ClickHouse Client - ClickHouse Documentation

ClickHouse provides a native command-line client for executing SQL queries directly against a ClickHouse server. It supports both interactive mode (for live query execution) and batch mode (for scripting and automation). Query results can be displayed in the terminal or exported to a file, with support for all ClickHouse output formats, such as Pretty, CSV, JSON, and more. The client provides real-time feedback on query execution with a progress bar and the number of rows read, bytes processed and query execution time. It supports both command-line options and configuration files.

Install

To download ClickHouse, run:

curl https://clickhouse.com/ | sh

To also install it, run:

sudo ./clickhouse install

See Install ClickHouse for more installation options. Different client and server versions are compatible with one another, but some features may not be available in older clients. We recommend using the same version for client and server.

Run

If you only downloaded but did not install ClickHouse, use ./clickhouse client instead of clickhouse-client.

To connect to a ClickHouse server, run:

$ clickhouse-client --host server

ClickHouse client version 24.12.2.29 (official build).
Connecting to server:9000 as user default.
Connected to ClickHouse server version 24.12.2.

:)

Specify additional connection details as necessary:

Option	Description
`--port <port>`	The port ClickHouse server is accepting connections on. The default ports are 9440 (TLS) and 9000 (no TLS). Note that ClickHouse Client uses the native protocol and not HTTP(S).
`-s [ --secure ]`	Whether to use TLS (usually autodetected).
`-u [ --user ] <username>`	The database user to connect as. Connects as the `default` user by default.
`--password <password>`	The password of the database user. You can also specify the password for a connection in the configuration file. If you do not specify the password, the client will ask for it.
`-c [ --config ] <path-to-file>`	The location of the configuration file for ClickHouse Client, if it is not at one of the default locations. See Configuration Files.
`--connection <name>`	The name of preconfigured connection details from the configuration file.

For a complete list of command-line options, see Command Line Options.

Connecting to ClickHouse Cloud

The details for your ClickHouse Cloud service are available in the ClickHouse Cloud console. Select the service that you want to connect to and click Connect:

Choose Native, and the details are shown with an example clickhouse-client command:

Storing connections in a configuration file

You can store connection details for one or more ClickHouse servers in a configuration file. The format looks like this:

<config>
    <connections_credentials>
        <connection>
            <name>default</name>
            <hostname>hostname</hostname>
            <port>9440</port>
            <secure>1</secure>
            <user>default</user>
            <password>password</password>
            <!-- <history_file></history_file> -->
            <!-- <history_max_entries></history_max_entries> -->
            <!-- <accept-invalid-certificate>false</accept-invalid-certificate> -->
            <!-- <prompt></prompt> -->
        </connection>
    </connections_credentials>
</config>

See the section on configuration files for more information.

To concentrate on the query syntax, the rest of the examples leave off the connection details (--host, --port, etc.). Remember to add them when you use the commands.

Interactive mode

Using interactive mode

To run ClickHouse in interactive mode, simply execute:

clickhouse-client

This opens the Read-Eval-Print Loop (REPL) where you can start typing SQL queries interactively. Once connected, you’ll get a prompt where you can enter queries:

ClickHouse client version 25.x.x.x
Connecting to localhost:9000 as user default.
Connected to ClickHouse server version 25.x.x.x

hostname :)

In interactive mode, the default output format is PrettyCompact. You can change the format in the FORMAT clause of the query or by specifying the --format command-line option. To use the Vertical format, you can use --vertical or specify \G at the end of the query. In this format, each value is printed on a separate line, which is convenient for wide tables. In interactive mode, by default whatever was entered is run when you press Enter. A semicolon is not necessary at the end of the query. You can start the client with the -m, --multiline parameter. To enter a multiline query, enter a backslash \ before the line feed. After you press Enter, you will be asked to enter the next line of the query. To run the query, end it with a semicolon and press Enter. ClickHouse Client is based on replxx (similar to readline) so it uses familiar keyboard shortcuts and keeps a history. The history is written to ~/.clickhouse-client-history by default. To exit the client, press Ctrl+D, or enter one of the following instead of a query:

exit or exit;
quit or quit;
q, Q or :q
logout or logout;

