Commands

Reference of the Automate command line: deploy, rollback, check, exec and remove, with their arguments and options.

automate <command> [arguments] [options]

Command	Purpose
`deploy`	Deploy a platform
`rollback`	Point `current` back to a previous release
`check`	Verify the connection to the servers and the access to the repository
`exec`	Run a command on one server
`remove`	Remove the project from the servers of a platform

Common options

These options are accepted by every command:

Option	Description
`-c, --config <file>`	Path of the configuration file. Default: `.automate.yml` in the current directory
`--var <name>=<value>`	Value of a variable. Repeat the option for several variables
`-n, --no-interaction`	Never ask a question. Use it in CI; a password that cannot be resolved then fails instead of prompting
`-v, -vv, -vvv`	Increase the verbosity of the output
`-h, --help`	Help of the command
`-V, --version`	Version of Automate

deploy

automate deploy <platform> [<gitRef>] [--force] [-c <file>] [--var name=value]

Deploys the platform on all its servers. See the Deployment lifecycle.

Argument or option	Description
`platform`	Name of the platform, as declared in `platforms`
`gitRef`	Branch, tag or commit to deploy. Default: the `default_branch` of the platform. Ignored when `repository` is not set
`-f, --force`	Deploy even if an `automate.lock` file exists on a server

automate deploy production
automate deploy production v1.4.0
automate deploy staging feature/checkout -c deploy/.automate.yml
automate deploy review my-branch --var slug=my-branch

The command prints a summary (repository, platform, servers, version, variable names), then each step with the output of the commands prefixed by the server name. It exits with a non-zero status when the deployment fails.

rollback

automate rollback <platform> [<release>] [--yes] [--force] [-c <file>] [--var name=value]

Points current back to a previous release on every server of the platform, without cloning or building anything. The command shows the servers and the targeted release, then asks for confirmation. See Rolling back.

Argument or option	Description
`platform`	Name of the platform
`release`	Id of the release to go back to, for example `2026.10.22-1805.341`. Default: the release that precedes the `current` one on each server
`-y, --yes`	Do not ask for confirmation. Required when the command runs without a terminal
`-f, --force`	Ignore an existing `automate.lock` file

automate rollback production
automate rollback production 2026.10.22-1805.341
automate rollback production --yes

On each server, Automate switches current to the target release, runs the post_rollback hooks in it, then moves the release that was left to releases/failed, where it stays for inspection until the next deployment.

Nothing is changed unless every server has a valid target: current must point to one of the listed releases, the target must exist on the server, and without an explicit release all the servers must agree on the previous one. Otherwise the command stops and asks for an explicit release.
If a post_rollback command fails, current has already been switched, the release that was left stays in releases/, and the command exits with a non-zero status.
Since the release that was left is no longer listed, a second rollback goes one release further back.

check

automate check <platform> [-c <file>] [--var name=value]

Connects to every server of the platform and runs git ls-remote <repository> from there. Use it after writing a configuration, or to diagnose a failing deployment: a wrong password, an unreachable host or a missing deploy key are reported without touching the server.

automate check production

exec

automate exec <platform> <server> "<command>" [--current] [-c <file>] [--var name=value]

Runs a single command on one server of the platform and prints its output.

Argument or option	Description
`platform`	Name of the platform
`server`	Name of the server, as declared under `servers`
`command`	The shell command, quoted
`--current`	Run the command in the `current` release, with the same environment variables as the hooks

Without --current, the command runs as is, from the home directory of the SSH user:

automate exec production web-01 "df -h /var/www"
automate exec production web-01 "ls -la /var/www/shop/releases"

With --current, it runs in the published release, which is convenient to replay a hook or to run a console command:

automate exec production web-01 "php bin/console cache:clear" --current
automate exec production web-01 'echo $AUTOMATE_RELEASE_ID' --current

remove

automate remove <platform> [--yes] [--force] [--keep-shared] [-c <file>] [--var name=value]

Removes the project from every server of the platform, for example to clean up a review environment. The command shows what will be removed and asks for confirmation.

Option	Description
`-y, --yes`	Do not ask for confirmation. Required when the command runs without a terminal
`-f, --force`	Ignore an existing `automate.lock` file
`--keep-shared`	Keep the `shared` folder. The project directory is then kept too

On each server, Automate runs the on_remove hooks in the current release, then deletes the releases folder, the current link and the shared folder, and finally the project path itself when nothing else is left in it.

automate remove review --var slug=my-branch --yes

A shared_path located outside of the project path is never deleted, since other projects may use it.
If an on_remove command fails, nothing is deleted on any server.
The command can be run again safely: when the project path does not exist, there is nothing to remove.