CLI Commands

Complete reference for IronBullet command-line interface

Overview

IronBullet can run configurations headlessly from the terminal using CLI mode. This is useful for automation, CI/CD pipelines, and server environments.

CLI Mode Detection

IronBullet automatically switches to CLI mode when any of these flags are present:

• --config or -c
• --help or -h

When CLI mode is not detected, IronBullet launches the GUI application.

Source: main.rs:182-184

Basic Usage

ironbullet --config <path> --wordlist <path> [options]

Required Arguments

--config · string · required

Path to the configuration file. Supports multiple formats:

• .rfx - IronBullet native format
• .svb - SilverBullet format
• .opk - OpenBullet format
• .loli - LoliCode format
• .json - JSON format

Alias: -c

Example:

ironbullet --config config.rfx --wordlist combos.txt

--wordlist · string · required

Path to the wordlist or combo file to process.

Alias: -w

Example:

ironbullet -c config.rfx -w combos.txt

Optional Arguments

--threads · number

Number of concurrent threads to use. Overrides the thread count specified in the config file.

Alias: -t

Default: Uses value from config file

Example:

ironbullet -c config.rfx -w combos.txt --threads 50

--proxies · string

Path to proxy list file. Each proxy should be on a separate line.

Alias: -p

Default: No proxies (direct connection)

Example:

ironbullet -c config.rfx -w combos.txt -p proxies.txt

--outfile · string

Output directory for saving hits and results.

Alias: -o

Default: results/

Example:

ironbullet -c config.rfx -w combos.txt -o ./output/

--skip · number

Skip the first N lines from the wordlist. Useful for resuming interrupted runs.

Default: 0

Example:

# Skip first 1000 lines
ironbullet -c config.rfx -w combos.txt --skip 1000

--take · number

Process only N lines from the wordlist. Use 0 to process all lines.

Default: 0 (process all)

Example:

# Process only 500 lines
ironbullet -c config.rfx -w combos.txt --take 500

Combined with —skip:

# Process lines 1000-1500
ironbullet -c config.rfx -w combos.txt --skip 1000 --take 500

--debug · boolean

Enable debug mode. Prints each block result to stderr for troubleshooting.

Alias: -d

Default: false

Example:

ironbullet -c config.rfx -w combos.txt --debug

--help · boolean

Display help message with usage information and exit.

Alias: -h

Example:

ironbullet --help

Complete Examples

Basic Run

ironbullet --config myconfig.rfx --wordlist combos.txt

Output:

[*] loaded config: MyConfig (12 blocks)
[*] wordlist: 10000 lines (skip=0, take=0)
[*] starting with 20 threads
[*] 1250/10000 | hits:15 fails:1200 errors:35 | cpm:3750.0 | threads:20
[HIT] [e-mail]:password123 | token=abc123xyz | balance=50.00
[*] done in 160.5s — 10000 processed, 15 hits, 9800 fails, 185 errors
[*] 15 hits printed to stdout

High-Performance Run with Proxies

ironbullet -c config.rfx -w large-combos.txt -t 100 -p socks5-proxies.txt -o ./results/

Output:

[*] loaded config: StreamingService (8 blocks)
[*] wordlist: 500000 lines (skip=0, take=0)
[*] proxies: 250 loaded
[*] starting with 100 threads
[*] 125000/500000 | hits:342 fails:124500 errors:158 | cpm:15000.0 | threads:100
[*] done in 2000.3s — 500000 processed, 1250 hits, 498500 fails, 250 errors
[*] 1250 hits printed to stdout

Resume from Line 5000

ironbullet -c config.rfx -w combos.txt --skip 5000

Output:

[*] loaded config: MyConfig (12 blocks)
[*] wordlist: 5000 lines (skip=5000, take=0)
[*] starting with 20 threads

Test First 100 Lines

ironbullet -c config.rfx -w combos.txt --take 100 --debug

Output:

[*] loaded config: TestConfig (5 blocks)
[*] wordlist: 100 lines (skip=0, take=100)
[*] starting with 20 threads
  proxy: socks5://127.0.0.1:9050
[HIT] [e-mail]:pass | captured_field=value
  proxy: socks5://127.0.0.1:9050
[*] done in 5.2s — 100 processed, 1 hits, 95 fails, 4 errors

Import and Run SilverBullet Config

ironbullet --config legacy.svb --wordlist data.txt --threads 30

Output:

[warn] SilverBullet keycheck 'BAN' mapped to 'RETRY'
[warn] Block 'ParseJson' uses legacy syntax
[*] loaded config: ImportedConfig (15 blocks)
[*] wordlist: 20000 lines (skip=0, take=0)
[*] starting with 30 threads

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success - run completed without errors
1	Error - invalid arguments, config load failure, or runtime error

Output Format

Status Line (Updates Every 3 Seconds)

[*] processed/total | hits:N fails:N errors:N | cpm:X.X | threads:N

• processed/total: Lines processed out of total wordlist size
• hits: Number of successful hits
• fails: Number of failed checks
• errors: Number of runtime errors (network, parsing, etc.)
• cpm: Checks per minute (throughput)
• threads: Active worker threads

Hit Output

[HIT] data_line | capture1=value1 | capture2=value2

• data_line: Original line from wordlist
• captures: Key-value pairs of captured variables (if any)

Debug Output (—debug flag)

  proxy: protocol://host:port

Shows the proxy used for each request when debug mode is enabled.

Configuration Overrides

CLI arguments override config file settings in this order:

1. Threads: --threads overrides pipeline.runner_settings.threads
2. Skip: --skip overrides pipeline.runner_settings.skip
3. Take: --take overrides pipeline.runner_settings.take
4. Output: --outfile overrides pipeline.output_settings.output_directory

Source: cli.rs:147-165

Error Messages

Missing Required Argument

$ ironbullet --config test.rfx
error: --wordlist is required
run with --help for usage

Invalid Argument

$ ironbullet --config test.rfx --wordlist data.txt --unknown
error: unknown argument: --unknown
run with --help for usage

Invalid Thread Count

$ ironbullet -c test.rfx -w data.txt --threads abc
error: invalid thread count: abc
run with --help for usage

Config Load Failure

$ ironbullet -c missing.rfx -w data.txt
error: failed to read missing.rfx: No such file or directory

Wordlist Load Failure

$ ironbullet -c test.rfx -w missing.txt
error: failed to load wordlist: No such file or directory

Platform-Specific Notes

Windows Console Attachment

On Windows, IronBullet automatically attaches to the parent console process to display CLI output. This is required because the application is compiled with #![windows_subsystem = "windows"] to hide the console in GUI mode.

Source: main.rs:186-198

Linux/macOS

No special console handling is required on Unix-like systems.

Performance Tips

Optimal Thread Count: Start with 20-50 threads and increase based on your network capacity and target server response times. Too many threads can cause connection errors.

Proxy Rotation: Use --proxies with a large proxy list for better anonymity and to avoid rate limiting.

Resume Interrupted Runs: Use --skip to resume from where you left off. Track the “processed” count from the status line.

Testing Configs: Use --take 100 to test your config on a small sample before running on the full wordlist.

See Also

• CLI Options Reference - Detailed flag documentation
• Pipeline API - Pipeline structure and configuration
• Config Format - .rfx file format specification