Getting help

You can look up the documentation of any function, table engine, data type, format, setting and other component of the system without leaving the client. Enter help followed by a name (the equivalent forms /help, man and /man also work):

help domainWithoutWWW

The lookup is case-insensitive and queries the system.documentation table. The matching documentation is rendered from Markdown in the terminal, with bold/italic text, tables, and syntax-highlighted code blocks. When a name is shared by several components (for example file, which is both a function and a table engine), all of them are shown. When nothing matches exactly, the client lists similar names (allowing for typos) and the components whose documentation mentions the word:

help maxx_threads

Entering help on its own prints a short usage summary.

Query processing information

When processing a query, the client shows:

Progress, which is updated no more than 10 times per second by default. For quick queries, the progress might not have time to be displayed.
The formatted query after parsing, for debugging.
The result in the specified format.
The number of lines in the result, the time passed, and the average speed of query processing. All data amounts refer to uncompressed data.

You can cancel a long query by pressing Ctrl+C. However, you will still need to wait for a little for the server to abort the request. It is not possible to cancel a query at certain stages. If you do not wait and press Ctrl+C a second time, the client will exit. ClickHouse Client allows passing external data (external temporary tables) for querying. For more information, see the section External data for query processing.

Aliases

You can use the following aliases from within the REPL:

\l - SHOW DATABASES
\d - SHOW TABLES
\c <DATABASE> - USE DATABASE
. - repeat the last query

Keyboard shortcuts

Alt (Option) + Shift + e - open editor with the current query. It is possible to specify the editor to use with the environment variable EDITOR. By default, vim is used.
Alt (Option) + # - comment line.
Ctrl + r - fuzzy history search.

The full list with all available keyboard shortcuts is available at replxx.

To configure the correct work of the meta key (Option) on MacOS:iTerm2: Go to Preferences -> Profile -> Keys -> Left Option key and click Esc+

Batch mode

Using batch mode

Instead of using ClickHouse Client interactively, you can run it in batch mode. In batch mode, ClickHouse executes a single query and exits immediately - there’s no interactive prompt or loop. You can specify a single query like this:

$ clickhouse-client "SELECT sum(number) FROM numbers(10)"
45

You can also use the --query command-line option:

$ clickhouse-client --query "SELECT uniq(number) FROM numbers(10)"
10

You can provide a query on stdin:

$ echo "SELECT avg(number) FROM numbers(10)" | clickhouse-client
4.5

Assuming the existence of a table messages, you can also insert data from the command line:

$ echo "Hello\nGoodbye" | clickhouse-client --query "INSERT INTO messages FORMAT CSV"

When --query is specified, any input is appended to the request after a line feed.

Inserting a CSV file into a remote ClickHouse service

This example is inserting a sample dataset CSV file, cell_towers.csv into an existing table cell_towers in the default database:

clickhouse-client --host HOSTNAME.clickhouse.cloud \
  --port 9440 \
  --user default \
  --password PASSWORD \
  --query "INSERT INTO cell_towers FORMAT CSVWithNames" \
  < cell_towers.csv

Examples of inserting data from the command line

There are several ways to insert data from the command line. The example below inserts two rows of CSV data into a ClickHouse table using batch mode:

echo -ne "1, 'some text', '2016-08-14 00:00:00'\n2, 'some more text', '2016-08-14 00:00:01'" | \
  clickhouse-client --database=test --query="INSERT INTO test FORMAT CSV";

In the example below cat <<_EOF starts a heredoc that will read everything until it sees _EOF again, then outputs it:

cat <<_EOF | clickhouse-client --database=test --query="INSERT INTO test FORMAT CSV";
3, 'some text', '2016-08-14 00:00:00'
4, 'some more text', '2016-08-14 00:00:01'
_EOF

In the example below, the contents of file.csv are output to stdout using cat, and piped into clickhouse-client as input:

cat file.csv | clickhouse-client --database=test --query="INSERT INTO test FORMAT CSV";

In batch mode, the default data format is TabSeparated. You can set the format in the FORMAT clause of the query as shown in the example above.

