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Automation Service CLI Reference

Reference · Updated Sep 2026

Coming from another cloud?

▸AWS·Stacks

Stackshigh

  • Quake AI offers Heat (legacy OpenStack orchestration) and recommends OpenTofu for new IaC work; EKS uses declarative console/CLI.
  • EKS Auto Mode automates data plane; Quake AI uses OpenTofu modules for infrastructure provisioning.
  • CloudFormation stacks are managed via AWS-specific REST API (e.g., cloudformation.us-east-1.amazonaws.com) requiring AWS SigV4 auth, while Heat (legacy) uses OpenStack Identity API v3 (keystoneauth) and OpenTofu uses the OpenStack provider with application credentials. Migrators notice different endpoint discovery and auth flows.
  • Stacks support StackSets for cross-region/account deployment; Heat has no equivalent. OpenTofu workspaces offer a different multi-environment pattern.
AWS docs ↗
▸Azure·Resource Manager deployment (deployment)

Azure Resource Manager deployment (deployment)high

  • Authoring format differs: ARM templates are JSON documents for Azure Resource Manager deployments, whereas Quake AI offers Heat (legacy, HOT/YAML format) and recommends OpenTofu (HCL) for new infrastructure automation.
  • Deployment target/scope differs: ARM templates can deploy at multiple scopes (resource group, subscription, management group, tenant) via Azure Resource Manager's management layer, while Heat orchestrates within a single OpenStack project/tenant. OpenTofu can target multiple projects via provider configuration.
  • Change-preview behavior differs: ARM supports a built-in “what-if” style preview of changes via Resource Manager deployments, while OpenTofu provides `tofu plan` for change previews. Heat relies on stack update events (legacy workflow).
  • Resource coverage lifecycle differs: ARM templates support Azure resource types exposed by Azure resource providers; OpenTofu covers OpenStack resource types via the OpenStack provider, and Heat (legacy) supports a narrower set via built-in resource plugins.
Azure docs ↗
▸Google Cloud·Deployment Manager

Deployment Managerhigh

  • Uses YAML configurations with optional Jinja2/Python templates expanded server-side; Quake AI offers Heat (legacy, HOT/YAML) and recommends OpenTofu (HCL) for new work.
  • Resource types named as service.v1.resource (e.g., compute.v1.instance) tied to GCP APIs, vs OpenStack prefixed types like OS::Nova::Server.
  • Single integrated GCP service (no separate API/engine processes); Heat has a multi-service architecture (heat-api, heat-engine) but is legacy. OpenTofu runs client-side with no server component.
  • No additional service fee; bills only for deployed GCP resources, same as OpenStack resources billing via provider.
Google Cloud docs ↗

Automation service CLI reference

The Automation CLI reference lists curated commands with Quake AI-specific context.

See https://docs.openstack.org/python-heatclient/2023.1/.

These commands manage stacks and their resources on the OpenStack Heat backend. Replace the placeholders <stack_name_or_id>, <resource_name>, <event_id>, <output_key>, <snapshot_id>, and <resource_type> with the actual names and IDs of your stacks, resources, events, outputs, snapshots, and resource types.

List stacks#

bash
openstack stack list

Show stack details#

bash
openstack stack show <stack_name_or_id>

Create a stack#

bash
openstack stack create --template <template_file> <stack_name>
  • <template_file>: Path to the Heat template file.

Update a stack#

bash
openstack stack update --template <template_file> <stack_name_or_id>

Delete a stack#

bash
openstack stack delete <stack_name_or_id>

List stack resources#

bash
openstack stack resource list <stack_name_or_id>

Show stack resource details#

bash
openstack stack resource show <stack_name_or_id> <resource_name>

List stack events#

bash
openstack stack event list <stack_name_or_id>

Show stack event details#

bash
openstack stack event show <stack_name_or_id> <resource_name> <event_id>

Validate a template#

bash
openstack orchestration template validate --template <template_file>

Show stack output#

bash
openstack stack output show <stack_name_or_id> <output_key>

Adopt a stack#

bash
openstack stack adopt --adopt-file <adopt_file> <stack_name>
  • <adopt_file>: Path to the file containing the stack adopt data.

