windscribe-vpn

name

windscribe-vpn

description

Controls Windscribe VPN via the windscribe-cli command-line tool. Use when installing Windscribe, connecting or disconnecting VPN, switching server locations or protocols, checking VPN status, managing the firewall kill switch, listing available locations, troubleshooting VPN issues, automating privacy and security workflows, or testing geo-dependent features across regions. All operations use shell commands via windscribe-cli. Not for Windscribe account management, billing, or browser extension control.

Windscribe VPN — AI Integration Skill

Control Windscribe VPN entirely from the command line. Any AI agent with shell access can use it — no custom server or protocol needed.

📝 GUI vs CLI behavior: windscribe-cli communicates with the Windscribe app via IPC. When the GUI desktop app is running, windscribe-cli locations opens the location list in the GUI window and returns empty terminal output. If locations output is empty, tell the user to check the Windscribe app window. All other commands (connect, status, ports, etc.) return terminal output normally regardless of GUI/CLI mode. The CLI-only build (Linux headless) always outputs to terminal.

📦 Not installed? See references/install.md for platform-specific download and installation instructions.

Prerequisites

• Windscribe must be installed and running (CLI auto-starts the app/service if needed)
• User must be logged in (windscribe-cli login)
• Only one CLI instance can run at a time

Platform	Binary Path
Linux	windscribe-cli (in PATH)
macOS	/Applications/Windscribe.app/Contents/MacOS/windscribe-cli
Windows	"C:\Program Files\Windscribe\windscribe-cli.exe"

Connection

windscribe-cli connect                       # Last location (or best)
windscribe-cli connect best                  # Auto-select best server
windscribe-cli connect "Toronto"             # By city, nickname, region, or ISO code
windscribe-cli connect best wireguard        # Location + protocol
windscribe-cli connect best udp:443          # Location + protocol:port
windscribe-cli connect -n best               # Non-blocking (returns immediately)
windscribe-cli connect static "Dallas"       # Static IP location (Pro)

windscribe-cli disconnect                    # Disconnect
windscribe-cli disconnect -n                 # Non-blocking disconnect

Location matching is case-insensitive. Use city name, nickname, region name, or ISO country code.

The -n flag must come before the location argument. Without -n, the CLI blocks until the connection completes or fails.

Protocols & Ports

Protocol	Notes
wireguard	Recommended; supports post-quantum encryption
ikev2	Windows/macOS only
udp	OpenVPN UDP
tcp	OpenVPN TCP
stealth	Anti-censorship (stunnel over OpenVPN)
wstunnel	WebSocket tunnel for restrictive networks

# List available ports dynamically
windscribe-cli ports wireguard    # e.g. 443, 80, 53, 123, 1194, 65142
windscribe-cli ports stealth

Use protocol:port syntax to specify a port (e.g. stealth:143). Default is the first port. Invalid ports silently fall back to the default. Protocol names are case-insensitive.

Status

windscribe-cli status

Reports: Internet connectivity, login state, firewall state, connection state + city, protocol:port, data usage, update availability.

• * prefix on "Connected" = tunnel test pending
• [Network interference] suffix = tunnel test detected issues

Locations

windscribe-cli locations              # All locations
windscribe-cli locations fav          # Favourites (with pinned IPs)
windscribe-cli locations static       # Static IPs (Pro)

Format: Region - City - Nickname. Use nickname, city, region, or country code with connect.

Firewall (Kill Switch)

windscribe-cli firewall on            # Block all non-VPN traffic
windscribe-cli firewall off           # Disable kill switch

"Always On" mode (set in GUI) prevents CLI from disabling the firewall.

IP Management

windscribe-cli ip rotate              # New IP on same server (requires connected + Pro/plan)
windscribe-cli ip fav                 # Pin current IP (requires connected + Pro/plan)
windscribe-cli ip unfav 76.76.2.2    # Unpin an IP (requires logged in)

Authentication

windscribe-cli login                  # Interactive (prompts for credentials)
windscribe-cli login user pass        # Direct
windscribe-cli logout                 # Disconnect + logout, turns firewall off
windscribe-cli logout on              # Disconnect + logout, keeps firewall on

logout and logout off behave the same — both turn the firewall off. Only logout on preserves the firewall.

2FA: prompted after credentials if enabled. Linux CLI-only renders CAPTCHAs as ASCII art.

Maintenance

windscribe-cli update                 # Check/install updates
windscribe-cli logs send              # Send debug logs to support
windscribe-cli amneziawg              # List AmneziaWG censorship presets

CLI-Only Commands (Linux Headless)

These commands are only available in the Linux CLI-only build:

windscribe-cli keylimit keep|delete   # WireGuard key limit behavior
windscribe-cli preferences reload     # Reload config file

Config file: ~/.config/Windscribe/windscribe_cli.conf — see references/config.md for all options (split tunneling, LAN access, auto-connect, DNS, proxy sharing).

Output Parsing

Field	Pattern	Example
Connection	Connect state: Connected: <City>	Connect state: Connected: Toronto
Firewall	Firewall state: <On|Off|Always On>	Firewall state: On
Protocol	Protocol: <Name>:<port>	Protocol: WireGuard:443
Login	Login state: Logged in
Data	Data usage: <used> / <total>	Data usage: 1.2 GiB / Unlimited

Exit codes: 0 = success, 1 = error (error message on stdout, not stderr).

Account Dashboard (Web Only)

Features not available via CLI — use https://windscribe.com/myaccount: Unlock Streaming, ROBERT rules, port forwarding, static IP management, ScribeForce, manual config file downloads.

Additional References

• references/install.md — Download links and installation steps per platform
• references/config.md — Linux CLI-only configuration file options
• references/workflows.md — Common AI workflows (geo-testing, privacy setup, region cycling, leak verification)
• references/troubleshooting.md — Error messages, diagnosis, and fixes
• references/acknowledgements.md — Community contributors

📋 Single-file use: If your AI agent doesn't support multi-file Skills, concatenate the reference files into a single document.

Help

• Knowledge Base: https://windscribe.com/knowledge-base
• Garry (support bot): Available on the Windscribe website
• Community: Discord · Reddit · X