Queries with parameters

You can specify parameters in a query and pass values to it with command-line options. This avoids formatting a query with specific dynamic values on the client side. For example:

$ clickhouse-client --param_parName="[1, 2]" --query "SELECT {parName: Array(UInt16)}"
[1,2]

It is also possible to set parameters from within an interactive session:

$ clickhouse-client
ClickHouse client version 25.X.X.XXX (official build).

:) SET param_parName='[1, 2]';

SET param_parName = '[1, 2]'

Query id: 7ac1f84e-e89a-4eeb-a4bb-d24b8f9fd977

Ok.

0 rows in set. Elapsed: 0.000 sec.

:) SELECT {parName:Array(UInt16)}

SELECT {parName:Array(UInt16)}

Query id: 0358a729-7bbe-4191-bb48-29b063c548a7

   ┌─_CAST([1, 2]⋯y(UInt16)')─┐
1. │ [1,2]                    │
   └──────────────────────────┘

1 row in set. Elapsed: 0.006 sec.

Query syntax

In the query, place the values that you want to fill using command-line parameters in braces in the following format:

{<name>:<data type>}

Parameter	Description
`name`	Placeholder identifier. The corresponding command-line option is `--param_<name> = value`.
`data type`	Data type of the parameter. For example, a data structure like `(integer, ('string', integer))` can have the `Tuple(UInt8, Tuple(String, UInt8))` data type (you can also use other integer types). It is also possible to pass the table name, database name, and column names as parameters, in that case you would need to use `Identifier` as the data type.

Examples

$ clickhouse-client --param_tuple_in_tuple="(10, ('dt', 10))" \
    --query "SELECT * FROM table WHERE val = {tuple_in_tuple:Tuple(UInt8, Tuple(String, UInt8))}"

$ clickhouse-client --param_tbl="numbers" --param_db="system" --param_col="number" --param_alias="top_ten" \
    --query "SELECT {col:Identifier} as {alias:Identifier} FROM {db:Identifier}.{tbl:Identifier} LIMIT 10"

AI-powered SQL generation

ClickHouse Client includes built-in AI assistance for generating SQL queries from natural language descriptions. This feature helps users write complex queries without deep SQL knowledge. The AI assistance works out of the box if you have either OPENAI_API_KEY or ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable set. For more advanced configuration, see the Configuration section.

Usage

To use AI SQL generation, prefix your natural language query with ??:

:) ?? show all users who made purchases in the last 30 days

The AI will:

Explore your database schema automatically
Generate appropriate SQL based on the discovered tables and columns
Execute the generated query immediately

Example

:) ?? count orders by product category

Starting AI SQL generation with schema discovery...
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

🔍 list_databases
   ➜ system, default, sales_db

🔍 list_tables_in_database
   database: sales_db
   ➜ orders, products, categories

🔍 get_schema_for_table
   database: sales_db
   table: orders
   ➜ CREATE TABLE orders (order_id UInt64, product_id UInt64, quantity UInt32, ...)

✨ SQL query generated successfully!
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

SELECT
    c.name AS category,
    COUNT(DISTINCT o.order_id) AS order_count
FROM sales_db.orders o
JOIN sales_db.products p ON o.product_id = p.product_id
JOIN sales_db.categories c ON p.category_id = c.category_id
GROUP BY c.name
ORDER BY order_count DESC

Configuration

AI SQL generation requires configuring an AI provider in your ClickHouse Client configuration file. You can use either OpenAI, Anthropic, or any OpenAI-compatible API service.

