generated: '2026-09-05'
method: searched
source: https://docs.celeryq.dev/en/stable/reference/cli.html
name: celery
official: true
description: >-
  First-party command line interface shipped with the `celery` PyPI distribution. It is the primary
  operational surface for the project — starting workers and the beat scheduler, calling tasks,
  inspecting and controlling a running cluster, and administering the broker.
install:
  - method: pip
    command: pip install celery
    note: The `celery` console-script entry point is installed with the library; there is no separate CLI package.
entrypoint: celery [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...
global_options:
  - flag: -A, --app <app>
    env: CELERY_APP
  - flag: -b, --broker <broker>
    env: CELERY_BROKER_URL
  - flag: --result-backend <result_backend>
    env: CELERY_RESULT_BACKEND
  - flag: --loader <loader>
    env: CELERY_LOADER
  - flag: --config <config>
    env: CELERY_CONFIG_MODULE
  - flag: --workdir <workdir>
  - flag: -C, --no-color
    env: CELERY_NO_COLOR
  - flag: -q, --quiet
  - flag: --version
  - flag: --skip-checks
    env: CELERY_SKIP_CHECKS
    note: Skip Django core checks on startup.
env_prefix: >-
  The documentation states the prefix CELERY_ must be added to the documented environment variable
  names — APP becomes CELERY_APP, BROKER_URL becomes CELERY_BROKER_URL, and so on.
commands:
  - name: worker
    group: runtime
    summary: Start a Celery worker instance.
  - name: beat
    group: runtime
    summary: Start the beat periodic task scheduler.
    options: [--detach, -s/--schedule, -S/--scheduler, --max-interval, -l/--loglevel, -f/--logfile, --pidfile, --uid, --gid, --umask, --executable]
  - name: multi
    group: runtime
    summary: Start, stop and restart multiple worker nodes.
  - name: call
    group: tasks
    summary: Call a task by name.
    options: [-a/--args, -k/--kwargs, --eta, --countdown, --expires, --serializer, --queue, --exchange, --routing-key]
  - name: result
    group: tasks
    summary: Show the result of a task.
  - name: purge
    group: tasks
    summary: Purge messages from all configured task queues.
    warning: There is no undo for this operation; messages are permanently deleted.
    options: [-Q (queues to purge), -X (queues to exclude)]
  - name: inspect
    group: cluster
    summary: Inspect running workers.
    subcommands: [active, scheduled, reserved, revoked, registered, stats, query_task, active_queues, clock, conf, memdump, memsample, objgraph, ping, report]
    options: [--destination/-d, --timeout]
  - name: control
    group: cluster
    summary: Send a control command to the workers.
    subcommands: [enable_events, disable_events, rate_limit, time_limit, revoke, revoke_by_stamped_headers, add_consumer, cancel_consumer, pool_grow, pool_shrink, autoscale, shutdown, election, heartbeat, terminate]
    options: [--destination/-d, --timeout]
  - name: status
    group: cluster
    summary: List active nodes in this cluster.
  - name: events
    group: monitoring
    summary: Curses event viewer; also starts snapshot cameras and dumps events to stdout.
    options: [--camera, --frequency, --dump]
  - name: amqp
    group: broker
    summary: AMQP administration shell.
    subcommands: [basic.ack, basic.get, basic.publish, exchange.declare, exchange.delete, queue.bind, queue.declare, queue.delete, queue.purge, repl]
  - name: migrate
    group: broker
    summary: Migrate tasks from one broker to another (EXPERIMENTAL).
  - name: list
    group: introspection
    summary: Get info from the broker.
    subcommands: [bindings]
  - name: graph
    group: introspection
    summary: Render dependency graphs in Graphviz dot format.
    subcommands: [bootsteps, workers]
  - name: report
    group: introspection
    summary: Shows information useful to include in bug-reports.
  - name: shell
    group: introspection
    summary: Drop into a Python shell with the app and all known tasks in locals.
    options: [--ipython, --bpython, --python, --without-tasks]
  - name: logtool
    group: diagnostics
    summary: Parse Celery log files.
    subcommands: [debug, errors, incomplete, stats, traces]
  - name: upgrade
    group: migration
    summary: Perform upgrade between versions.
    subcommands: [settings]
command_count: 18
key_flows:
  - name: Run a worker
    steps:
      - celery -A proj worker -l INFO
  - name: Schedule periodic tasks
    steps:
      - celery -A proj beat -l INFO
  - name: Fire a task from the shell
    steps:
      - celery -A proj call tasks.add -a '[4, 4]'
      - celery -A proj result <task-id>
  - name: Inspect and control a live cluster
    steps:
      - celery -A proj status
      - celery -A proj inspect active
      - celery -A proj control rate_limit tasks.add 10/m
      - celery -A proj control revoke <task-id>
  - name: Watch the event stream
    steps:
      - celery -A proj control enable_events
      - celery -A proj events --dump