Overview The m87 CLI provides several commands for accessing and monitoring remote devices. These commands allow you to open interactive shells, execute commands remotely, check device status, and audit device access logs.
Shell Command Open a persistent interactive shell session on a remote device.
Syntax Description The shell command provides a full interactive shell with PTY support, similar to SSH. It opens a persistent bash session on the remote device with full terminal capabilities.
Features
Full PTY support - Colors, cursor control, and terminal formattingTUI applications - Works with vim, htop, less, nano, and other terminal UI appsDefault shell - Uses the user’s default shell defined in $SHELLEasy exit - Press Ctrl+D to exit the shell session
Examples Connect to Raspberry Pi
Interactive Administration
m87 rpi shell # You're now in a remote shell pi@raspberrypi:~ $ ls -la pi@raspberrypi:~ $ htop pi@raspberrypi:~ $ vim config.yaml pi@raspberrypi:~ $ exit
For scripting and automation, use exec instead of shell. The shell command is designed for interactive work only.
Shell vs Exec Comparison Feature shellexecPersistent session ✓ Yes ✗ No Multiple commands ✓ Yes Single command Interactive apps ✓ Always With -it flags Scripting ✗ No ✓ Yes
Exec Command Execute commands on remote devices with optional stdin forwarding and TTY support.
Syntax m87 < devic e > exec [OPTIONS] -- < COMMAND >
Options Flag Description -i, --stdinKeep stdin open for responding to prompts -t, --ttyAllocate a pseudo-TTY for TUI applications
Execution Modes Flags Mode Use Case (none) Output only Simple commands, scripts -iStdin forwarding Simple prompts (Y/n), piped input -tTTY read-only Colored output, watch mode -itFull TTY sudo, TUI apps (vim, htop, less)
Examples System Administration
Docker Management
Interactive Applications
Chained Commands
# Check disk usage m87 rpi exec -- df -h # Update packages (needs TTY for sudo password) m87 rpi exec -it -- 'sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade' # View system logs m87 rpi exec -- journalctl -n 100
Shell Quoting Commands are interpreted by your local shell first. Use single quotes to send commands literally to the remote device.
# ❌ Local shell expands $(...) m87 rpi exec -- docker kill $( docker ps -q ) # Runs docker ps -q locally! # ✓ Single quotes send literally to remote m87 rpi exec -- 'docker kill $(docker ps -q)' # Expands on remote
Ctrl+C Behavior Mode Ctrl+C Effect No flags / -i Terminates connection, exits with code 130 -tNo effect (stdin not connected) -itSent to remote app (e.g., cancel in vim)
TTY flag behavior: The -t flag without -i allocates a TTY for output formatting but does not connect stdin. This means keyboard input (including Ctrl+C) has no effect. Use -t alone for commands that need colored/formatted output but no interaction.
Process Cleanup When the connection closes (Ctrl+C, network drop, etc.), the remote process is automatically terminated. No orphaned processes are left on the device.
Status Command Check the status of a remote device including health, crashes, and incidents.
Syntax Description Displays comprehensive status information about the device, including:
Connection status (online/offline)
System health metrics
Recent crashes or errors
Active incidents
Runtime information
Example Use m87 devices list to see the status of all devices at once.
Audit Command View audit logs showing who interacted with the device and when.
Syntax m87 < devic e > audit [OPTIONS]
Options Flag Default Description --since <DATE>- Filter logs from this RFC 3339 date (e.g., 2026-01-31 or 2026-01-31T13:00:00) --until <DATE>- Filter logs up to this RFC 3339 date --max <NUM>100 Maximum number of logs to return --detailsfalse Show detailed information for each audit entry
Examples Basic Audit Log
Detailed Audit Log
Time-based Filtering
Limit Results
# View recent audit logs m87 rpi audit
Audit logs capture:
User access events (shell, exec, etc.)
Command executions
File transfers
Port forwarding sessions
Deployment operations
Timestamps and user identifiers
Audit logs help with compliance, security monitoring, and troubleshooting device access issues.