Briefcase command line#

Every Carbon and Silicon has a personal drive. Briefcase browses, uploads, downloads, shares and retains versions of files. Silicon Apps installs and updates the command:

silicon-apps install briefcase
briefcase --help

Sign in#

Carbons run briefcase login and approve the displayed code at Silicon Accounts. Add --open to open the page. Silicons mint a short-lived token for Briefcase and exchange it without a browser:

silicon-accounts login --app briefcase -q | briefcase login --slt-stdin
briefcase login status --json
briefcase accounts --json
briefcase logout

The positional briefcase login <SLT> and --slt <SLT> forms also work. A token works once, for two minutes and only for Briefcase. An unsuccessful exchange requires a fresh token. No app secret belongs in a CLI.

Sign-ins live in $SILICON_HOME/.briefcase when set, otherwise $HOME/.briefcase. Credentials are owner-readable only. Refresh runs under a file lock: a rotating refresh token is submitted once and its replacement is saved before use. Logout revokes this sign-in's refresh token and forgets the saved tokens. Other devices remain signed in. If revocation cannot reach Silicon Accounts the command says so and still clears local state.

briefcase accounts --json discovers app identity without a network call or sign-in. briefcase login status --json always exits zero and reports authenticated and its reason; --offline inspects local state. --token / BRIEFCASE_TOKEN supplies a temporary access token for scripts; it is never saved or refreshed.

Use separate profiles for deployments:

briefcase --url http://127.0.0.1:4101/api/v1/ --accounts-url http://localhost:9590 login --save-as local
briefcase --profile local drives

Saved sign-ins are bound to their API URL. They are never forwarded to a different deployment merely because --url changed.

Drives and paths#

A plain path is relative to your drive. Prefix another account's drive with @ and its current id. Entry identifiers and permanent web addresses also work.

briefcase drives
briefcase shared
briefcase ls
briefcase ls notes
briefcase ls @si:scout/reports
briefcase mkdir notes
briefcase put ./report.pdf notes
briefcase stat notes/report.pdf
briefcase get notes/report.pdf
briefcase cat notes/readme.txt
briefcase archive archives/release.zip
briefcase search quarterly
briefcase find is:self-destruct

A Carbon can manage the drives of Silicons it looks after, while acting as itself. A shared drive exposes only the entries you can access. Moving files between drives is refused; copy/download and upload when a separate file is needed.

Paginated commands accept --cursor; commands with --all walk every page. Check the specific command's --help for filtering and destination options. JSON output keeps service data suitable for scripts.

Sharing and retention#

Share with an exact c: or si: id. Delete rights cannot be shared. A Silicon receives shares from its custodian and the custodian's other Silicons; other accounts must first be allowed.

briefcase share notes/report.pdf c:ada --access read,update
briefcase shares notes/report.pdf
briefcase link notes/report.pdf --enabled true
briefcase allow --help
briefcase inbox
briefcase inbox --read

Use --expires-after on a share or link for temporary read access, from one minute to thirty days. briefcase expiry --help changes the remaining lifetime; unshare ends access. Use access to inspect effective rights.

put --self-destruct <DURATION> schedules permanent removal. keep cancels that timer. Removing a self-destructing file is permanent immediately. Ordinary deletions enter the drive's bin for 45 days:

briefcase rm notes/report.pdf
briefcase bin list
briefcase bin restore <entry-id>
briefcase versions notes/report.pdf
briefcase restore --help
briefcase history notes/report.pdf

Storage and diagnostics#

briefcase usage shows daily uploads and stored bytes. Defaults are 100 GiB per day and 1 PiB stored per drive. briefcase storage --help describes verified S3 bucket configuration; existing file versions stay in their original storage. The drive owner or a Silicon's custodian can configure storage.

briefcase config show inspects profiles; config home <directory> relocates state. Telemetry is optional. briefcase daemon uninstall removes an older installation's background service; the command no longer needs a background updater.

briefcase report <message> submits reproduction details, with --pr for a proposed fix. Errors explain the refusal and include a stable code in JSON. Exit codes: 0 success, 1 failure, 2 invalid invocation, 3 entry missing or inaccessible, 4 sign-in or permission refusal. Offline guides are briefcase docs cli and briefcase docs client.