***

title: Explore Postman's command-line companion
approved: 2026-03-12T00:00:00.000Z
slug: docs/postman-cli/postman-cli-overview
max-toc-depth: 2
ux: v12
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The Postman CLI is a secure command-line companion for Postman. It's signed and supported by Postman, like the Postman app. The Postman CLI supports the following features:

* [Run a collection](/docs/postman-cli/postman-cli-run-collection/) with its collection ID or path.
* [Validate, synchronize, and push local collections and environments](/docs/postman-cli/postman-cli-options/#sync-local-elements-with-workspaces) to Postman workspaces in the cloud.
* [Run a monitor](/docs/postman-cli/postman-cli-run-monitor/) in the Postman cloud with its monitor ID.
* [Start a runner](/docs/postman-cli/postman-cli-run-monitor/) in your internal network to monitor APIs with private endpoints.
* [Start a mock server](/docs/postman-cli/postman-cli-options#run-mock-servers) to simulate API behavior for testing and development.
* [Run a performance test](/docs/postman-cli/postman-cli-options#postman-performance-run) with the specified collection ID.
* Generate a local collection run report with [built-in reporters](/docs/postman-cli/postman-cli-reporters/).
* [Check API definitions](/docs/postman-cli/postman-cli-options/#governance-and-security) against configured API governance and API security rules.
* [Sign in and sign out of Postman](/docs/postman-cli/postman-cli-options/#sign-in-and-out) from the command line.

The Postman CLI is based on [Newman](/docs/collections/using-newman-cli/command-line-integration-with-newman/).

<Tip>
  Use the built-in terminal in the Postman desktop app to quickly run Postman CLI commands when using [Native Git](/docs/agent-mode/native-git/).
</Tip>

## About the Postman CLI and Postman API usage

Some Postman CLI commands use the [Postman API](/docs/developer/postman-api/intro-api/) to fetch data from and send data to Postman's servers. These commands count toward your monthly [Postman API usage](/docs/billing/resource-usage/#postman-api-usage). The number of Postman API calls you can make each month depends on your [Postman plan](https://www.postman.com/pricing/).

The following Postman CLI commands make calls to the Postman API and count toward your Postman API usage:

* `postman login` - Uses one call to authenticate a user with a Postman API key.
* `postman collection run` - Uses one call to fetch a collection by ID, one call to fetch an environment (if any), and one call to send data back to Postman.
* `postman monitor run` - Uses one call to fetch a monitor by ID, one call to start a monitor run, and multiple calls that poll Postman for the run's completion.
* `postman spec lint` - Uses one call to fetch the API governance rules and one call to send a report back to Postman.
* `postman api lint` - Uses one call to fetch the API governance and security rules and one call to send a report back to Postman.