hcloud

name	hcloud
description	Manage Hetzner Cloud infrastructure using the hcloud CLI. List servers, server types, volumes, networks, firewalls, and more. Use for checking server status, available instance types, and infrastructure management.

Hetzner Cloud CLI

Manage Hetzner Cloud resources via the hcloud CLI.

⚠️ Security: Use Read-Only Tokens for LLM Usage

IMPORTANT: When using hcloud with an AI/LLM agent, always use a read-only API token. This prevents accidental destructive operations like server deletion, reboots, or configuration changes.

Create a read-only token in Hetzner Cloud Console → Security → API Tokens → Generate API Token → Select "Read" permissions only.

Setup

Install hcloud CLI:

brew install hcloud

Create a context with your API token:

hcloud context create <name> --token <your-token>

Or use environment variable:

export HCLOUD_TOKEN="your-token"
hcloud context create <name> --token-from-env

Servers

List all servers:

hcloud server list
hcloud server list -o columns=id,name,type,status,datacenter,ipv4

Describe a server:

hcloud server describe <name-or-id>

Server power operations (⚠️ requires read-write token, ask user before executing):

hcloud server poweron <name>
hcloud server poweroff <name>
hcloud server reboot <name>
hcloud server shutdown <name>    # Graceful shutdown
hcloud server reset <name>       # Hard reset

SSH into a server:

hcloud server ssh <name>

Get server IP:

hcloud server ip <name>

Server Types (Instance Types)

List all available server types:

hcloud server-type list

Describe a specific type:

hcloud server-type describe cax21

Server Type Families

Series	CPU Type	Description
CAX	ARM (Ampere)	Best price/performance for ARM workloads
CX	x86 shared	Intel/AMD shared vCPU
CPX	x86 shared	More disk-focused variants
CCX	x86 dedicated	Dedicated AMD EPYC cores

Volumes

List volumes:

hcloud volume list

Create a volume (⚠️ requires read-write token):

hcloud volume create --name my-volume --size 100 --location fsn1

Attach/detach (⚠️ requires read-write token):

hcloud volume attach <volume> --server <server>
hcloud volume detach <volume>

Networks

List networks:

hcloud network list

Describe network:

hcloud network describe <name>

Firewalls

List firewalls:

hcloud firewall list

Describe firewall with rules:

hcloud firewall describe <name>

Locations & Datacenters

List locations:

hcloud location list

List datacenters:

hcloud datacenter list

Images

List available images:

hcloud image list
hcloud image list --type system    # OS images only

SSH Keys

List SSH keys:

hcloud ssh-key list

JSON Output

Most commands support -o json for structured output:

hcloud server list -o json
hcloud server-type list -o json | jq '.[] | {name, cores, memory, disk}'

Common Patterns

Check server status:

hcloud server list -o columns=name,status,type

Find servers by label:

hcloud server list --selector env=staging

Get all server types sorted by cores:

hcloud server-type list -o json | jq 'sort_by(.cores) | .[] | "\(.name): \(.cores) cores, \(.memory)GB RAM, \(.disk)GB disk"'