Interactive Commands

Launch interactive mode with kalam (no --command or --file). Type SQL directly or use backslash meta-commands. --command also accepts meta-commands for one-shot cluster and admin operations.

Core shell and inspection

Command	Description
`\help`, `\?`	Show help.
`\quit`, `\q`	Exit CLI.
`\info`, `\session`	Session, server URL, health, version, cluster, config.
`\sessions`	Active PostgreSQL gRPC bridge sessions from `system.sessions`.
`\history`, `\h`	Open command history menu.
`\health`	Unauthenticated public health probes.
`\stats`, `\metrics`	Query system stats metrics.

\health uses /health and /v1/api/healthcheck without authenticated SQL. On remote deployments those endpoints may be localhost-only.

\sessions runs:

SQL

1SELECT *2FROM system.sessions3ORDER BY last_seen_at DESC, session_id;

For active transactions across pg_kalam and /v1/api/sql:

SQL

1SELECT transaction_id, owner_id, origin, state, write_count2FROM system.transactions3ORDER BY origin, transaction_id;

See system views for columns and patterns.

Namespace, schema, impersonation

Command	Description
`\dt`, `\tables`	List tables.
`\d <table>`, `\describe <table>`	Describe columns.
`\as <user_id> <SQL>`	Wrapper for `EXECUTE AS '<user_id>'`.
`\format table\|json\|csv`	Change output format.
`\refresh-tables`, `\refresh`	Refresh autocomplete metadata.

SQL

1USE NAMESPACE chat;2SELECT * FROM messages WHERE conversation_id = 42;3\flush table messages4\as user_123 SELECT * FROM app.messages WHERE conversation_id = 42;

\flush shortcuts STORAGE FLUSH:

\flush or \flush all — STORAGE FLUSH ALL in current namespace
\flush table messages — STORAGE FLUSH TABLE chat.messages when namespace is chat
\flush table billing.invoices — preserves explicit namespace

See impersonation for delegation rules.

Table transfer

Command	Description
`\export <namespace.table> [--user-id <id>] [--output <file.zip>]`	Export table to local ZIP.
`\import <namespace.table> <file.zip> [--user-id <id>]`	Import ZIP into target table.

Runs async server jobs with progress polling
User tables require --user-id when applicable
<namespace.table> is required; unqualified names are rejected

SQL

1\export app.orders --output ./orders-backup.zip2\import app.orders_restored ./orders-backup.zip3\export app.user_profile --user-id user_123 --output ./profile-user123.zip

Credentials

Command	Description
`\show-credentials`, `\credentials`	Show stored credentials for current instance.
`\update-credentials <user> <pass>`	Update credentials.
`\delete-credentials`	Delete credentials for current instance.

Live queries

Command	Description
`\live <SQL>`, `\subscribe <SQL>`	Start live subscription.

See Live Subscriptions.

Topic consumer

Command	Description
`\consume <topic> [--group NAME] [--from earliest\|latest\|OFFSET] [--limit N] [--timeout SECONDS]`	Consume topic messages.

See Topic Consumers.

Cluster and ingest

Command	Description
`\flush [all\|table <table>]`	`STORAGE FLUSH` in current namespace context.
`\cluster snapshot`	Trigger cluster snapshot.
`\cluster purge --upto <index>`	Purge Raft logs up to index.
`\cluster trigger-election`	Trigger elections across groups.
`\cluster transfer-leader <node_id>`	Request leader transfer.
`\cluster rebalance`	Rebalance data-group leaders.
`\cluster stepdown`	Request leader stepdown.
`\cluster clear`	Clear older snapshot files.
`\cluster list`, `\cluster ls`	Node overview from `system.cluster`.
`\cluster list groups`	Raft group details.
`\cluster join <node_id> <rpc_addr> <api_addr>`	Add a node at runtime.

One-shot examples:

BASH

1kalam --command "\\cluster list"2kalam --command "\\cluster rebalance"3kalam --command "\\cluster join 2 10.0.0.2:2910 http://10.0.0.2:2900"

Cluster routing details: SQL Workflows.