rabbitmqadmin

Command-line interface for RabbitMQ Management HTTP API (rabbitmqadmin-ng). Read-only inspection of vhosts, queues, exchanges, and bindings.

First Step: List Available Connections

Always start by listing configured connections:

rabbitmqadmin config_file show

This shows all configured RabbitMQ instances (passwords masked). Present the list to the user and ask which one to use. If the user's request already implies a specific connection, use it directly.

All commands below use <NODE> as a placeholder — replace it with the actual connection name from the config.

Virtual Hosts

After selecting a connection, list available vhosts to determine the --vhost value:

rabbitmqadmin --node <NODE> vhosts list

All commands below use <VHOST> as a placeholder — replace it with the actual vhost name from the list.

Queues

List Queues

rabbitmqadmin --node <NODE> queues list --vhost <VHOST>

Inspect a Queue

rabbitmqadmin --node <NODE> queues show --name <QUEUE> --vhost <VHOST>

Exchanges

rabbitmqadmin --node <NODE> exchanges list --vhost <VHOST>

Bindings

rabbitmqadmin --node <NODE> bindings list --vhost <VHOST>

Filtering and Output

The CLI has no built-in name filtering. To filter or limit output, use only these pipe targets — they are auto-approved by the permission hook:

• | grep — filter lines by pattern (supports -i, -v, -E, -c, etc.)
• | head — show first N lines
• | tail — show last N lines
• > /path/to/file or >> /path/to/file — redirect output to a file
• 2>&1 — redirect stderr to stdout

Do not use sort, wc, awk, sed, tee, or other commands in pipes — they will require manual approval. Prefer grep/head/tail for all filtering needs.

rabbitmqadmin --node <NODE> --vhost <VHOST> queues list | grep <PATTERN>
rabbitmqadmin --node <NODE> --vhost <VHOST> exchanges list | grep -i <PATTERN>
rabbitmqadmin --node <NODE> --vhost <VHOST> queues list | head -20
rabbitmqadmin --node <NODE> --vhost <VHOST> queues list | grep <PATTERN> | tail -5
rabbitmqadmin --node <NODE> --vhost <VHOST> queues list > /tmp/queues.txt
rabbitmqadmin --node <NODE> --vhost <VHOST> queues list 2>&1 | grep <PATTERN>

Shorthand Listing via list Command

The list command provides quick access to many resource types:

rabbitmqadmin --node <NODE> list queues
rabbitmqadmin --node <NODE> list exchanges
rabbitmqadmin --node <NODE> list bindings
rabbitmqadmin --node <NODE> list vhosts
rabbitmqadmin --node <NODE> list connections
rabbitmqadmin --node <NODE> list channels
rabbitmqadmin --node <NODE> list consumers

Cluster Overview

rabbitmqadmin --node <NODE> show overview
rabbitmqadmin --node <NODE> show churn
rabbitmqadmin --node <NODE> show memory_breakdown_in_bytes
rabbitmqadmin --node <NODE> show memory_breakdown_in_percent

Global Flags

Flag	Description
--node, -N	Connection name from config file (default: "default")
--vhost, -V	Target virtual host (default: "/")
--non-interactive	Implies borderless style, removes headers, flattens newlines (set via RABBITMQADMIN_NON_INTERACTIVE_MODE=true env, do not pass explicitly). Mutually exclusive with --table-style.

Advanced Usage

For commands and options not covered here, read the --help of the relevant subcommand:

rabbitmqadmin queues --help
rabbitmqadmin queues list --help
rabbitmqadmin exchanges --help
rabbitmqadmin bindings --help
rabbitmqadmin connections list --help
rabbitmqadmin channels list --help

The CLI also supports write operations (declare, delete, purge, publish, get messages) — run rabbitmqadmin --help for the full command list, and rabbitmqadmin <command> --help for details on any specific command.