The VoLCA CLI provides direct access to all engine features. Most commands work in two modes:
- Local mode — loads databases into memory and queries them directly (fast, no server needed for most commands)
- Client mode — connects to a running VoLCA server via HTTP (useful when the server is already running)
Every command requires --config pointing to your volca.toml file, except stop (which uses --url) and dump-* tooling commands.
| Flag | Description |
|---|
-c, --config FILE | TOML config file (required for most commands) |
--db NAME | Database name to query (from config file) |
--methods PATH | Directory containing ILCD method XML files |
--format FORMAT | Output format: json, csv, table, pretty (default: pretty) |
--jsonpath PATH | JSONPath expression for CSV extraction (use with --format csv) |
--no-cache | Disable caching |
--url URL | Server URL for client mode (or VOLCA_URL env var) |
--password PASSWORD | Auth password (or VOLCA_PASSWORD env var) |
--version | Show version info |
| Format | Best for |
|---|
pretty | Human reading in the terminal (default) |
table | Tabular data, aligned columns |
json | Machine processing, API-compatible |
csv | Spreadsheet import; combine with --jsonpath to extract a field |
# Extract impact assessment results as CSV
volca --config volca.toml --db ecoinvent impacts <UUID> --method <M_UUID> \
--format csv --jsonpath srResults > results.csv
| Command | Description |
|---|
server | Start the HTTP API server |
activities | Search activities |
activity | Get activity details |
inventory | Compute life cycle inventory |
impacts | Compute impact assessment (LCIA) scores |
flow | Query flow information |
flows | Search flows |
flow-mapping | Analyze flow mapping coverage |
database | Manage databases |
method | Manage method collections |
repl | Interactive REPL |
methods | List loaded methods |
synonyms | List synonym sources |
compartment-mappings | List compartment mappings |
units | List unit definitions |
stop | Stop a running server |
| Variable | Equivalent flag |
|---|
VOLCA_URL | --url |
VOLCA_PASSWORD | --password |
