CLI Overview
The aptos command-line tool ships every developer-facing utility for working with Move on Aptos. Compiling, testing, publishing, calling functions, debugging — they all live under aptos move.
This chapter covers the flags that appear across many aptos move subcommands. The chapters that follow describe the individual subcommands and only call out the flags that are specific to each.
For the authoritative list of flags on any subcommand, run:
aptos move <subcommand> --help
A typical Move project flow
Most developers move through these subcommands in roughly this order:
aptos move init— scaffold a new package.aptos move compile— compile sources to bytecode.aptos move test— run unit tests; add--coverageto record line coverage.aptos move lintandaptos move fmt— style and quality gates before commit.aptos move publish(ordeploy-objectfor code objects) — push to a network.aptos move run,view, orsimulate— invoke the published code.
Package options
The flags below come from MovePackageOptions and are accepted by most package-related subcommands: compile, compile-script, test, lint, fmt, prove, document, clean, publish, deploy-object, upgrade-object, verify-package, disassemble, and decompile.
| Flag | Meaning |
|---|---|
--package-dir <PATH> | Root of the Move package (the directory containing Move.toml). Defaults to the current directory. |
--output-dir <PATH> | Where to write build artifacts. Defaults to <package-dir>/build. |
--named-addresses <NAME=ADDR,...> | Bind named addresses declared in Move.toml. Example: --named-addresses alice=0x1234,bob=0x5678. |
--dev | Use [dev-addresses] and [dev-dependencies] from Move.toml. Implied during test. |
--override-std <NETWORK> | Pin the standard library version to a specific network: mainnet, testnet, or devnet. Useful when third-party dependencies disagree on framework versions. |
--skip-fetch-latest-git-deps | Don’t refresh git dependencies. Lets the build proceed offline. |
--language-version <X> | Target Move language version (e.g., 2.4). Defaults to the latest stable. |
--compiler-version <X> | Target compiler version. Must be at least 2. Defaults to the latest stable. |
--bytecode-version <N> | Target bytecode version. Inferred from --language-version if omitted. |
--skip-attribute-checks | Don’t error on unknown #[...] attributes in source. |
Transaction options
The flags below are accepted by every subcommand that submits a transaction: publish, deploy-object, upgrade-object, run, run-script, view, simulate.
| Flag | Meaning |
|---|---|
--profile <NAME> | Use a named profile from ~/.aptos/config.yaml (account address, key, network URL). Profiles are created with aptos init. |
--url <URL> | Override the REST endpoint from the profile. |
--sender-account <ADDR> | Override the sender address (useful when the authentication key has been rotated). |
--max-gas <N> | Cap the transaction’s gas. |
--gas-unit-price <N> | Set the gas unit price in Octa. |
--assume-yes / -y | Skip interactive confirmations. |
--local | Simulate the transaction locally instead of submitting it. |
--profile-gas | Locally simulate and emit a gas-usage flamegraph. |
Output and exit code
aptos move emits JSON to stdout on success and a non-zero exit code on failure. Most subcommands accept the standard Aptos CLI flags --output-yaml (human-readable YAML) and --output-json (default).