Quickstart, Auth, and Command Model

Last validated: 2026-05-11

This page helps you get a working VBase CLI session quickly and explains how command routing works.

Plugin Invocation Model

VBase is exposed as a plugin inside Dodil CLI:


dodil vbase <command> [flags]

Examples:


dodil vbase --help
dodil vbase db --help
dodil vbase collection --help

Recommended Authentication Flow

Use Dodil CLI login (recommended):


dodil login <service_account_id> <service_account_secret>

Why this is recommended:

writes shared config used by plugin runtime at ~/.config/dodil/config.yaml
stores service-account credentials for token refresh
updates global.token, global.org_id, and global.org_name

Legacy command:

dodil vbase login <id> <secret> exists but writes ~/.vbase.yaml, which is not the primary runtime config for plugin commands.

Token Refresh Behavior

On non-login command execution, Dodil CLI root attempts token refresh with saved vbase service-account credentials and updates global.token in ~/.config/dodil/config.yaml.

Top-Level VBase Command Groups

Command group	Purpose
`db`	Shared service lifecycle and context switching through gateway APIs.
`collection`	Collection schema and lifecycle against selected tenant endpoint.
`data`	Insert/search vector records against selected tenant endpoint.
`index`	Create/drop indexes on collection fields.
`status`	Milvus health check against current tenant endpoint.
`version`	Local CLI version + remote cluster version probe.

Output Mode

Global plugin flag:

-o, --output with values table (default) or json

Examples:


dodil vbase db list -o table
dodil vbase db list -o json

First Successful Session


dodil login <service_account_id> <service_account_secret>
 
dodil vbase db create my-shared-db
dodil vbase db list
dodil vbase db use <service_id>
 
dodil vbase collection create docs --db <db_name>
dodil vbase index create docs vector --type HNSW --metric L2 --db <db_name>
 
dodil vbase data insert docs \
  --id doc-1 \
  --vector "0.1,0.2,0.3,0.4,0.5,0.6,0.7,0.8" \
  --db <db_name>
 
dodil vbase data search docs \
  --vector "0.1,0.2,0.3,0.4,0.5,0.6,0.7,0.8" \
  --topk 5 \
  --db <db_name>

Use Cases for This Mode

App developer validating a new vector collection quickly.
Platform user provisioning shared database resources without writing gRPC scripts.
Team running repeatable table/json CLI flows in automation wrappers.