Each OpenStack project provides a command-line client, which enables you to access the project API through easy-to-use commands. For example, the Compute service provides a nova command-line client. You can run the commands from the command line, or include the commands within scripts to automate tasks. If you provide OpenStack credentials, such as your user name and password, you can run these commands on any computer. Internally, each command uses cURL command-line tools, which embed API requests. OpenStack APIs are RESTful APIs, and use the HTTP protocol. They include methods, URIs, media types, and response codes. OpenStack APIs are open-source Python clients, and can run on Linux or Mac OS X systems. On some client commands, you can specify a debug parameter to show the underlying API request for the command. This is a good way to become familiar with the OpenStack API calls. The following table lists the command-line client for each OpenStack service with its package name and description.

OpenStack services and clients

Service	Client	Package	Description
Block Storage	cinder	python-cinderclient	Create and manage volumes.
Compute	nova	python-novaclient	Create and manage images, instances, and flavors.
Database service	trove	python-troveclient	Create and manage databases.
Identity	openstack	python-openstackclient	Create and manage users, tenants, roles, endpoints, and credentials.
Image service	glance	python-glanceclient	Create and manage images.
Networking	neutron	python-neutronclient	Configure networks for guest servers. This client was previously called quantum.
Object Storage	swift	python-swiftclient	Gather statistics, list items, update metadata, and upload, download, and delete files stored by the Object Storage service. Gain access to an Object Storage installation for ad hoc processing.
Orchestration	heat	python-heatclient	Launch stacks from templates, view details of running stacks including events and resources, and update and delete stacks.
Telemetry	ceilometer	python-ceilometerclient	Create and collect measurements across OpenStack.
Data Processing	sahara	python-saharaclient	Creates and manages Hadoop clusters on OpenStack.
Common client	openstack	python-openstackclient	Common client for the OpenStack project.

For client installation instructions, see Install the OpenStack command-line clients. For information about the OpenStack RC file, see Download and source the OpenStack RC file.