boundary/website/content/docs/concepts/connection-workflows/exec-flag.mdx

---
layout: docs
page_title: -exec flag
description: >-
  Learn how to use the `-exec` flag to execute TCP sessions or pass flags using your preferred client.
---

# Exec flag

Boundary includes built-in connect helpers for clients, however, `boundary connect` can execute clients even when there is no built-in support for a specific client using the `-exec` flag.
The `-exec` flag lets you wrap Boundary TCP sessions in your preferred client.
You can use this flag to create an authenticated proxy to almost anything.

When you use `-exec`, you can pass flags to the client by including them in the executed command after a double-dash `--`.
For example, the following command passes `-l myuser -i ~/.ssh/identity` to the PuTTY client:

```shell-session
$ boundary connect ssh -style putty -exec putty.exe -target-id ttcp_1234567890 -- -l myuser -i ~/.ssh/identity
```

You can substitute the following templated values into the command arguments.
Boundary injects these values in the executed command as environment variables:

- `{{boundary.ip}}` (`BOUNDARY_PROXIED_IP`): The IP address of the listening socket that `boundary connect` opened.
- `{{boundary.port}}` (`BOUNDARY_PROXIED_PORT`): The port of the listening socket that `boundary connect` has opened.
- `{{boundary.addr}}` (`BOUNDARY_PROXIED_ADDR`): The host:port format of the address.
This value is essentially equivalent to `{{boundary.ip}}:{{boundary.port}}`.

For example, if you wanted to use Boundary to create an authenticated firewall
around `curl`, you could update the default TCP target from a default port
of `:22` to `:443` using the following command:

```shell-session
$ boundary targets update tcp -default-port 443 -id ttcp_1234567890

Target information:
  Address:                    127.0.0.1
  Created Time:               Fri, 25 Sep 2020 18:35:47 PDT
  Description:                Provides an initial target in Boundary
  ID:                         ttcp_1234567890
  Name:                       Generated target
  Session Connection Limit:   1
  Session Max Seconds:        28800
  Type:                       tcp
  Updated Time:               Fri, 25 Sep 2020 18:36:18 PDT
  Version:                    2

  Scope:
    ID:                       p_1234567890
    Name:                     Generated project scope
    Parent Scope ID:          o_1234567890
    Type:                     project

  Attributes:
    Default Port:             443
```

In the output above, the default port for the target has now changed to `:443`.

Now, you can use `curl` as the client for a TCP target session.
For example, the following command uses `curl` to perform an authenticated download of hashicorp.com:

```shell-session
$ boundary connect -exec curl -target-id ttcp_1234567890 \
         -- -vvsL --output /dev/null hashicorp.com

*   Trying 76.76.21.21...
* TCP_NODELAY set
* Connected to hashicorp.com (76.76.21.21) port 80 (#0)
> GET / HTTP/1.1
> Host: hashicorp.com
> User-Agent: curl/7.64.1
> Accept: */*
...<truncated output>...
```

Note that you can use `-exec` for subcommands that wrap clients as well.
As an example, if `putty.exe` is available on a Windows host but the command is being run from WSL, you could use the following command to specify the correct binary to use, since WSL must use `.exe` when it invokes Windows binaries:

```shell-session
$ boundary connect ssh -style putty -exec putty.exe -target-id ttcp_1234567890
```