VARLINKCTL(1)

varlinkctl

VARLINKCTL(1)

NAME¶

varlinkctl - Introspect with and invoke Varlink services

SYNOPSIS¶

varlinkctl [OPTIONS...] info ADDRESS

varlinkctl [OPTIONS...] list-interfaces ADDRESS

varlinkctl [OPTIONS...] list-methods ADDRESS [INTERFACE...]

varlinkctl [OPTIONS...] introspect ADDRESS [INTERFACE...]

varlinkctl [OPTIONS...] call ADDRESS METHOD [ARGUMENTS]

varlinkctl [OPTIONS...] --exec call ADDRESS METHOD ARGUMENTS -- CMDLINE

varlinkctl [OPTIONS...] serve METHOD {CMDLINE...}

varlinkctl [OPTIONS...] validate-idl [FILE]

DESCRIPTION¶

varlinkctl may be used to introspect and invoke Varlink[1] services.

Services are referenced by one of the following:

•A Varlink service reference starting with the "unix:" string, followed by an absolute AF_UNIX socket path, or by "@" and an arbitrary string (the latter for referencing sockets in the abstract namespace). In this case, a stream socket connection is made to the specified socket.

•A Varlink service reference starting with the "exec:" string, followed by an absolute path of a binary to execute. In this case, the specified process is forked off locally, with a connected stream socket passed in.

•A Varlink service reference starting with the "ssh-unix:" string, followed by an SSH host specification, followed by ":", followed by an absolute AF_UNIX socket path. (This requires OpenSSH 9.4 or newer on the server side, and abstract namespace sockets are not supported.)

•A Varlink service reference starting with the "ssh-exec:" string, followed by an SSH host specification, followed by ":", followed by a command line. In this case, the command is invoked and the Varlink protocol is spoken on the standard input and output of the invoked command.

For convenience, these two simpler (redundant) service address syntaxes are also supported:

•A file system path to an AF_UNIX socket, either absolute (i.e. begins with "/") or relative (in which case it must begin with "./").

•A file system path to an executable, either absolute or relative (as above, must begin with "/" or "./", respectively).

COMMANDS¶

The following commands are understood:

info ADDRESS

Shows brief information about the specified service, including vendor name and list of implemented interfaces. Expects a service address in one of the formats described above.

Added in version 255.

list-interfaces ADDRESS

Shows a list of interfaces implemented by the specified service. Expects a service address in one of the formats described above.

Added in version 255.

list-methods ADDRESS [INTERFACE...]

Shows a list of methods implemented by the specified service. Expects a service address in one of the formats described above as well as one or more interface names. If no interface name is specified, lists all methods of all interfaces implemented by the service, otherwise just the methods in the specified interfaces.

Added in version 257.

introspect ADDRESS [INTERFACE...]

Shows the interface definitions of the specified interfaces provided by the specified service. Expects a service address in one of the formats described above and optionally one or more Varlink interface names. If no interface names are specified, shows all provided interfaces by the service.

Added in version 255.

call ADDRESS METHOD [ARGUMENTS]

Calls the specified method of the specified service. Expects a service address in the format described above, a fully qualified Varlink method name, and a JSON arguments object. If the arguments object is not specified, it is read from STDIN instead. To pass an empty list of parameters, specify the empty object "{}".

The reply parameters are written as JSON objects to STDOUT.

Added in version 255.

serve METHOD CMDLINE...

Run a Varlink server that accepts protocol upgrade requests for the specified method and connects the upgraded connection to the standard input and output of the specified command. This can act as a server-side counterpart to call --upgrade.

The listening socket must be passed via socket activation (i.e. the $LISTEN_FDS protocol), making this command suitable for use in socket-activated service units. When a client calls the specified method with the upgrade flag, the server sends a reply confirming the upgrade, then forks and executes the given command line with the upgraded connection on its standard input and output.

This effectively turns any command that speaks a protocol over standard input/output into a Varlink service, discoverable via the service registry and authenticated via socket credentials. Because each connection is handled by a forked child process, the service unit can apply systemd's sandboxing options (such as ProtectSystem=, etc.) and does not operate in the caller's environment.

Added in version 261.

list-registry

Shows a list of Varlink services currently registered in the service registry, plus their entrypoint sockets. (Currently, this simply enumerates the sockets and symlinked sockets in /run/varlink/registry/, see below.)

Added in version 260.

validate-idl [FILE]

Reads a Varlink interface definition file, parses and validates it, then outputs it with syntax highlighting. This checks for syntax and internal consistency of the interface. Expects a file name to read the interface definition from. If omitted, reads the interface definition from STDIN.

Added in version 255.

help

Shows command syntax help.

Added in version 255.

