Each OpenStack project provides a command-line client, which enables you to access the project API through easy-to-use commands. For example, the Compute service provides a nova command-line client. You can run the commands from the command line, or include the commands within scripts to automate tasks. If you provide OpenStack credentials, such as your user name and password, you can run these commands on any computer. Internally, each command uses cURL command-line tools, which embed API requests. OpenStack APIs are RESTful APIs, and use the HTTP protocol. They include methods, URIs, media types, and response codes. OpenStack APIs are open-source Python clients, and can run on Linux or Mac OS X systems. On some client commands, you can specify a debug parameter to show the underlying API request for the command. This is a good way to become familiar with the OpenStack API calls. The following table lists the command-line client for each OpenStack service with its package name and description.

OpenStack services and clients

Service	Client	Package	Description
Application catalog	murano	python-muranoclient	Creates and manages application catalog.
Block Storage	cinder	python-cinderclient	Creates and manages volumes.
Compute	nova	python-novaclient	Creates and manages images, instances, and flavors.
Containers service	magnum	python-magnumclient	Creates and manages containers.
Database service	trove	python-troveclient	Creates and manages databases.
Data processing service	sahara	python-saharaclient	Creates and manages Hadoop clusters on OpenStack.
Deployment service	tuskar	python-tuskarclient	Plans Deployments.
Identity	openstack	python-openstackclient	Creates and manages users, tenants, roles, endpoints, and credentials.
Image service	glance	python-glanceclient	Creates and manages images.
Key Manager service	barbican	python-barbicanclient	Creates and manages keys.
Networking	neutron	python-neutronclient	Configures networks for guest servers. This client was previously called quantum.
Object Storage	swift	python-swiftclient	Gathers statistics, lists items, updates metadata, and uploads, downloads, and deletes files stored by the Object Storage service. Gains access to an Object Storage installation for ad hoc processing.
Orchestration	heat	python-heatclient	Launches stacks from templates, views details of running stacks including events and resources, and updates and deletes stacks.
Shared file systems	manila	python-manilaclient	Creates and manages shared file systems.
Telemetry	ceilometer	python-ceilometerclient	Creates and collects measurements across OpenStack.
Telemetry v3	gnocchi	python-gnocchiclient	Creates and collects measurements across OpenStack.
Workflow service	mistral	python-mistralclient	Workflow service for OpenStack cloud.
Common client	openstack	python-openstackclient	Common client for the OpenStack project.

For client installation instructions, see Install the OpenStack command-line clients. For information about the OpenStack RC file, see Download and source the OpenStack RC file.