zilliz

name

zilliz

description

Manage Zilliz Cloud vector databases via zilliz-cli. Use when the user wants to: (1) set up zilliz-cli (install, login, configure), (2) manage clusters (create, list, describe, suspend, resume, delete, modify), (3) manage collections, indexes, partitions, databases, or aliases, (4) perform vector operations (search, query, insert, upsert, delete, hybrid search), (5) manage users, roles, and RBAC privileges, (6) handle backups, imports, billing, monitoring, projects, regions, or async jobs. Triggers on: zilliz, vector database, semantic search, RAG, embeddings, collection schema, vector index, similarity search, zilliz-cli.

Zilliz Cloud CLI Skill

Operate Zilliz Cloud through zilliz-cli. All operations are executed via shell commands.

Prerequisite Check (always run first)

Before any operation, verify in order:

# 1. Install or update the CLI
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zilliztech/zilliz-cli/master/install.sh | bash

# 2. Logged in? If not: guide user to login in their terminal
zilliz auth status

# 3. Context set? (only for data-plane ops)
zilliz context current

CRITICAL: zilliz login, zilliz configure, and zilliz auth switch require interactive input — NEVER run them in a non-interactive shell. Instruct the user to run in their own terminal. NEVER ask for API keys in chat.

Command Pattern

zilliz <resource> <action> --flag <value> [--optional-flag <value>]

All commands support --output json|table|text (default: text). Use --output json for programmatic parsing.

Cluster Type Capabilities

Feature	Free	Serverless	Dedicated
Collection CRUD & Vector ops	Yes	Yes	Yes
Database create/drop	No	No	Yes
User/role management	No	Limited	Yes
Backup management	No	Yes	Yes
Cluster modify (CU/replica)	No	No	Yes

Check cluster type first when a command fails with permission errors.

Reference Files

Each reference covers one resource domain with full command syntax, options, and guidance. Read the relevant reference when handling that domain:

Domain	Reference	When to read
Setup & auth	references/setup.md	Install, login, context, config, troubleshooting
Clusters	references/cluster.md	Create, list, describe, modify, suspend, resume, delete clusters; create Vector Lake
On-demand clusters	references/on-demand-cluster.md	Create, list, describe, delete on-demand (Vector Lake) clusters with auto-suspend TTL
Collections	references/collection.md	Create, list, describe, drop, rename, load, release, aliases, per-collection metrics
External collections	references/external-collection.md	Trigger, describe, list refresh jobs for Vector Lake-backed collections
Vectors	references/vector.md	Search, query, insert, upsert, get, delete, hybrid search, filters
Indexes	references/index.md	Create, list, describe, drop indexes
Databases	references/database.md	Create, list, describe, drop databases
Partitions	references/partition.md	Create, list, load, release, drop partitions
Users & roles	references/user-role.md	RBAC: users, roles, privileges (Dedicated only)
Backups	references/backup.md	Create, restore, export backups; manage backup policies
Import	references/import.md

Quick-Start Workflow

For new users, guide through setup in order:

1. Install CLI: curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zilliztech/zilliz-cli/master/install.sh | bash
2. Authenticate: user runs zilliz login in their terminal
3. Verify: zilliz auth status
4. List clusters: zilliz cluster list
5. Set context: zilliz context set --cluster-id <id>
6. Verify: zilliz context current && zilliz collection list

Common Workflows

Create collection and prepare for search:

1. zilliz collection create --name <name> --dimension <dim> — create
2. zilliz index create --collection <name> — index (AUTOINDEX recommended)
3. zilliz collection load --name <name> — load into memory
4. zilliz vector search --collection <name> --data '[[...]]' — search

Status overview (read references/monitoring.md):

1. zilliz context current --output json
2. zilliz cluster describe --cluster-id <id> --output json
3. zilliz database list --output json
4. For each DB: collection list, get-stats, get-load-state, index list
5. Present as formatted table

Async Operations

These return immediately with a jobId; track with job describe (see references/job.md):

Operation	Poll command
cluster create	cluster describe --cluster-id <id> until RUNNING
backup create/export/restore-*	job describe --job-id <jid> or backup describe
import start	job describe --job-id <jid>
Any async op with jobId	job describe --job-id <jid> --wait

Safety Rules

• Confirm before destructive ops: drop collection/database, delete cluster/backup, drop user/role
• Sensitive commands in user's terminal: zilliz login, zilliz configure, zilliz billing bind-card
• Never expose credentials in chat or command output