Environment-based fallback

If no AI configuration is specified in the config file, ClickHouse Client will automatically try to use environment variables:

First checks for OPENAI_API_KEY environment variable
If not found, checks for ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable
If neither is found, AI features will be disabled

This allows quick setup without configuration files:

# Using OpenAI
export OPENAI_API_KEY=your-openai-key
clickhouse-client

# Using Anthropic
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your-anthropic-key
clickhouse-client

Configuration file

For more control over AI settings, configure them in your ClickHouse Client configuration file located at:

$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/clickhouse/config.xml (or ~/.config/clickhouse/config.xml if XDG_CONFIG_HOME is not set) (XML format)
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/clickhouse/config.yaml (or ~/.config/clickhouse/config.yaml if XDG_CONFIG_HOME is not set) (YAML format)
~/.clickhouse-client/config.xml (XML format, legacy location)
~/.clickhouse-client/config.yaml (YAML format, legacy location)
Or specify a custom location with --config-file

XML
YAML

<config>
    <ai>
        {/* Required: Your API key (or set via environment variable) */}
        <api_key>your-api-key-here</api_key>

        {/* Required: Provider type (openai, anthropic) */}
        <provider>openai</provider>

        {/* Model to use (defaults vary by provider) */}
        <model>gpt-4o</model>

        {/* Optional: Custom API endpoint for OpenAI-compatible services */}
        {/* <base_url>https://openrouter.ai/api</base_url> */}

        {/* Schema exploration settings */}
        <enable_schema_access>true</enable_schema_access>

        {/* Generation parameters */}
        {/* Optional: temperature is only sent to the model when set here.
             It is omitted by default because some models reject this parameter. */}
        {/* <temperature>0.0</temperature> */}
        <max_tokens>1000</max_tokens>
        <timeout_seconds>30</timeout_seconds>
        <max_steps>10</max_steps>

        {/* Optional: Custom system prompt */}
        {/* <system_prompt>You are an expert ClickHouse SQL assistant...</system_prompt> */}
    </ai>
</config>

ai:
  # Required: Your API key (or set via environment variable)
  api_key: your-api-key-here

  # Required: Provider type (openai, anthropic)
  provider: openai

  # Model to use
  model: gpt-4o

  # Optional: Custom API endpoint for OpenAI-compatible services
  # base_url: https://openrouter.ai/api

  # Enable schema access - allows AI to query database/table information
  enable_schema_access: true

  # Generation parameters
  # temperature is only sent to the model when set here; omitted by default
  # because some models reject this parameter.
  # temperature: 0.0    # Controls randomness (0.0 = deterministic)
  max_tokens: 1000      # Maximum response length
  timeout_seconds: 30   # Request timeout
  max_steps: 10         # Maximum schema exploration steps

  # Optional: Custom system prompt
  # system_prompt: |
  #   You are an expert ClickHouse SQL assistant. Convert natural language to SQL.
  #   Focus on performance and use ClickHouse-specific optimizations.
  #   Always return executable SQL without explanations.

Using OpenAI-compatible APIs (e.g., OpenRouter):

ai:
  provider: openai  # Use 'openai' for compatibility
  api_key: your-openrouter-api-key
  base_url: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
  model: anthropic/claude-3.5-sonnet  # Use OpenRouter model naming

Minimal configuration examples:

# Minimal config - uses environment variable for API key
ai:
  provider: openai  # Will use OPENAI_API_KEY env var

# No config at all - automatic fallback
# (Empty or no ai section - will try OPENAI_API_KEY then ANTHROPIC_API_KEY)

# Only override model - uses env var for API key
ai:
  provider: openai
  model: gpt-3.5-turbo

Parameters

Required parameters

api_key - Your API key for the AI service. Can be omitted if set via environment variable:
- OpenAI: OPENAI_API_KEY
- Anthropic: ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
- Note: API key in config file takes precedence over environment variable
provider - The AI provider: openai or anthropic
- If omitted, uses automatic fallback based on available environment variables

Model configuration

model - The model to use (default: provider-specific)
- OpenAI: gpt-4o, gpt-4, gpt-3.5-turbo, etc.
- Anthropic: claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022, claude-3-opus-20240229, etc.
- OpenRouter: Use their model naming like anthropic/claude-3.5-sonnet

