Setting the skill. One moment.
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Guide for using the Pinecone CLI (pc) to manage Pinecone resources from the terminal.
1 minute · 276 words · 16 sections
Install
npx skills add pinecone-io/skills --skill pinecone-clinpx skills add pinecone-io/skillsThe first command installs just this skill, by the name in its SKILL.md; the second installs the whole repository.
pc)Manage Pinecone from the terminal. The CLI is especially valuable for vector operations across all index types — something the MCP currently can’t do.
| CLI | MCP | |
|---|---|---|
| Index types | All (standard, integrated, sparse) | Integrated only |
| Vector ops (upsert, query, fetch, update, delete) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Text search on integrated indexes | ✅ | ✅ |
| Backups, namespaces, org/project mgmt | ✅ | ❌ |
| CI/CD / scripting | ✅ | ❌ |
brew tap pinecone-io/tap
brew install pinecone-io/tap/pineconeOther platforms (Linux, Windows) — download from GitHub Releases (opens in a new tab).
# Interactive (recommended for local dev)
pc login
pc target -o "my-org" -p "my-project"
# Service account (recommended for CI/CD)
pc auth configure --client-id "$PINECONE_CLIENT_ID" --client-secret "$PINECONE_CLIENT_SECRET"
# API key (quick testing)
pc config set-api-key $PINECONE_API_KEYCheck status: pc auth status · pc target --show
Note for agent sessions: If you need to run
pc logininside an agent loop, the browser auth link may not surface correctly. It’s best to authenticate before starting an agent session. Runpc loginin your terminal directly, then invoke the agent once you’re authenticated.
PINECONE_API_KEYpc login authenticates the CLI tool itself — it does not set PINECONE_API_KEY in your environment. Python scripts, Node.js SDKs, and other tools that use the Pinecone SDK need PINECONE_API_KEY set separately.
Use the CLI to create a key and export it in one step:
KEY=$(pc api-key create --name agent-sdk-key --json | jq -r '.value')
export PINECONE_API_KEY="$KEY"Without jq: run pc api-key create --name agent-sdk-key --json and copy the "value" field manually.
| Task | Command |
|---|---|
| List indexes | pc index list |
| Create serverless index | pc index create -n my-index -d 1536 -m cosine -c aws -r us-east-1 |
| Index stats | pc index stats -n my-index |
| Upload vectors from file | pc index vector upsert -n my-index --file ./vectors.json |
| Query by vector | pc index vector query -n my-index --vector '[0.1, ...]' -k 10 --include-metadata |
| Query by vector ID | pc index vector query -n my-index --id "doc-123" -k 10 |
| Fetch vectors by ID | pc index vector fetch -n my-index --ids '["vec1","vec2"]' |
| List vector IDs | pc index vector list -n my-index |
| Delete vectors by filter | pc index vector delete -n my-index --filter '{"genre":"classical"}' |
| List namespaces | pc index namespace list -n my-index |
| Create backup | pc backup create -i my-index -n "my-backup" |
| JSON output (for scripting) | Add -j to any command |
Unlike the MCP, the CLI lets you query any index with raw vector values — useful when you generate embeddings externally (OpenAI, HuggingFace, etc.):
pc index vector query -n my-index \
--vector '[0.1, 0.2, ..., 0.9]' \
--filter '{"source":{"$eq":"docs"}}' \
-k 20 --include-metadatajq -c '.embedding' doc.json | pc index vector query -n my-index --vector - -k 10# Preview first
pc index vector update -n my-index \
--filter '{"env":{"$eq":"staging"}}' \
--metadata '{"env":"production"}' \
--dry-run
# Apply
pc index vector update -n my-index \
--filter '{"env":{"$eq":"staging"}}' \
--metadata '{"env":"production"}'# Snapshot before a migration
pc backup create -i my-index -n "pre-migration"
# Restore to a new index if something goes wrong
pc backup restore -i <backup-uuid> -n my-index-restoredexport PINECONE_CLIENT_ID="..."
export PINECONE_CLIENT_SECRET="..."
pc auth configure --client-id "$PINECONE_CLIENT_ID" --client-secret "$PINECONE_CLIENT_SECRET"
pc index vector upsert -n my-index --file ./vectors.jsonl --batch-size 1000# Get all index names as a list
pc index list -j | jq -r '.[] | .name'
# Check if an index exists before creating
if ! pc index describe -n my-index -j 2>/dev/null | jq -e '.name' > /dev/null; then
pc index create -n my-index -d 1536
Guide for using the Pinecone CLI (pc) to manage Pinecone resources from the terminal. The CLI supports ALL index types (standard, integrated, sparse) and all vector operations — unlike the MCP which only supports integrated indexes. Use for batch operations, vector management, backups, namespaces, CI/CD automation, and full control over Pinecone resources.
The verbatim description from this skill’s front matter — the string an agent matches on to decide whether to load it.
main, last pushed 18 September 2026.SKILL.md, not by matching a directory convention. One layout observed: skills/*/SKILL.md.h1 and no skipped levels:/pinecone-io/skills.md, and each skill at its own .md URL.2 files · 9 KB
Everything this skill ships beside its prose. All of it is set here, as subchapters of skill 2.
Documentation the agent loads on demand, rather than up front.