CLI usage

The camel CLI runs, scaffolds, and inspects integration routes from the terminal. Install it with cargo install camel-cli.

Quick reference

camel run

Start a Camel context from YAML route files.

Trust model. camel run executes route scripts, WASM modules, and beans that the current working directory supplies. Run it only from a trusted directory.

The CLI reads Camel.toml from the current directory. The file defines route file patterns, log levels, component settings, and supervision policies.

camel run

Config file

[default]
routes = ["routes/*.yaml"]
log_level = "INFO"
watch = false

The [default] profile sets routes = ["routes/*.yaml"] to discover route files. The [development] and [production] profiles override log level and watch mode.

Route file

routes:
  - id: "hello"
    from: "timer:tick?period=2000"
    steps:
      # log: messages are evaluated as Simple Language — ${...} expressions are interpolated
      - log: "Hello from camel-cli! Exchange #${header.CamelTimerCounter}"

Flags

Flag definitions live in crates/camel-cli/src/main.rs.

Expected output

The CLI starts the context, discovers routes that match the glob, and runs them. For hello.yaml above, the route logs one message every two seconds. The message text repeats with an increasing counter:

Hello from camel-cli! Exchange #1
Hello from camel-cli! Exchange #2

Press Ctrl+C (or send SIGTERM) to stop.

Profiles

Set the active profile with the CAMEL_PROFILE environment variable:

CAMEL_PROFILE=development camel run

The development profile sets log_level = "DEBUG" and watch = true. The production profile sets log_level = "WARN" and watch = false.

Hot-reload

With --watch, the CLI monitors route files for changes. The watcher groups rapid edits behind a 300 ms debounce window. Set watch_debounce_ms in Camel.toml to change it. Edits take effect without a restart.

camel run --watch

See crates/camel-config/CONTEXT.md for the debounce default.

Minimal config

A route can start without exec components or complex setup:

[default]
routes = ["routes/*.yaml"]
log_level = "INFO"

routes:
  - id: "hello"
    from: "timer:tick?period=2000"
    steps:
      - log: "Hello without exec! Exchange #${header.CamelTimerCounter}"

camel new

Scaffold a new Camel project with a Camel.toml and a routes/ directory.

camel new my-integration
cd my-integration
camel run

Layout simple writes only a [default] profile. Layout env adds [development] and [production]. Flag definitions live in crates/camel-cli/src/commands/new.rs.

Expected output

Created camel project: my-integration

Next steps:
  cd my-integration
  camel run
  camel run --watch

camel journal inspect

Read events from a redb runtime journal file. Use this command for offline debugging of a previous session.

camel journal inspect runtime.db

Flag definitions live in crates/camel-cli/src/commands/journal.rs.

Expected output

The default table format prints one row per event:

SEQ        TIMESTAMP                   EVENT                    ROUTE_ID
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00000001   2026-08-08T12:00:00.000Z    RouteRegistered          hello
00000002   2026-08-08T12:00:00.100Z    RouteStartRequested      hello
00000003   2026-08-08T12:00:00.250Z    RouteStarted             hello

Pass --format json to pipe events into another tool.

camel plugin

Scaffold and build WASM plugins. Plugins extend the runtime with custom processors, beans, or authorization policies. The CLI ships two subcommands: new and build.

camel plugin new

Create a plugin project from a template.

camel plugin new my-plugin

Flag definitions live in crates/camel-cli/src/commands/plugin.rs.

Expected output

Created camel processor plugin 'my-plugin'

Next steps:
  cd my-plugin
  camel plugin build

camel plugin build

Compile a plugin to the wasm32-wasip2 target and install the artifact into the project plugins directory.

camel plugin build

Run this from inside the plugin directory, or pass a path:

camel plugin build ./my-plugin

The CLI copies the compiled .wasm into the plugins directory. It reads the directory from [default.components.wasm].plugins_dir in Camel.toml. The default is plugins. See crates/camel-cli/src/commands/plugin.rs for the resolution rules.

Expected output

Built and installed plugin 'my-plugin'
  source: /path/to/my-plugin/target/wasm32-wasip2/release/my_plugin.wasm
  installed: /path/to/camel-root/plugins/my-plugin.wasm

camel openapi

Emit an OpenAPI 3.0.3 document from the rest: blocks in a YAML or JSON route file. The CLI ships one subcommand: generate.

camel openapi generate routes.yaml

Flag definitions live in crates/camel-cli/src/commands/openapi.rs.

Expected output

The command prints a pretty JSON document to stdout. The top-level openapi field is 3.0.3. Each rest: block becomes a path entry. Each operation becomes a verb under that path.

{
  "openapi": "3.0.3",
  "info": {
    "title": "Generated API",
    "version": "1.0.0"
  },
  "paths": {
    "/api/users": {
      "get": { "operationId": "listUsers" }
    }
  }
}

If a file has no rest: blocks, the command exits with an error. Validation warnings print to stderr.

Next steps

• See First route in YAML for a complete walkthrough.
• See YAML DSL for the full YAML reference.
• See Operations for health checks and monitoring.

Reference: CLI crate