Connection settings

base_url - Custom API endpoint for OpenAI-compatible services (optional)
timeout_seconds - Request timeout in seconds (default: 30)

Schema exploration

enable_schema_access - Allow AI to explore database schemas (default: true)
max_steps - Maximum tool-calling steps for schema exploration (default: 10)

Generation parameters

temperature - Controls randomness, 0.0 = deterministic, 1.0 = creative. Omitted by default and only sent to the model when explicitly set, because some models reject this parameter.
max_tokens - Maximum response length in tokens (default: 1000)
system_prompt - Custom instructions for the AI (optional)

How it works

The AI SQL generator uses a multi-step process:

Schema Discovery

The AI uses built-in tools to explore your database

Lists available databases
Discovers tables within relevant databases
Examines table structures via CREATE TABLE statements

Query Generation

Based on the discovered schema, the AI generates SQL that:

Matches your natural language intent
Uses correct table and column names
Applies appropriate joins and aggregations

Execution

The generated SQL is automatically executed and results are displayed

Limitations

Requires an active internet connection
API usage is subject to rate limits and costs from the AI provider
Complex queries may require multiple refinements
The AI has read-only access to schema information, not actual data

Security

API keys are never sent to ClickHouse servers
The AI only sees schema information (table/column names and types), not actual data
All generated queries respect your existing database permissions

Connection string

Usage

ClickHouse Client alternatively supports connecting to a ClickHouse server using a connection string similar to MongoDB, PostgreSQL, MySQL. It has the following syntax:

clickhouse:[//[user[:password]@][hosts_and_ports]][/database][?query_parameters]

Component (all optional)	Description	Default
`user`	Database username.	`default`
`password`	Database user password. If `:` is specified and the password is blank, the client will prompt for the user’s password.	-
`hosts_and_ports`	List of hosts and optional ports `host[:port] [, host:[port]], ...`.	`localhost:9000`
`database`	Database name.	`default`
`query_parameters`	List of key-value pairs `param1=value1[,&param2=value2], ...`. For some parameters, no value is required. Parameter names and values are case-sensitive.	-

Notes

If the username, password or database was specified in the connection string, it cannot be specified using --user, --password or --database (and vice versa). The host component can either be a hostname or an IPv4 or IPv6 address. IPv6 addresses should be in []:

clickhouse://[2001:db8::1234]

Connection strings can contain multiple hosts. ClickHouse Client will try to connect to these hosts in order (from left to right). After the connection is established, no attempt to connect to the remaining hosts is made. The connection string must be specified as the first argument of clickHouse-client. The connection string can be combined with an arbitrary number of other command-line options except --host and --port. The following keys are allowed for query_parameters:

Key	Description
`secure` (or `s`)	If specified, the client will connect to the server over a secure connection (TLS). See `--secure` in the command-line options.

Percent encoding Non-US ASCII, spaces and special characters in the following parameters must be percent-encoded:

user
password
hosts
database
query parameters

Examples

Connect to localhost on port 9000 and execute the query SELECT 1.

clickhouse-client clickhouse://localhost:9000 --query "SELECT 1"

Connect to localhost as user john with password secret, host 127.0.0.1 and port 9000

clickhouse-client clickhouse://john:secret@127.0.0.1:9000

Connect to localhost as the default user, host with IPV6 address [::1] and port 9000.

clickhouse-client clickhouse://[::1]:9000

Connect to localhost on port 9000 in multiline mode.

clickhouse-client clickhouse://localhost:9000 '-m'

Connect to localhost using port 9000 as the user default.

clickhouse-client clickhouse://default@localhost:9000

# equivalent to:
clickhouse-client clickhouse://localhost:9000 --user default

Connect to localhost on port 9000 and default to the my_database database.

clickhouse-client clickhouse://localhost:9000/my_database

# equivalent to:
clickhouse-client clickhouse://localhost:9000 --database my_database

Connect to localhost on port 9000 and default to the my_database database specified in the connection string and a secure connection using the shorthanded s parameter.

