boundary/website/content/docs/commands/database/init.mdx

---
layout: docs
page_title: database init - Command
description: >-
  The "database init" command initializes Boundary's database.
---

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> [!IMPORTANT]  
> **Documentation Update:** Product documentation previously located in `/website` has moved to the [`hashicorp/web-unified-docs`](https://github.com/hashicorp/web-unified-docs) repository, where all product documentation is now centralized. Please make contributions directly to `web-unified-docs`, since changes to `/website` in this repository will not appear on developer.hashicorp.com.
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# database init

Command: `boundary database init`

The `database init` command initializes Boundary's database.

## Examples

The following example initializes a Boundary's database with the configuration specified in the `/etc/boundary.d/controller.hcl` file:

```shell-session
$ boundary database init -config=/etc/boundary.d/controller.hcl
```

The `controller.hcl` file contains the database URL.

<CodeBlockConfig filename="/etc/boundary.d/controller.hcl" hideClipboard highlight="19-23">

```hcl
...snip...

# Controller configuration block
controller {
  # This name attr must be unique across all controller instances if running in HA mode
  name = "boundary-controller-1"
  description = "Boundary controller number one"

  # This is the public hostname or IP where the workers can reach the
  # controller. This should typically be a load balancer address
  public_cluster_addr = "example-cluster-lb.example.com"

  # Enterprise license file, can also be the raw value or env:// value
  license = "file:///path/to/license/file.hclic"

  # After receiving a shutdown signal, Boundary will wait 10s before initiating the shutdown process.
  graceful_shutdown_wait_duration = "10s"

  # Database URL for postgres. This is set in boundary.env and
  #consumed via the “env://” notation.
  database {
      url = "env://POSTGRESQL_CONNECTION_STRING"
  }
}

...snip...
```

</CodeBlockConfig>


## Usage

<CodeBlockConfig hideClipboard>

```shell-session
$ boundary database init [options] [args]
```

</CodeBlockConfig>

Some initial resources are created in the following order, and in the indicated scopes:

- Initial login role (global)
- Password-type auth method (global)
- Org scope (global)
- Project scope (org)
   - Static-type host catalog (project)
      - Static-type host set
      - Static-type host
   - Target (project)

<Tip>

You can use flags to prevent Boundary from creating these resources.
If you use flags to skip any of these resources, any resources that would be created afterwards are also skipped.
Refer to the following [init options](#init-options) for the available flags.

</Tip>

### Command options

- `-config` `(string: "")` - The path to the configuration file.
- `-config-kms` `(string: "")` - The path to a configuration file containing a `kms` block marked for the `config` purpose.
The KMS block performs decryption of the main configuration file.
If you don't set a `kms` block, Boundary looks for such a block in the main configuration file, which has some drawbacks; see the help output for `boundary config encrypt -h` for details.
- `-log-format` `(string: "")` - The log format.
Supported values are `standard` and `json`.
- `-log-level` `(string: "")` - The log verbosity level. Supported values include the following in order of more detail to less:

  - `trace`
  - `debug`
  - `info`
  - `warn`
  - `err`

  You can also specify a log level using the **BOUNDARY_LOG_LEVEL** environment variable.

### Init options:

- `-migration-url` `(string: "")` - If set, this value overrides the migration URL set in the configuration file, and specifies the URL used to connect to the database for initialization.
Configuring this option can allow different permissions for the user running initialization vs. standard operations.
This value can refer to a direct database URL, or it can refer to file on disk (`file://`) or an environment variable (`env://`) from which Boundary reads the URL.

- `-skip-auth-method-creation` - If not set, skips the creation of an auth method as part of initialization.
If you set this value, the recovery KMS is required to perform any actions.
The default value is `false`.

- `-skip-host-resources-creation` - If not set, skips the creation of host resources as part of the initialization, inlcuding host catalog, host set, and hosts.
The default value is `false`.

- `-skip-initial-authenticated-user-role-creation` - If set, skips the creation of the role and grants that are provisioned by default for all authenticated users.

- `-skip-initial-login-role-creation` - If not set, skips the creation of a default role allowing necessary grants for logging in as part of initialization.
If you set this value, the recovery KMS is required to perform any actions.
The default value is `false`.

- `-skip-scopes-creation` - If not set, skips the creation of scopes as part of initialization.
The default value is `false`.

- `-skip-target-creation` - If not set, skips the creation of a target as part of initialization.
The default value is `false`.

@include 'cmd-option-note.mdx'