> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://lightdash-docs-many-to-many.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Authenticating your CLI (login)

## Login

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="1. You can login on the CLI from your browser using OAuth2.">
    To log in to your Lightdash instance using OAuth2, run the following command:

    ```bash
    lightdash login https://{{ lightdash_domain }} --oauth
    ```

    where `{{ lightdash_domain }}` is the address for your running Lightdash instance. For example Lightdash cloud users in the US would type `lightdash login https://app.lightdash.cloud` if you're in Europe you'd type`lightdash login https://eu1.lightdash.cloud`.

    This will open a new tab in your default browser. Log in to your Lightdash account (if you're not already logged in), then authorize the lightdash-cli client.

    Once authorized, you’ll be logged in and ready to use the CLI.

    <Frame>
      <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/lightdash-docs-many-to-many/guides/cli/images/oauth-authorize.png" alt="" />
    </Frame>
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="2. If you use your email + password in the browser, login with your email and password.">
    To login to your Lightdash instance run the following command and provide your login email and password:

    ```bash
    lightdash login https://{{ lightdash_domain }}
    ```

    where `{{ lightdash_domain }}` is the address for your running Lightdash instance. For example Lightdash cloud users in the US would type `lightdash login https://app.lightdash.cloud` if you're in Europe you'd type`lightdash login https://eu1.lightdash.cloud`.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="3. If you use single sign-on (SSO) in the browser, login with a personal access token.">
    First, you'll need to create a new personal access token in the UI by going to Settings > Personal Access Tokens. You can't use an existing personal access token! You have to create a new one just for yourself.

    {' '}

    <Frame>
      <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/lightdash-docs-many-to-many/images/guides/cli/personal-access-token-9ed8a8c2b16edc5ee745c4909d4093d3.png" alt="" />
    </Frame>

    Then, run the following command in your project:

    ```bash
    lightdash login https://{{ lightdash_domain }} --token
    ```

    where `https://my-lightdash.domain.com` is the address for your running Lightdash instance. For example Lightdash cloud users in the US would type `lightdash login https://app.lightdash.cloud` if you're in Europe you'd type`lightdash login https://eu1.lightdash.cloud`.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="4. If you're running in a CI/CD pipeline, login with environment variables">
    You can use the following environment variables to authenticate yourself on each command:

    * **LIGHTDASH\_API\_KEY** a personal access token you can generate in the app under the user settings

    * **LIGHTDASH\_URL** address for your running Lightdash instance

    * **LIGHTDASH\_PROXY\_AUTHORIZATION** if your Lightdash instance is behind a proxy like [Cloud IAP](https://cloud.google.com/iap) you can set here `Proxy-Authentication` header value

    Example:

    ```bash
    LIGHTDASH_API_KEY=946fedb74003405646867dcacf1ad345 LIGHTDASH_URL="https://{{ lightdash_domain }}" LIGHTDASH_PROXY_AUTHORIZATION="Bearer <JWT_TOKEN>" lightdash preview
    ```

    Where `{{ lightdash_domain }}` is your domain. For Lightdash Cloud users use `https://app.lightdash.cloud`
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Set active project

When you login you'll be asked to set an active project.

Your active project is just the one that you're working on/developing in. Your organization might just have one project, so that makes your decision easy!

You can change your active project by running:

```bash
lightdash config set-project
```

Or you can use the `LIGHTDASH_PROJECT` environment variable to indicate what project UUID the command should use.

Example:

```bash
LIGHTDASH_PROJECT="3675b69e-8324-4110-bdca-059031aa8da3" lightdash deploy
```

## Now that you've logged in, you're ready to use the CLI

You can see all of the actions available on the CLI by typing this in your terminal:

```bash
lightdash
```

Some of our favourites are:

* [Automatically generating .yml for your dbt models using lightdash generate](/guides/cli/how-to-auto-generate-schema-files)

* [Testing your changes with developer previews using lightdash preview](/guides/cli/how-to-use-lightdash-preview)

* [Deploying your changes to production using lightdash deploy](/guides/cli/how-to-use-lightdash-deploy)