clickhouse-client clickhouse://localhost/my_database?s

# equivalent to:
clickhouse-client clickhouse://localhost/my_database -s

Connect to the default host using the default port, the default user, and the default database.

clickhouse-client clickhouse:

Connect to the default host using the default port, as the user my_user and no password.

clickhouse-client clickhouse://my_user@

# Using a blank password between : and @ means to asking the user to enter the password before starting the connection.
clickhouse-client clickhouse://my_user:@

Connect to localhost using the email as the user name. @ symbol is percent encoded to %40.

clickhouse-client clickhouse://some_user%40some_mail.com@localhost:9000

Connect to one of two hosts: 192.168.1.15, 192.168.1.25.

clickhouse-client clickhouse://192.168.1.15,192.168.1.25

Query ID format

In interactive mode ClickHouse Client shows the query ID for every query. By default, the ID is formatted like this:

Query id: 927f137d-00f1-4175-8914-0dd066365e96

A custom format may be specified in a configuration file inside a query_id_formats tag. The {query_id} placeholder in the format string is replaced with the query ID. Several format strings are allowed inside the tag. This feature can be used to generate URLs to facilitate profiling of queries. Example

<config>
  <query_id_formats>
    <speedscope>http://speedscope-host/#profileURL=qp%3Fid%3D{query_id}</speedscope>
  </query_id_formats>
</config>

With the configuration above, the ID of a query is shown in the following format:

speedscope:http://speedscope-host/#profileURL=qp%3Fid%3Dc8ecc783-e753-4b38-97f1-42cddfb98b7d

Configuration files

ClickHouse Client uses the first existing file of the following:

A file that is defined with the -c [ -C, --config, --config-file ] parameter.
./clickhouse-client.[xml|yaml|yml]
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/clickhouse/config.[xml|yaml|yml] (or ~/.config/clickhouse/config.[xml|yaml|yml] if XDG_CONFIG_HOME is not set)
~/.clickhouse-client/config.[xml|yaml|yml]
/etc/clickhouse-client/config.[xml|yaml|yml]

See the sample configuration file in the ClickHouse repository: clickhouse-client.xml

XML
YAML

<config>
    <user>username</user>
    <password>password</password>
    <secure>true</secure>
    <openSSL>
      <client>
        <caConfig>/etc/ssl/cert.pem</caConfig>
      </client>
    </openSSL>
</config>

user: username
password: 'password'
secure: true
openSSL:
  client:
    caConfig: '/etc/ssl/cert.pem'

Environment variable options

The user name, password and host can be set via environment variables CLICKHOUSE_USER, CLICKHOUSE_PASSWORD and CLICKHOUSE_HOST. Command line arguments --user, --password or --host, or a connection string (if specified) take precedence over environment variables.

Command-line options

All command-line options can be specified directly on the command line or as defaults in the configuration file.

General options

Option	Description	Default
`-c [ -C, --config, --config-file ] <path-to-file>`	The location of the configuration file for the client, if it is not at one of the default locations. See Configuration Files.	-
`--help`	Print usage summary and exit. Combine with `--verbose` to display all possible options including query settings.	-
`--history_file <path-to-file>`	Path to a file containing the command history.	-
`--history_max_entries`	Maximum number of entries in the history file.	`1000000` (1 million)
`--prompt <prompt>`	Specify a custom prompt.	The `display_name` of the server
`--verbose`	Increase output verbosity.	-
`-V [ --version ]`	Print version and exit.	-

