Install the Elastic CLI

Install the Elastic CLI globally to make the elastic command available from your terminal. For occasional use, you can run the CLI through npx without installing it.

To install the CLI, you need to install Node.js 22.12.0 or later. Node.js includes npm. Run node --version to check your installed version. The Elastic CLI is tested on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and the installation command is the same on every platform.

  1. Install the elastic binary to your PATH:

    npm install -g @elastic/cli

  2. Verify the installation:

    elastic --version

    The command prints the installed Elastic CLI version.

If npm reports an EACCES error on Linux or macOS, follow the npm instructions for resolving permissions errors when installing packages globally. Don't rerun the installation with sudo.

To run a one-off command without a permanent install, use npx:

npx -y @elastic/cli --help

The command downloads the package to the npm cache, prints the CLI help, and exits.

Install the latest version and verify the update:

npm install -g @elastic/cli@latest
elastic --version

Remove the global installation:

npm uninstall -g @elastic/cli

This command removes the elastic executable. It doesn't remove your configuration file or credentials stored outside the CLI.