---
description: |
    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 the actual command you wish to execute.
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 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.