Connection options

Option	Description	Default
`--connection <name>`	The name of preconfigured connection details from the configuration file. See Connection credentials.	-
`-d [ --database ] <database>`	Select the database to default to for this connection.	The current database from the server settings (`default` by default)
`-h [ --host ] <host>`	The hostname of the ClickHouse server to connect to. Can either be a hostname or an IPv4 or IPv6 address. Multiple hosts can be passed via multiple arguments.	`localhost`
`--jwt <value>`	Use JSON Web Token (JWT) for authentication. Server JWT authorization is only available in ClickHouse Cloud.	-
`login`	Invokes the device grant OAuth flow in order to authenticate via an IDP. For ClickHouse Cloud hosts, the OAuth variables are inferred otherwise they must be provided with `--oauth-url`, `--oauth-client-id` and `--oauth-audience`.	-
`--no-warnings`	Disable showing warnings from `system.warnings` when the client connects to the server.	-
`--no-server-client-version-message`	Suppress server-client version mismatch message when the client connects to the server.	-
`--password <password>`	The password of the database user. You can also specify the password for a connection in the configuration file. If you do not specify the password, the client will ask for it.	-
`--port <port>`	The port the server is accepting connections on. The default ports are 9440 (TLS) and 9000 (no TLS). Note: The client uses the native protocol and not HTTP(S).	`9440` if `--secure` is specified, `9000` otherwise. Always defaults to `9440` if the hostname ends in `.clickhouse.cloud`.
`-s [ --secure ]`	Whether to use TLS. Enabled automatically when connecting to port 9440 (the default secure port) or ClickHouse Cloud. You might need to configure your CA certificates in the configuration file. The available configuration settings are the same as for server-side TLS configuration.	Auto-enabled when connecting to port 9440 or ClickHouse Cloud
`--ssh-key-file <path-to-file>`	File containing the SSH private key for authenticate with the server.	-
`--ssh-key-passphrase <value>`	Passphrase for the SSH private key specified in `--ssh-key-file`.	-
`--tls-sni-override <server name>`	If using TLS, the server name (SNI) to pass in the handshake.	The host provided via `-h` or `--host`.
`-u [ --user ] <username>`	The database user to connect as.	`default`

Instead of the --host, --port, --user and --password options, the client also supports connection strings.

Query options

Option	Description
`--param_<name>=<value>`	Substitution value for a parameter of a query with parameters.
`-q [ --query ] <query>`	The query to run in batch mode. Can be specified multiple times (`--query "SELECT 1" --query "SELECT 2"`) or once with multiple semicolon-separated queries (`--query "SELECT 1; SELECT 2;"`). In the latter case, `INSERT` queries with formats other than `VALUES` must be separated by empty lines. A single query can also be specified without a parameter: `clickhouse-client "SELECT 1"` Cannot be used together with `--queries-file`.
`--queries-file <path-to-file>`	Path to a file containing queries. `--queries-file` can be specified multiple times, e.g. `--queries-file queries1.sql --queries-file queries2.sql`. Cannot be used together with `--query`.
`-m [ --multiline ]`	If specified, allow multiline queries (do not send the query on Enter). Queries will be sent only when they are ended with a semicolon.
`--inline-insert-data`	Send `INSERT ... VALUES` (and other inline formats) as is in the query text instead of converting the data to blocks in the native format. The server parses the inline data itself, avoiding the round-trip to send table structure and column defaults back to the client. This can improve performance for many small inserts over the native protocol. Automatically sets `send_table_structure_on_insert_with_inline_data` to `0`. Cannot be combined with inline data and external data (from stdin or `INFILE`).

Query settings

Query settings can be specified as command-line options in the client, for example:

$ clickhouse-client --max_threads 1

See Settings for a list of settings.

Formatting options

Option	Description	Default
`-f [ --format ] <format>`	Use the specified format to output the result. See Formats for Input and Output Data for a list of supported formats.	`TabSeparated`
`--pager <command>`	Pipe all output into this command. Typically `less` (e.g., `less -S` to display wide result sets) or similar.	-
`-E [ --vertical ]`	Use the Vertical format to output the result. This is the same as `–-format Vertical`. In this format, each value is printed on a separate line, which is helpful when displaying wide tables.	-
`--echo [ <bool> ]`	Print each query before execution. Takes an optional boolean value.	`true` in interactive mode, `false` in non-interactive (batch) mode
`--echo-formatted [ <bool> ]`	Format the echoed queries. Takes an optional boolean value.	`true` in interactive mode, `false` in non-interactive (batch) mode
`--echo-query-id [ <bool> ]`	Print the query id before execution. Takes an optional boolean value.	`true` in interactive mode, `false` in non-interactive (batch) mode
`--highlight [ --hilite ] <bool>`	Toggle syntax highlighting of the command prompt and the echoed queries.	`true`
`--hints <bool>`	Show as-you-type autocompletion hints (inline “ghost” text) for the best matching suggestion when the cursor is at the end of the input. Navigate the hints with Up/Down (or Ctrl-Up/Ctrl-Down); accept the inline hint with Tab or Right; `Enter` accepts a hint only after one has been explicitly selected and otherwise runs the query; `Tab` also opens the classic completion list. Requires `--highlight` (hints need color) and the suggestion machinery (so `--disable_suggestion` also turns them off).	`true`