Abandon a stack#

Stack abandon is disabled on Quake AI. openstack stack abandon <stack_name_or_id> returns ERROR: Stack Abandon is not supported.

Additional lifecycle commands#

Suspend a stack#

Pauses the stack's resources. The stack reaches SUSPEND_COMPLETE on success.

bash
openstack stack suspend <stack_name_or_id>

Resume a stack#

Returns a suspended stack to service. The stack reaches RESUME_COMPLETE on success.

bash
openstack stack resume <stack_name_or_id>

Check a stack#

Verifies that the real resources match the stack's expected state. The stack reaches CHECK_COMPLETE on success.

bash
openstack stack check <stack_name_or_id>

Cancel a stack update#

Cancels an in-progress update and rolls the stack back to its previous state.

bash
openstack stack cancel <stack_name_or_id>

Stack snapshots#

Create a snapshot#

bash
openstack stack snapshot create <stack_name_or_id>

List snapshots#

bash
openstack stack snapshot list <stack_name_or_id>

Show a snapshot#

bash
openstack stack snapshot show <stack_name_or_id> <snapshot_id>

Restore a snapshot#

bash
openstack stack snapshot restore <stack_name_or_id> <snapshot_id>

Delete a snapshot#

bash
openstack stack snapshot delete <stack_name_or_id> <snapshot_id>

Diagnostics#

List stack failures#

Lists the resources that failed, with their error messages, for a stack in a *_FAILED state.

bash
openstack stack failures list <stack_name_or_id>

List stack outputs#

Lists the output keys defined by the stack. Pair with openstack stack output show to read a single value.

bash
openstack stack output list <stack_name_or_id>

Show the stack template#

Prints the template currently stored for the stack.

bash
openstack stack template show <stack_name_or_id>

Show the stack environment#

Prints the environment (parameters, parameter defaults, and resource registry) in effect for the stack.

bash
openstack stack environment show <stack_name_or_id>

List stack files#

Lists the files referenced by the stack template.

bash
openstack stack file list <stack_name_or_id>

Export a stack#

Exports the stack data needed to recreate it with openstack stack adopt.

bash
openstack stack export <stack_name_or_id>

Resource control#

Mark a resource unhealthy#

Flags a resource so Heat replaces it on the next update.

bash
openstack stack resource mark unhealthy <stack_name_or_id> <resource_name>

Signal a resource#

Sends a signal to a resource that waits on one (for example a WaitCondition).

bash
openstack stack resource signal <stack_name_or_id> <resource_name>

Show resource metadata#

Prints the metadata Heat holds for a resource.

bash
openstack stack resource metadata <stack_name_or_id> <resource_name>

Orchestration introspection#

These top-level openstack orchestration commands describe the Heat backend itself rather than a single stack.

List resource types#

Lists the resource types the backend supports.

bash
openstack orchestration resource type list

Show a resource type#

Prints the property and attribute schema for one resource type.

bash
openstack orchestration resource type show <resource_type>

List template functions#

Lists the intrinsic functions available for a given template version.

bash
openstack orchestration template function list <template_version>

List template versions#

Lists the supported heat_template_version values.

bash
openstack orchestration template version list

Show build information#

Prints the API and engine build revisions.

bash
openstack orchestration build info

List orchestration services#

Lists the Heat engine services. This call requires administrative privileges; a project-scoped token returns You are not authorized to use service:index.

bash
openstack orchestration service list

Output columns#

Select specific columns with --column COL1 --column COL2 or change the output format with -f json, -f csv, or -f table (default).

openstack stack list#

ColumnDescription
IDStack UUID
Stack NameStack name
Stack StatusLifecycle state (CREATE_COMPLETE, UPDATE_IN_PROGRESS, DELETE_FAILED)
Creation TimeTimestamp of stack creation
Updated TimeTimestamp of last stack update

Quick answers

See all Automation FAQs

See Also

Automation console

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→

How to create a Heat stack

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Ansible openstack.cloud module reference

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Volumes service CLI reference

Shares: OpenStack CLI

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Compute Service CLI Reference

Shares: OpenStack CLI

→
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