generated: '2026-07-22'
method: searched
source: https://github.com/databento/dbn/tree/main/rust/dbn-cli, https://crates.io/crates/dbn-cli
name: dbn
version: 0.63.0
description: >-
  Databento's first-party command-line tool. `dbn` converts Databento Binary
  Encoding (DBN) files - the format streamed by the historical API and
  produced by batch jobs - to text formats (CSV and JSON lines), and upgrades
  legacy DBZ files to DBN. It is a data-conversion companion to the API
  rather than a full API client CLI (there is no first-party CLI that calls
  the HTTP API; use the Python/Rust/C++ SDKs for that).
install:
- method: prebuilt-binaries
  detail: dbn-<version>-<target>.tar.gz (.zip on Windows) with .sha256 checksums attached to every release
  url: https://github.com/databento/dbn/releases
  platforms: [linux x86_64/aarch64 (gnu+musl), macos x86_64/aarch64, windows x86_64/aarch64]
- method: cargo
  detail: cargo install dbn-cli
  url: https://crates.io/crates/dbn-cli
commands:
- surface: convert
  detail: Read a .dbn (or legacy .dbz) file and emit CSV or JSON lines to stdout; supports zstd-compressed input.
flows:
- name: Inspect a batch download
  detail: Pull DBN files with the Batch API (batchListFiles), then `dbn file.dbn --json` to explore records with text tools.
docs: https://databento.com/docs/standards-and-conventions/databento-binary-encoding