OPTIONS¶

The following options are understood:

--more

When used with call: expect multiple method replies. If this flag is set, the method call is sent with the more flag set, which tells the service to generate multiple replies, if needed. The command remains running until the service sends a reply message that indicates it is the last in the series (or if the configured timeout is reached, see below). This flag should be set only for method calls that support this mechanism.

If this mode is enabled, output is automatically switched to JSON-SEQ mode, so that individual reply objects can be easily discerned.

This switch has no effect on the method call timeout applied by default. Regardless of whether --more is specified or not, the default timeout will be 45s. Use --timeout= (see below) to change or disable the timeout. When invoking a method call that continuously returns updates, it is typically desirable to disable the timeout with --timeout=infinity. On the other hand, when invoking a --more method call for the purpose of enumerating objects (which likely will complete quickly), it is typically beneficial to leave the timeout logic enabled, for robustness reasons.

Added in version 255.

-E

A shortcut for --more --timeout=infinity. This switch is useful for method calls that implement subscription to a continuous stream of updates.

Added in version 257.

--collect

This is similar to --more, but collects all responses in a JSON array, and prints it, rather than in JSON-SEQ mode.

Added in version 256.

--oneway

When used with call: do not expect a method reply. If this flag is set, the method call is sent with the oneway flag set (the command exits immediately after), which tells the service not to generate a reply.

Added in version 255.

--upgrade

When used with call: request a protocol upgrade. The method call is sent with the upgrade flag set. The service is expected to send a single reply confirming the upgrade. After the reply, the Varlink protocol is no longer in effect on the connection.

If --exec is not specified, varlinkctl acts as a bidirectional proxy: data read from standard input is forwarded to the upgraded connection, and data received from the connection is written to standard output.

If --exec is specified, the upgraded connection socket is placed on both standard input and standard output of the invoked process. This is similar to the regular --exec behavior (without --upgrade), which places the method call reply on standard input. The invoked process can thus simply read from and write to stdin/stdout to communicate over the upgraded protocol.

This option may not be combined with --more, --oneway, --collect, --graceful=, or --push-fd=.

Added in version 261.

--json=MODE

Selects the JSON output formatting, either "pretty" for nicely indented, colorized output, or "short" for terse output with minimal whitespace and no newlines. Defaults to "short".

Added in version 255.

-j

Equivalent to --json=pretty when invoked interactively from a terminal. Otherwise, it is equivalent to --json=short, in particular when the output is piped to some other program.

Added in version 255.

--quiet, -q

Suppress output of method call replies.

Added in version 257.

--graceful=

Takes a qualified Varlink error name, i.e. an interface name, suffixed by an error name, separated by a dot, e.g. "org.varlink.service.InvalidParameter". Ensures that, if a method call fails with the specified error, this will be treated as success, i.e. will cause the varlinkctl invocation to exit with a zero exit status. This option may be used more than once in order to treat multiple different errors as successes.

Added in version 257.

--timeout=

Expects a timeout in seconds as parameter. By default, a timeout of 45s is enforced. To turn off the timeout, specify "infinity" or an empty string.

Added in version 257.

--exec

Once the method call issued via call completed successfully, chainload the specified command line, with the method call output parameters serialized to JSON passed into standard input (and standard output and standard error inherited from the invoking process). Moreover any file descriptors passed back on the underlying communication socket are passed to the invoked process via the usual $LISTEN_FDS protocol. This functionality may be used to consume replies that come with associated file descriptors in a reasonable way.

Now that if --exec is specified the the third parameter to call is not optional (i.e. the method call parameters).

Added in version 258.

--push-fd=

Takes a numeric file descriptor number as parameter. May be used to pass a file descriptor along with the method call, if the underlying transport supports this. May be used multiple times to pass multiple file descriptors, retaining the order in which they are specified. The specified file descriptors must be passed to the varlinkctl invocation. Optionally, in place of a numeric file descriptor number an absolute or relative file system path (the latter must be prefixed with "./") may be specified, which is opened in read-only mode.

Added in version 258.

--system, --user

Determines whether to query to the per-system or per-user registry when using the list-registry command. By default, the per-system registry is queried.

Added in version 260.

--no-ask-password

Do not query the user for authentication for privileged operations.

--no-pager

Do not pipe output into a pager.

-h, --help

Print a short help text and exit.

--version

Print a short version string and exit.

FILES & DIRECTORIES¶

/run/varlink/registry/

Directory containing AF_UNIX entrypoint socket inodes (or symlinks to them) of well-known, public Varlink interfaces on the local system. They are named after the Varlink interface they implement.

Use varlinkctl list-registry to show the contents of this directory.

(Inodes that neither qualify as socket inodes nor as symlinks to them shall be ignored. A future extension might introduce regular files and directories to enhance the registry functionality.)

