs locally

Two binaries, same tool

The package installs two binaries with identical behavior:

levelfour — long form, useful when l4 collides with another tool on your PATH
l4 — short form, recommended for everyday use

Throughout the docs we use l4. Substitute levelfour if you prefer.

Command groups

Group	Commands
Core	`costs`, `recommendations`, `integrations`, `status`, `estimate`, `diff`, `export`, `api`, `whoami`
Authentication	`auth login`, `auth logout`, `auth status`, `login` (alias)
Configuration	`config`, `completion`

Run l4 <command> --help (or --help on any subcommand) for the full flag list.

Global flags

Flag	Effect
`--json`	Output as JSON for piping to `jq` or other tools
`--jq <expr>`	Filter the JSON output with a `jq` expression in-process
`--template <tpl>`	Format output with a Go text template
`--csv`	CSV output (export commands only)
`--quiet` / `-q`	Suppress output; communicate via exit code
`--no-color`	Disable ANSI colors (also honored: `NO_COLOR` env var)
`--web` / `-w`	Open the equivalent dashboard URL instead of printing
`--token <key>` / `-t`	One-shot token override
`--api <url>`	Point at a non-default API base URL

--quiet is mutually exclusive with --json, --jq, --template, and --csv. See Output formats.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
`0`	Success
`1`	General error
`2`	Issues found — e.g. `l4 estimate --fail-above` triggered, or recommendations exceed a threshold in CI
`4`	Authentication required — no token, expired token, or invalid token
`130`	Interrupted (`SIGINT`, e.g. Ctrl+C)

These are stable — script against them.

Where authentication is stored

l4 resolves credentials in this order on every command:

The --token / -t flag
The LEVELFOUR_TOKEN environment variable
The OS keychain (macOS Keychain, Linux Secret Service, Windows Credential Vault) — populated by l4 auth login

In CI, set LEVELFOUR_TOKEN from a secret. Locally, l4 auth login is the friendliest path.

Reporting issues

File CLI bugs at github.com/LevelFourAI/levelfour-cli/issues. Include l4 --version output and the failing command.

CLI Overview

On this page