Aspect CLI

The aspect command connects the files on your computer to your Aspect workspace. Use it to upload a shoot, download a delivery, retrieve smaller video proxies, or mount a project so your applications can open its files directly. The CLI runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux. It comes included with the Aspect desktop app for macOS and Windows, and can also be installed independently on machines such as Linux workstations and servers.

Get started

Install the CLI

macOS and Windows: Download the Aspect desktop app. Install and open it to get the included CLI, then open a new terminal.Linux or a standalone CLI installation: use the installer for your operating system:

curl -fsSL https://aspect.inc/cli/install.sh | sh

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -c "irm https://aspect.inc/cli/install.ps1 | iex"

Open a new terminal after installation, then run aspect --version.

If the Aspect desktop app is running and signed in, the CLI uses that account automatically. Check it with:

aspect auth status

On a machine without the desktop app, create an API key in Aspect’s Settings → API Keys and use aspect auth login to enter it interactively. For a server or CI job, provide the key through ASPECT_API_KEY. See Authentication.

Find your files

aspect ls
aspect ls "aspect://Acme/"
aspect ls "aspect://Acme/Documentary/"

Replace Acme and Documentary with your workspace and project names. Aspect paths also accept IDs.

Download a file

aspect download "aspect://Acme/Documentary/Footage/interview.mov" ./downloads

To get its streaming proxy instead, add --variant stream_proxy.

Choose a workflow

You want to…	Start here
Send files or folders from your computer to Aspect	Upload files
Save originals or a folder tree to a local disk	Download files
Get smaller video files or poster images	Retrieve proxies and previews
Find media by its content and combine search signals with filters	Searching and filtering
Open cloud media from editing applications or filesystem tools	Mount projects
Keep media available for an offline session	Cache and offline files
Run a transfer after closing your terminal	Background transfers
Build a script or give a coding agent access to media	Scripts and AI agents
Look up a command or resolve an error	Command reference · Troubleshooting

Content search combines the CLI with the Aspect MCP server or REST API; the current CLI has no native search command. MCP and REST also cover metadata, collections, and review workflows.

Giving these docs to an AI tool? Start with the CLI documentation index. Mintlify also provides an index of all Aspect docs and the full documentation text.

Get started

Work with files

Mounted projects

Reference

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Choose a workflow

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