UiPath CLI - Global options

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UiPath CLI user guide

Global options

Global options accepted by every `uip` invocation, covering output format, output filter, log level, and log file.

Every uip invocation is pre-scanned for a fixed set of global options before any tool or subcommand sees its arguments — they can appear anywhere on the command line, work identically across every tool, and are stripped out before per-command flag parsing runs.

Option	Short	Value	Default	Purpose
`--output`	—	`table`, `json`, `yaml`, `plain`, `markdown`	`json`	Format of the primary output written to stdout.
`--json`	—	flag	—	Hidden compatibility alias for `--output json`. Passing it together with an explicit `--output <value>` is a conflict — see below.
`--output-filter`	—	JMESPath expression	—	Post-filter applied to the JSON payload before formatting.
`--log-level`	—	`debug`, `info`, `warn`, `error`	`info`	Verbosity of log messages written to stderr (and `--log-file` if set).
`--log-file`	—	path	—	If set, logs are duplicated to this file in JSON Lines format.
`--profile`	—	name	—	Selects a named, saved login profile instead of the default credentials location. Mutually exclusive with a command's own `-f, --file <folder>` (for example on `uip login`, `uip login tenant list/set`, `uip logout`) — passing both is a `ValidationError`. See Sessions and credentials.
`--interactive` / `--no-interactive`	—	flag	auto (prompts only on a TTY)	Force prompting on or off, overriding the default "prompt only when connected to a TTY" behavior. Not specific to any one command — it governs every place a `uip` command would otherwise ask a question (for example tenant selection during `uip login`, or the agent/target picker on `uip skills install`).

--version (-v) and --help (-h) are also recognized on uip and every subcommand, but they are standard CLI conventions rather than global flags in the sense above.

--output

Choose the output format. Both --output json and --output=json work; values are case-sensitive.

uip or folders list                     # default: json
uip or folders list --output table      # human-friendly table
uip or folders list --output yaml       # yaml
uip or folders list --output plain      # key=value lines, no structure
uip or folders list --output markdown   # GitHub-flavored markdown, for agents/chat surfaces
uip or folders list                     # default: json
uip or folders list --output table      # human-friendly table
uip or folders list --output yaml       # yaml
uip or folders list --output plain      # key=value lines, no structure
uip or folders list --output markdown   # GitHub-flavored markdown, for agents/chat surfaces

json (default) — one JSON document on stdout. Parseable by jq, --output-filter, and any JSON consumer. This is the default for every invocation regardless of whether the terminal is a TTY.
table — bordered, colored table suitable for reading in a terminal. Not stable across versions — do not parse it.
yaml — YAML serialization of the same structure as json.
plain — flat key=value lines. Useful for piping into shell read, grep, and cut without installing jq.
markdown — a GFM table for a list, or **key:** value lines for a single record. Meant for an agent or chat surface reading uip output, not a terminal session. See Output formats — markdown for the full behavior.

Note:

The default is json, not table. When a human runs uip or folders list in a terminal they see a JSON document on stdout. Pass --output table explicitly (or add it to a shell alias) for the reading-friendly view. This choice keeps the same stdout shape in a terminal and in a pipeline — scripts do not need to care whether they are running interactively.

--json (hidden alias)

--json is a hidden compatibility alias for --output json — it doesn't appear in --help, but it is fully functional:

uip or folders list --json   # identical to --output json
uip or folders list --json   # identical to --output json

Passing --json together with an explicit --output <value> (any value, including json) is flagged as a conflict internally; avoid combining them — pass one or the other.

--profile

Select a named, saved login profile instead of the default credentials location:

uip login --profile ci-runner --client-id env.UIPATH_CLIENT_ID --client-secret env.UIPATH_CLIENT_SECRET --tenant Production
uip or folders list --profile ci-runner
uip login --profile ci-runner --client-id env.UIPATH_CLIENT_ID --client-secret env.UIPATH_CLIENT_SECRET --tenant Production
uip or folders list --profile ci-runner

--profile <name> and a command's own -f, --file <folder> are mutually exclusive — passing both fails with ValidationError: option '--profile' cannot be used with option '--file'. Profile names are normalized (case and separator rules apply); an invalid name is rejected before any network call. See Sessions and credentials — named profiles.

--interactive / --no-interactive

Override the default "prompt only when stdout is a TTY" behavior:

uip login --interactive        # force the tenant-selection prompt even when not on a TTY
uip skills install --no-interactive --agent claude   # never prompt, fail instead if a required choice is missing
uip login --interactive        # force the tenant-selection prompt even when not on a TTY
uip skills install --no-interactive --agent claude   # never prompt, fail instead if a required choice is missing

--interactive sets prompting to always-on; --no-interactive forces it off. Neither flag is specific to uip login — despite appearing in login examples throughout this documentation set, interactivity is a cross-cutting global option with no command-specific short form (there is no --it or similar alias anywhere in the CLI).

Stream separation

--output controls stdout only. Logs, progress indicators, and human-facing errors go to stderr, regardless of format. This means a pipeline can capture clean JSON with:

uip or folders list > folders.json 2> uip.log
uip or folders list > folders.json 2> uip.log

…and still see the log output separately.

--output-filter

Apply a JMESPath expression to the JSON payload before formatting. The filter runs on the full response envelope, so Data[*].Name picks names out of the Data array, length(Data) returns a count, and so on.

