Rhombus CLI - Rhombus Developer Documentation

The Rhombus CLI gives you direct terminal access to your entire Rhombus security platform — 60+ API resource categories, plus higher-level commands for video stitching, frame analysis, real-time alert monitoring, and AI-powered chat.

Install

Homebrew (macOS/Linux)
Shell Script (macOS/Linux)
PowerShell (Windows)
From Source

brew install RhombusSystems/tap/rhombus

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RhombusSystems/rhombus-cli/main/install.sh | sh

On Linux, this automatically uses .deb or .rpm packages when a compatible package manager is detected.

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RhombusSystems/rhombus-cli/main/install.ps1 | iex

Requires Go 1.26+:

git clone https://github.com/RhombusSystems/rhombus-cli.git
cd rhombus-cli
make install

Authenticate

Browser Login (Recommended)
Manual Configuration
Environment Variable

rhombus configure

Prompts for an API key, output format, and endpoint URL. Use this when you already have an API key from the Rhombus Console.

export RHOMBUS_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY

Overrides stored credentials. Useful for CI/CD pipelines and scripts.

Profiles

Manage multiple accounts or environments with named profiles:

rhombus login --profile staging
rhombus camera get-minimal-camera-state-list --profile staging

Credentials are stored in ~/.rhombus/credentials (file permissions 600) and config in ~/.rhombus/config.

API Commands

62 resource commands are auto-generated from the Rhombus OpenAPI spec, covering the full API surface. The general pattern is:

rhombus <resource> <operation> [flags]

Common Examples

# List all cameras
rhombus camera get-minimal-camera-state-list

# Get detailed camera state
rhombus camera get-full-camera-state --camera-uuid YOUR_CAMERA_UUID

JSON Input for Complex Requests

For endpoints with complex request bodies, use --cli-input-json:

# Generate a parameter template
rhombus camera get-full-camera-state --generate-cli-skeleton

# Pass parameters as inline JSON
rhombus event get-policy-alerts-v2 --cli-input-json '{"maxResults": 10}'

# Pass parameters from a file
rhombus event get-policy-alerts-v2 --cli-input-json file://params.json

Use --generate-cli-skeleton on any command to see all accepted parameters as a JSON template.

Available Resources

The CLI covers 60+ resource categories including: access-control, alert-monitoring, audio-gateway, camera, climate, door-controller, doorbell-camera, elevator, event, event-search, export, face-recognition-person, integrations, location, lockdown-plan, occupancy, org, partner, permission, policy, report, rules, scene-query, schedule, search, sensor, user, vehicle, video, webhook-integrations, and more.

Higher-Level Commands

Beyond direct API access, the CLI provides several powerful composite commands.

Alert Management

# Recent alerts (filter by camera name)
rhombus alert recent --camera "Front Lobby" --max 10

# Download alert thumbnail
rhombus alert thumb ALERT_UUID --output thumb.jpg

# Download alert video clip
rhombus alert download ALERT_UUID --output clip.mp4

# Open alert clip in browser
rhombus alert play ALERT_UUID

Live Footage

# Open live view for a camera (by name)
rhombus footage "Front Lobby"

# Jump to a specific time
rhombus footage "Front Lobby" --start "5m ago"
rhombus footage "Front Lobby" --start 1711900800000

Starts a local HTTP server with an authenticated player and opens your browser.

Real-Time Alert Monitoring

# Stream policy alerts as they fire
rhombus monitor

# Include all event types (not just policy alerts)
rhombus monitor --all-events

# JSON output for piping to other tools
rhombus monitor --json

Connects via WebSocket (STOMP protocol) with automatic reconnection. Pipe --json output to jq for filtering:

rhombus monitor --json | jq 'select(.deviceName == "Lobby Camera")'

Video Stitching

Combine footage from multiple cameras into a single grid-layout video. Requires ffmpeg.

