Scripting with linscp-cli

linscp-cli is the console client that ships with linscp. It runs the same transfer engine as the GUI, but you drive it with text commands instead of windows and dialogs. Use it for jobs that must run unattended: nightly backups, deployments from a CI pipeline, or fetching a report every hour.

The command language is WinSCP’s. A script written for WinSCP’s console client usually runs on linscp-cli after you change the program name and the local paths.

Where to find it

• Debian package: linscp-cli is installed in /usr/bin, next to linscp.
• Flatpak: run it as flatpak run --command=linscp-cli io.github._99ecarvalho.linscp.
• Windows: linscp-cli.exe sits in the linscp installation folder, beside linscp.exe.

Check that it starts with linscp-cli /help, which lists every switch.

Three ways to give it commands

How	Example	Use it for
Type them	linscp-cli	Trying commands out
A script file	linscp-cli /script=backup.txt	Jobs you keep and schedule
On the command line	linscp-cli /command "open mysite" "ls" "exit"	Short one-off jobs, CI steps

You can also pipe commands into it on standard input:

printf 'open mysite\nls\nexit\n' | linscp-cli

When commands come from /script or /command, linscp-cli runs in batch mode: it does not stop to ask about overwrites, and it gives up on the first error instead of waiting for an answer. Typed or piped commands keep the interactive behaviour. The exit codes page explains how to change this with option batch.

What a session looks like

Every script follows the same shape:

1. open a connection, by stored site name or by URL.
2. Run file commands: cd, ls, get, put, synchronize and the rest.
3. exit, which closes the connection and ends the program.

If a script file has no exit at the end, linscp-cli switches to its interactive prompt when the file runs out. In a scheduled job that means it waits for input that never comes, so always end with exit.

Sites are shared with the GUI

linscp-cli reads the same configuration as the GUI. On Linux that is ~/.config/linscp/WinSCP.ini. A site you saved in the Site Manager can be opened by name: open mysite. Host keys you accepted in either program are remembered for both. To run with an empty, throwaway configuration instead, add /ini=nul; see raw configuration.

Where to go next

• Your first automated transfer walks through a complete job.
• Script syntax covers quoting, variables and comments.
• The command reference has a page per command.
• The linscp-cli switches page lists everything you can pass on the command line.