Using the CLI client Downloading the client Using the client Client connection modes HTTP connection mode While the SSH-based CLI is fast and covers most needs, there may be situations where the CLI client distributed with Jenkins is a better fit. For example, the default transport for the CLI client is HTTP which means no additional ports need to be opened in a firewall for its use. The CLI client can be downloaded directly from a Jenkins master at the URL  /jnlpJars/jenkins- cli.jar , in effect  JENKINS_URL/jnlpJars/jenkins-cli.jar While a CLI  .jar  can be used against different versions of Jenkins, should any compatibility issues arise during use, please re-download the latest  .jar  file from the Jenkins master. The general syntax for invoking the client is as follows: The  JENKINS_URL  can be specified via the environment variable  $JENKINS_URL . Summaries of other general options can be displayed by running the client with no arguments at all. There are three basic modes in which the 2.54+ / 2.46.2+ client may be used, selectable by global option:  -http ;  -ssh ; and  -remoting . This is the default mode as of 2.54 and 2.46.2, though you may pass the  -http  option explicitly for clarity. Authentication is preferably with an  -auth  option, which takes a  username:apitoken  argument. Get your API token from  /me/configure : java -jar jenkins-cli.jar [-s JENKINS_URL] -auth kohsuke:abc1234ffe4a command ... (Actual passwords are also accepted, but this is discouraged.) You can also precede the argument with  @  to load the same content from a file: java -jar jenkins-cli.jar [-s JENKINS_URL] [global options...] command [command options...] [arguments...] 172