---
layout: "docs"
page_title: "Packer Command-Line"
---

# Packer Command-Line

Packer is controlled using a command-line interface. All interaction with
Packer is done via the `packer` tool. Like many other command-line tools,
the `packer` tool takes a subcommand to execute, and that subcommand may
have additional options as well. Subcommands are executed with
`packer SUBCOMMAND`, where "SUBCOMMAND" is obviously the actual command you wish
to execute.

If you run `packer` by itself, help will be displayed showing all available
subcommands and a brief synopsis of what they do. In addition to this, you can
run any `packer` command with the `-h` flag to output more detailed help for
a specific subcommand.

In addition to the documentation available on the command-line, each command
is documented on this website. You can find the documentation for a specific
subcommand using the navigation to the left.