arangoadmin

CLI for managing databases and users in ArangoDB.

Table of Contents

• Build & Run
  • From Source
  • Docker
• Global Options
• Subcommands
  • ensure-user
  • ensure-database
  • ensure-grant
• Quick Reference

Build & Run

From Source

Requires Go 1.24+.

git clone https://github.com/dictybase-docker/arangoadmin.git
cd arangoadmin
go build -o arangoadmin ./cmd/arangoadmin/
./arangoadmin [global options] <subcommand> [options]

Docker

docker build -t arangoadmin .
docker run --rm arangoadmin <subcommand> [options]

The container entrypoint is the binary — pass the subcommand directly after the image name:

docker run --rm arangoadmin ensure-user \
  --user myuser \
  --password secret \
  --host arangodb.internal

For multi-arch builds:

docker buildx build \
  --platform linux/amd64,linux/arm64 \
  -t arangoadmin .

Global Options

These apply to all subcommands.

Flag	Default	Env var	Description
--host	arangodb	$ARANGODB_SERVICE_HOST	ArangoDB host address
--port	8529	$ARANGODB_SERVICE_PORT	ArangoDB port
--log-level	info	—	Log level (debug, info, warn, error)
--log-format	json	—	Log format (json or text)
--is-secure	false	—	Connect via TLS

Subcommands

ensure-user

Create a user if it does not exist, or update the user's password according to the configured policy.

arangoadmin ensure-user [options]

Flag	Short	Required	Default	Description
--user	-u	yes	—	ArangoDB username
--password	--pw	yes	—	Password for the user
--admin-user	--au	no	root	Admin user for authentication
--admin-password	--ap	no	—	Admin password
--password-policy	—	no	never	When to update the password: never (set on creation only), if-provided (update when a non-empty value is given), always (overwrite on every run)

Binary:

./arangoadmin ensure-user \
  --host localhost \
  --user myuser \
  --password secret \
  --admin-password adminpass \
  --password-policy if-provided

Docker:

docker run --rm arangoadmin ensure-user \
  --host localhost \
  --user myuser \
  --password secret \
  --admin-password adminpass \
  --password-policy if-provided

---

ensure-database

Create a database if it does not exist. No-op if the database is already present.

arangoadmin ensure-database [options]

Flag	Short	Required	Default	Description
--database	--db	yes	—	Database name
--admin-user	--au	no	root	Admin user for authentication
--admin-password	--ap	no	—	Admin password

Binary:

./arangoadmin ensure-database \
  --host localhost \
  --database mydb \
  --admin-password adminpass

Docker:

docker run --rm arangoadmin ensure-database \
  --host localhost \
  --database mydb \
  --admin-password adminpass

---

ensure-grant

Set a user's access level on a database, creating the grant if it does not exist or updating it if it differs.

arangoadmin ensure-grant [options]

Flag	Short	Required	Default	Description
--user	-u	yes	—	ArangoDB username
--database	--db	yes	—	Database name
--admin-user	--au	no	root	Admin user for authentication
--admin-password	--ap	no	—	Admin password
--grant	-g	no	rw	Access level: rw (read-write), ro (read-only), none

Binary:

./arangoadmin ensure-grant \
  --host localhost \
  --user myuser \
  --database mydb \
  --grant ro \
  --admin-password adminpass

Docker:

docker run --rm arangoadmin ensure-grant \
  --host localhost \
  --user myuser \
  --database mydb \
  --grant ro \
  --admin-password adminpass

Quick Reference

Command	Required flags	Optional flags	Purpose
ensure-user	--user, --password	--admin-user, --admin-password, --password-policy	Create or update a user
ensure-database	--database	--admin-user, --admin-password	Create a database if missing
ensure-grant	--user, --database	--admin-user, --admin-password, --grant	Set user access on a database