The command-line tool

tanzahost is our command-line tool, for macOS, Windows and Linux. It deploys the folder you're in, follows the build, shows your app's logs, sets its variables and rolls back, without opening the dashboard. It uses the same API and the same permissions as the dashboard.

Log in

tanzahost login

The tool shows a code, like KXDP-7QMB, and opens the dashboard in your browser. Check that the page shows the same code, pick the account, and choose Approve. The terminal then says you're logged in.

• The code works once, for 10 minutes.

• Approving needs an owner of the account.

• The tool gets its own token, with the Full scope, for 90 days, named after your computer. It's listed under Developers, marked Made by the command-line tool.

• The token is kept in your own settings folder, readable only by you: ~/.config/tanzahost/token on Linux, ~/Library/Application Support/tanzahost/token on macOS, and %AppData%\tanzahost\token on Windows.

tanzahost whoami shows who you are, the account, and the token's scope and end date. tanzahost logout revokes this computer's token and forgets it.

Deploy a folder

Asha has her shop's code in a folder called duka on her laptop.

cd duka
tanzahost link
tanzahost deploy --wait

1. tanzahost link lists her apps, like duka / web, and asks for a number. It keeps her choice in .tanzahost/app.json, and adds .tanzahost/ to her .gitignore. To skip the question, give the app's ID: tanzahost link APP_ID.

2. tanzahost deploy sends the folder as a ZIP, as the dashboard's upload does, and starts a build. We detect the framework and build it.

3. With --wait, it follows the build and the deploy to the end, and prints the build's last lines if it fails.

Some files never leave your computer: what your .gitignore and a .tanzahostignore name, .git, node_modules, .DS_Store, Thumbs.db, and every .env file except .env.example. Secrets belong in variables, not in files. The ZIP can be up to 500 MB.

The tool finds the link from any folder inside the linked one, as Git does.

Every command

Variables you set apply at the next deploy. Run tanzahost deploy, or restart the app in the dashboard.

tanzahost vars set SHOP_NAME=Duka MAIL_FROM=orders@duka.co.tz
tanzahost logs --follow --level error
tanzahost rollback

Deploy from CI

In CI there's no browser, so the tool reads two variables instead of a login:

Then tanzahost deploy --wait deploys the folder it runs in, and fails the job if the build or the deploy fails.

Here's a GitHub Actions workflow that deploys Asha's shop on every push to main. Add the two values as repository secrets first, under your repository's Settings, Secrets and variables, Actions:

name: Deploy to Tanzahost

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

permissions:
  contents: read

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Install the tanzahost tool
        run: curl -fsSL https://tanzahost.com/cli/install.sh | sh
      - name: Deploy, and fail the job if the deploy fails
        run: tanzahost deploy --wait
        env:
          TANZAHOST_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.TANZAHOST_TOKEN }}
          TANZAHOST_APP: ${{ secrets.TANZAHOST_APP }}

The install step works once the tool's download is open. If your app already deploys from GitHub through our GitHub app, you don't need this: every push deploys by itself.

Next

• Call the API yourself: the Tanzahost API.

• Let Cursor or Claude Code deploy for you: AI coding tools.