# just the Data field
uip or folders list --output-filter "Data"

# folder names only
uip or folders list --output-filter "Data[*].Name"

# count
uip or folders list --output-filter "length(Data)"

# first folder's key and name
uip or folders list --output-filter "Data[0] | {key: Key, name: Name}"
# just the Data field
uip or folders list --output-filter "Data"

# folder names only
uip or folders list --output-filter "Data[*].Name"

# count
uip or folders list --output-filter "length(Data)"

# first folder's key and name
uip or folders list --output-filter "Data[0] | {key: Key, name: Name}"

Combining with --output:

# names as YAML
uip or folders list --output-filter "Data[*].Name" --output yaml

# names as one-per-line plain text
uip or folders list --output-filter "Data[*].Name" --output plain
# names as YAML
uip or folders list --output-filter "Data[*].Name" --output yaml

# names as one-per-line plain text
uip or folders list --output-filter "Data[*].Name" --output plain

A malformed filter expression fails fast with a ValidationError and exit code 3 before the underlying command runs — so a typo does not waste an API call.

Tip:

--output-filter is the CLI's version of Azure CLI's --query, AWS CLI's --query, and gcloud's --filter/--format. If you already know JMESPath from those tools, the syntax is identical.

--log-level

Set the verbosity of log messages (written to stderr and to --log-file if provided).

uip or folders list --log-level debug   # verbose — HTTP calls, auth refresh, tool loading
uip or folders list --log-level info    # default
uip or folders list --log-level warn
uip or folders list --log-level error   # only failures
uip or folders list --log-level debug   # verbose — HTTP calls, auth refresh, tool loading
uip or folders list --log-level info    # default
uip or folders list --log-level warn
uip or folders list --log-level error   # only failures

Values are case-insensitive. Unknown values are silently ignored (the default is kept) rather than erroring — on purpose, so a typo in a wrapper script does not break a pipeline.

The UIPATH_LOG_LEVEL environment variable is not honored; pass the flag or set it in a profile script.

--log-file

Write a duplicate of the log stream to the specified file, in JSON Lines format (one JSON object per line). The file is appended — use a build-specific path if you need separate logs per run.

uip or folders list --log-file ./uip.log
uip or folders list --log-file /var/log/uip/$(date +%F).log --log-level debug
uip or folders list --log-file ./uip.log
uip or folders list --log-file /var/log/uip/$(date +%F).log --log-level debug

Each line in the file looks like:

{"time":"2026-04-24T18:42:00.123Z","level":"info","message":"CLI v1.0.0 starting — output=json, logLevel=info, logFile=./uip.log"}
{"time":"2026-04-24T18:42:00.123Z","level":"info","message":"CLI v1.0.0 starting — output=json, logLevel=info, logFile=./uip.log"}

This format is designed for log shippers (Fluent Bit, Loki, Splunk) and for post-mortem analysis.

Where global options apply

Global options are stripped from the command line before per-command flags are parsed, so they can appear anywhere on the command line:

uip --output table or folders list
uip or --output table folders list
uip or folders list --output table
uip or folders list --output=table
uip --output table or folders list
uip or --output table folders list
uip or folders list --output table
uip or folders list --output=table

All four invocations are equivalent.

Tool subcommands do not define their own --output or --log-level. A tool that inadvertently defined one would shadow the global flag — the CLI's lint checks forbid this.

Exit codes

Global options control output and logging only; they do not affect exit codes. See Exit codes.

Environment variable overrides

Two environment variables change global-option behavior without a flag:

Variable	Effect
`UIP_DEFAULT_OUTPUT`	Overrides the built-in `json` default for `--output` when the flag isn't passed. Accepts `table`, `json`, `yaml`, `plain`, or `markdown`; invalid values are ignored. An explicit `--output` on the command line always wins.
`UIP_TIMINGS`	Set to `1` or `true` to print a per-invocation timing line to stderr on every `uip` command. See Command timings below.

Command timings

Set UIP_TIMINGS=1 (or true) and every invocation prints one line to stderr:

[timing] 'uip or assets list' exit=0 total=1250ms startup=380ms command=863ms http=691ms httpCalls=3 flush=7ms
[timing] 'uip or assets list' exit=0 total=1250ms startup=380ms command=863ms http=691ms httpCalls=3 flush=7ms

Field	Meaning
(the quoted command)	The command as typed.
`exit`	The exit code the invocation returned.
`total`	Total wall clock, measured from process start.
`startup`	Everything before the command handler ran — process boot, config, tool loading.
`command`	The command handler itself.
`http`	Summed duration of the run's outbound HTTP calls — a sum, not wall clock. It overlaps `command` rather than adding to it, so parallel calls can make it larger than `command`.
`httpCalls`	How many outbound HTTP calls that sum covers.
`flush`	Everything after the handler returned — telemetry bookkeeping and the final flush.

startup + command + flush always equals total. Fields are omitted when they don't apply: a run that never reaches a handler (uip --version, an unknown command) prints only total and exit; a command that makes no HTTP call has neither http nor httpCalls.

The report has its own switch — it doesn't depend on --log-level, so you get durations without turning on debug output, and stdout is never touched.

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--output​

--json (hidden alias)​

--profile​

--interactive / --no-interactive​

Stream separation​

--output-filter​

--log-level​

--log-file​

Where global options apply​

Exit codes​

Environment variable overrides​

Command timings​

See also​