# Stitch events across cameras at a location
rhombus stitch --location "HQ" --start "2h ago" --end "1h ago"

# Specific cameras with buffer time
rhombus stitch --camera "Entrance" --camera "Lobby" --start "30m ago" --buffer 5

Creates an MP4 with timestamp overlays from events across selected cameras.

Frame Analysis

Extract intelligently-sampled frames with activity detection metadata — useful for ML pipelines.

# Analyze frames from an alert
rhombus analyze alert ALERT_UUID

# Analyze footage across cameras at a location
rhombus analyze footage --location "HQ" --start "1h ago" --end "30m ago"

# Include motion metadata, output raw frames
rhombus analyze footage "Lobby Cam" --start "2h ago" --include-motion --raw

Deployment Context

Generate a structured snapshot of your entire deployment — locations, cameras, hardware info, coordinates, and current stills.

# Full deployment snapshot
rhombus context generate

# Specific location or camera
rhombus context location "HQ"
rhombus context camera "Front Lobby"

AI Chat (Rhombus MIND)

Natural language interface to your Rhombus deployment. The chat agent can execute CLI commands on your behalf.

# Interactive chat
rhombus chat

# Voice-powered chat (requires sox and whisper-cpp)
rhombus voice --model base

Voice mode requires sox for audio capture and whisper-cpp for speech-to-text.

Global Flags

Flag	Description
`--profile`	Configuration profile (default: `"default"`)
`--output`	Output format: `json`, `table`, `text` (default: `json`)
`--api-key`	Override API key for this command
`--endpoint-url`	Override API endpoint URL
`--partner-org`	Client org name or UUID (for partner accounts)

Partner Accounts

For partner/multi-tenant organizations, use --partner-org to operate on client orgs:

rhombus camera get-minimal-camera-state-list --partner-org "Acme Corp"
rhombus camera get-minimal-camera-state-list --partner-org ORG_UUID

Name matching is case-insensitive and substring-based. If multiple orgs match, you are prompted to select one.

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
`RHOMBUS_API_KEY`	API key (overrides credentials file)
`RHOMBUS_PROFILE`	Profile name (default: `default`)
`RHOMBUS_OUTPUT`	Output format: `json`, `table`, `text`
`RHOMBUS_ENDPOINT_URL`	API endpoint override

Configuration Files

Path	Purpose
`~/.rhombus/config`	Default output format, endpoint URL (INI format)
`~/.rhombus/credentials`	API keys and cert paths per profile (INI, 600 permissions)
`~/.rhombus/certs/<profile>/`	Client certificates and private keys

Configuration precedence: CLI flags > environment variables > profile config > defaults.

Platform Support

OS	Architectures
macOS	amd64, arm64
Linux	amd64, arm64
Windows	amd64, arm64

Resources

GitHub Repository

Source code, releases, and issue tracker

API Reference

Full endpoint documentation for all 800+ API operations

WebSocket Monitoring

Real-time event streaming protocol details

Rate Limits

API rate limiting and retry guidance

Documentation Index

​Install

​Authenticate

​Profiles

​API Commands

​Common Examples

​JSON Input for Complex Requests

​Available Resources

​Higher-Level Commands

​Alert Management

​Live Footage

​Real-Time Alert Monitoring

​Video Stitching

​Frame Analysis

​Deployment Context

​AI Chat (Rhombus MIND)

​Global Flags

​Partner Accounts

​Environment Variables

​Configuration Files

​Platform Support

​Resources

GitHub Repository

API Reference

WebSocket Monitoring

Rate Limits

Install

Authenticate

Profiles

API Commands

Common Examples

JSON Input for Complex Requests

Available Resources

Higher-Level Commands

Alert Management

Live Footage

Real-Time Alert Monitoring

Video Stitching

Frame Analysis

Deployment Context

AI Chat (Rhombus MIND)

Global Flags

Partner Accounts

Environment Variables

Configuration Files

Platform Support

Resources