Added in version 260.

EXAMPLES¶

Example 1. Investigating a Service

The following three commands inspect the "io.systemd.Resolve" service implemented by systemd-resolved.service(8), listing general service information and implemented interfaces, and then displaying the interface definition of its primary interface:

$ varlinkctl info /run/systemd/resolve/io.systemd.Resolve


    Vendor: The systemd Project


   Product: systemd (systemd-resolved)


   Version: 254 (254-1522-g4790521^)


       URL: https://systemd.io/
Interfaces: io.systemd


            io.systemd.Resolve


            org.varlink.service
$ varlinkctl list-interfaces /run/systemd/resolve/io.systemd.Resolve
io.systemd
io.systemd.Resolve
org.varlink.service
$ varlinkctl introspect /run/systemd/resolve/io.systemd.Resolve io.systemd.Resolve
interface io.systemd.Resolve
type ResolvedAddress(


        ifindex: ?int,


        ...

(Interface definition has been truncated in the example above, in the interest of brevity.)

Example 2. Invoking a Method

The following command resolves a hostname via systemd-resolved.service(8)'s ResolveHostname method call.

$ varlinkctl call /run/systemd/resolve/io.systemd.Resolve io.systemd.Resolve.ResolveHostname '{"name":"systemd.io","family":2}' -j
{


        "addresses" : [


                {


                        "ifindex" : 2,


                        "family" : 2,


                        "address" : [


                                185,


                                199,


                                111,


                                153


                        ]


                }


        ],


        "name" : "systemd.io",


        "flags" : 1048577
}

Example 3. Investigating a Service Executable

The following command inspects the /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-pcrextend executable and the IPC APIs it provides. It then invokes a method on it:

# varlinkctl info /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-pcrextend


    Vendor: The systemd Project


   Product: systemd (systemd-pcrextend)


   Version: 254 (254-1536-g97734fb)


       URL: https://systemd.io/
Interfaces: io.systemd


            io.systemd.PCRExtend


            org.varlink.service
# varlinkctl introspect /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-pcrextend io.systemd.PCRExtend
interface io.systemd.PCRExtend
method Extend(


        pcr: int,


        text: ?string,


        data: ?string
) -> ()
# varlinkctl call /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-pcrextend io.systemd.PCRExtend.Extend '{"pcr":15,"text":"foobar"}'
{}

Example 4. Invoking a method remotely via SSH

The following command acquires a report about the identity of a remote host "somehost" from systemd-hostnamed.service(8) by connecting via SSH to the AF_UNIX socket the service listens on:

# varlinkctl call ssh-unix:somehost:/run/systemd/io.systemd.Hostname io.systemd.Hostname.Describe '{}'

To invoke a Varlink service binary directly on the remote host, rather than talking to a service via AF_UNIX can be done like this:

# varlinkctl call ssh-exec:somehost:systemd-creds org.varlink.service.GetInfo '{}'

Example 5. Serving a Sandboxed Decompressor via Protocol Upgrade

The following socket and service units expose xz decompression as a Varlink service. Clients connect and send compressed data over the upgraded connection, receiving decompressed output in return.

# /etc/systemd/system/varlink-decompress-xz.socket
[Socket]
ListenStream=/run/varlink/registry/com.example.Decompress.XZ
[Install]
WantedBy=sockets.target
# /etc/systemd/system/varlink-decompress-xz.service
[Service]
ExecStart=varlinkctl serve com.example.Decompress.XZ xz -d
DynamicUser=yes
PrivateNetwork=yes
ProtectSystem=strict
ProtectHome=yes
NoNewPrivileges=yes
SystemCallFilter=~@privileged @resources
MemoryMax=256M

A client can then decompress data through this service:

$ echo "hello" | xz | varlinkctl call --upgrade \


        unix:/run/varlink/registry/com.example.Decompress.XZ \


        com.example.Decompress.XZ '{}'
hello

For quick testing without unit files, systemd-socket-activate can be used to provide the listening socket:

$ systemd-socket-activate -l /tmp/decompress.sock -- varlinkctl serve com.example.Decompress.XZ xz -d &
$ echo "hello" | xz | varlinkctl call --upgrade unix:/tmp/decompress.sock com.example.Decompress.XZ '{}'
hello

NOTES¶

1.: Varlink

https://varlink.org/

systemd 261~rc2

Source file:	varlinkctl.1.en.gz (from systemd 261~rc2-1)
Source last updated:	2026-05-26T21:10:39Z
Converted to HTML:	2026-05-27T02:52:39Z

NAME¶

SYNOPSIS¶

DESCRIPTION¶

COMMANDS¶

OPTIONS¶

FILES & DIRECTORIES¶

EXAMPLES¶

SEE ALSO¶

NOTES¶