pb

pb is the command line interface for Parseable. Use it to query logs with SQL, run PromQL queries on metrics, stream live events, and manage datasets, users, and profiles from your terminal.

Installation

Download the binary for your platform from the releases page.

macOS and Linux

Pick the binary for your platform:

Platform	Binary
macOS Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3)	pb_darwin_arm64
macOS Intel	pb_darwin_amd64
Linux x86 64-bit	pb_linux_amd64
Linux ARM 64-bit	pb_linux_arm64

curl -LO https://github.com/parseablehq/pb/releases/latest/download/<binary>
chmod +x <binary>
sudo mv <binary> /usr/local/bin/pb

Windows

Download pb_windows_amd64 from the releases page, rename it to pb.exe, and move it to a folder in your PATH.

Using Go

go install github.com/parseablehq/pb@latest

Verify the install:

pb --version

Quick Start

Step 1 — Connect to a server

Run pb login to start the interactive setup wizard:

pb login

The wizard asks for your server URL, auth method (username/password or API key), and a profile name. Use arrow keys to navigate, Enter to confirm, and Esc to go back.

Step 2 — Run your first query

pb query run "SELECT * FROM backend" --from=10m --to=now

Commands

Profiles

Profiles store your server connections. All commands use the active default profile automatically.

Config file location: ~/.config/pb/config.toml on macOS/Linux, %AppData%\pb\config.toml on Windows.

pb login                                                          # interactive setup wizard
pb profile add staging https://staging.example.com admin pass    # add a profile without prompts
pb profile list                                                   # list all saved profiles
pb profile default staging                                        # switch the active profile
pb profile update staging https://new-host.example.com           # update a profile URL
pb profile remove staging                                         # remove a profile
pb logout                                                         # remove the active profile

SQL Query

pb query run "SELECT * FROM backend" --from=10m --to=now
pb query run "SELECT * FROM backend" --from=1h
pb query run "SELECT * FROM backend" --from=2024-01-01T00:00:00Z --to=2024-01-01T01:00:00Z
pb query run "SELECT * FROM backend" --from=1h --output json | jq .
pb query run "SELECT * FROM backend WHERE status = 500" --from=1h --save-as=server-errors
pb query list    # list and apply saved queries

OTel fields with dots like service.name and http.status_code work directly in queries without manual quoting.

SQL Interactive Mode

pb query run -i
pb query run "SELECT * FROM backend" --from=1h -i

Panels: Query, Time Range, Table. Navigate with Tab and Shift+Tab.

PromQL Query

pb query promql run "rate(http_requests_total[5m])" --dataset otel_metrics --from=1h --step=1m
pb query promql run "up" --dataset otel_metrics --instant
pb query promql run "http_requests_total" --dataset otel_metrics --output json

Explore labels and series:

pb query promql labels --dataset otel_metrics
pb query promql label-values job --dataset otel_metrics
pb query promql series --match 'http_requests_total{job="api"}' --dataset otel_metrics

Cardinality analysis:

pb query promql cardinality label-names --dataset otel_metrics
pb query promql active-queries

PromQL Interactive Mode

pb query run -i --promql
#or
pb query promql run -i
pb query promql run "http_requests_total" --dataset otel_metrics --from=1h -i

Panels: Dataset, Query, Time, Step, Table. Navigate with Tab and Shift+Tab. Press Space on the Step panel to toggle between range and instant mode.

Live Tail

Stream events from a dataset in real time:

pb tail backend
pb tail backend | jq 'select(.level == "error")'
pb tail backend | grep timeout

Press Ctrl+C to stop.

Note: pb tail uses gRPC on port 8001. Make sure that port is open on your server in addition to the main HTTP port.

Dataset Management

pb dataset list
pb dataset info my_logs
pb dataset add my_logs
pb dataset remove my_logs

Users and Roles

pb user list
pb user add alice
pb user set-role alice admin,editor
pb user remove alice

pb role list
pb role add ingestors
pb role remove ingestors

Other Commands

pb status       # check connection and server version
pb version      # print client and server version info

Shell Autocomplete

Bash

pb autocomplete bash > /etc/bash_completion.d/pb
source /etc/bash_completion.d/pb

Zsh

pb autocomplete zsh > /usr/local/share/zsh/site-functions/_pb
autoload -Uz compinit && compinit

PowerShell

pb autocomplete powershell > $env:USERPROFILE\Documents\PowerShell\pb_complete.ps1
. $env:USERPROFILE\Documents\PowerShell\pb_complete.ps1

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for setup instructions, branch naming conventions, and the PR checklist. All contributors must sign the CLA — the bot will prompt you on your first PR.

License

pb is released under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0.