Execution details

Option	Description	Default
`--chime [N]`	Write the `BEL` control character to `stderr` when a query finishes (on success and on error) after running for at least `N` seconds. Only emitted when `stderr` is attached to a terminal (TTY); redirecting `stderr` (e.g. `2>err.log`) suppresses it, while redirecting `stdout` (e.g. `> result.tsv`) does not. Passing `--chime` without a value uses the default threshold. Set `--chime 0` to disable.	`5` seconds
`--enable-progress-table-toggle`	Enable toggling of the progress table by pressing the control key (Space). Only applicable in interactive mode with progress table printing enabled.	`enabled`
`--hardware-utilization`	Print hardware utilization information in progress bar.	-
`--memory-usage`	If specified, print memory usage to `stderr` in non-interactive mode. Possible values: • `none` - do not print memory usage • `default` - print number of bytes • `readable` - print memory usage in human-readable format	-
`--print-profile-events`	Print `ProfileEvents` packets.	-
`--progress`	Print progress of query execution. Possible values: • `tty\|on\|1\|true\|yes` - outputs to the terminal in interactive mode • `err` - outputs to `stderr` in non-interactive mode • `off\|0\|false\|no` - disables progress printing	`tty` in interactive mode, `off` in non-interactive (batch) mode
`--progress-table`	Print a progress table with changing metrics during query execution. Possible values: • `tty\|on\|1\|true\|yes` - outputs to the terminal in interactive mode • `err` - outputs to `stderr` non-interactive mode • `off\|0\|false\|no` - disables the progress table	`tty` in interactive mode, `off` in non-interactive (batch) mode
`--stacktrace`	Print stack traces of exceptions.	-
`-t [ --time ]`	Print query execution time to `stderr` in non-interactive mode (for benchmarks).	-

​Install

​Run

​Connecting to ClickHouse Cloud

​Storing connections in a configuration file

​Interactive mode

​Using interactive mode

​Getting help

​Query processing information

​Aliases

​Keyboard shortcuts

​Batch mode

​Using batch mode

​Inserting a CSV file into a remote ClickHouse service

​Examples of inserting data from the command line

​Queries with parameters

​Query syntax

​Examples

​AI-powered SQL generation

​Usage

​Example

​Configuration

​Environment-based fallback

​Configuration file

​Parameters

​How it works

​Limitations

​Security

​Connection string

​Usage

​Notes

​Examples

​Query ID format

​Configuration files

​Environment variable options

​Command-line options

​General options

​Connection options

​Query options

​Query settings

​Formatting options

​Execution details

Install

Run

Connecting to ClickHouse Cloud

Storing connections in a configuration file

Interactive mode

Using interactive mode

Getting help

Query processing information

Aliases

Keyboard shortcuts

Batch mode

Using batch mode

Inserting a CSV file into a remote ClickHouse service

Examples of inserting data from the command line

Queries with parameters

Query syntax

Examples

AI-powered SQL generation

Usage

Example

Configuration

Environment-based fallback

Configuration file

Parameters

How it works

Limitations

Security

Connection string

Usage

Notes

Examples

Query ID format

Configuration files

Environment variable options

Command-line options

General options

Connection options

Query options

Query settings

Formatting options

Execution details