Deploying AnchoreCTL

AnchoreCTL is the CLI binary that lets you manage and inspect every aspect of your Anchore Enterprise deployment via the Anchore Enterprise API.

It can be utilized as an interactive CLI tool for manual administration and inspection, or as a streamlined automation tool for CI/CD pipelines.

Installation

AnchoreCTL’s major and minor release version coincides with the release version of Anchore Enterprise, however patch versions may differ. For example,

Enterprise v6.2.0
AnchoreCTL v6.2.1

AnchoreCTL should be version-aligned with Anchore Enterprise for major/minor releases. Please refer to the Enterprise Release Notes for the supported version of AnchoreCTL.

The AnchoreCTL bundle can be downloaded directly from Anchore or from your local Anchore Enterprise Deployment.

To download a specific version directly from Anchore, you may swap 6.2.1 for the version you need.
You can verify the version of your AnchoreCTL with anchorectl --version.

The following examples can be used to quickly install AnchoreCTL to your local system.

NOTE: Some of these examples add a directory to your PATH. Your method may vary depending on your environment.

Linux

Intel/AMD64

# Directly from Anchore
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
curl -o anchorectl.tar.gz -L "https://anchorectl-releases.anchore.io/anchorectl/v6.2.1/anchorectl_6.2.1_linux_amd64.tar.gz" && \
tar -xvf anchorectl.tar.gz -C ~/.local/bin/ anchorectl
anchorectl --version

# From your local Anchore deployment
ANCHORE_URL="anchore.my-domain.com"
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
curl -o anchorectl.tar.gz -X GET "https:/$ANCHORE_URL/v2/system/anchorectl?operating_system=linux&architecture=amd64" -H "accept: */*" && \
tar -zxf anchorectl.tar.gz -C ~/.local/bin anchorectl
anchorectl --version

MacOS

These examples use ~/.local/bin as the binary path which can be used by a non-privileged user but isn’t standard on MacOS.
You may use the best configuration for your environment.

Intel/AMD64

# Directly from Anchore
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
curl -o anchorectl.tar.gz -L "https://anchorectl-releases.anchore.io/anchorectl/v6.2.1/anchorectl_6.2.1_darwin_amd64.tar.gz" && \
tar -xf anchorectl.tar.gz -C ~/.local/bin anchorectl
# Include in your PATH
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH" # Consider adding to your ~/.zshrc for permanent usage
anchorectl --version

# From your local Anchore deployment
ANCHORE_URL="anchore.my-domain.com"
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
curl -o anchorectl.tar.gz -X GET "https://$ANCHORE_URL/v2/system/anchorectl?operating_system=darwin&architecture=amd64" -H "accept: */*" && \
tar -zxf anchorectl.tar.gz -C ~/.local/bin anchorectl
# Include in your PATH
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH" # Consider adding to your ~/.zshrc for permanent usage
anchorectl --version

ARM/M-Series

# Directly from Anchore
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
curl -o anchorectl.tar.gz -L "https://anchorectl-releases.anchore.io/anchorectl/v6.2.1/anchorectl_6.2.1_darwin_arm64.tar.gz" && \
tar -xf anchorectl.tar.gz -C ~/.local/bin anchorectl
# Include in your PATH
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH" # Consider adding to your ~/.zshrc for permanent usage
anchorectl --version

# From your local Anchore deployment
ANCHORE_URL="anchore.my-domain.com"
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
curl -o anchorectl.tar.gz -X GET "https://$ANCHORE_URL/v2/system/anchorectl?operating_system=darwin&architecture=arm64" -H "accept: */*" && \
tar -zxf anchorectl.tar.gz -C ~/.local/bin anchorectl
# Include in your PATH
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH" # Consider adding to your ~/.zshrc for permanent usage
anchorectl --version

Windows

Intel/AMD64

# Directly from Anchore
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path "$env:USERPROFILE\bin" | Out-Null
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://anchorectl-releases.anchore.io/anchorectl/v6.2.1/anchorectl_6.2.1_windows_amd64.zip" -OutFile "anchorectl.zip"
Expand-Archive -Path "anchorectl.zip" -DestinationPath "$env:USERPROFILE\bin" -Force
# Add $USERPROFILE\bin to your user PATH, refresh PATH and test anchorectl
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "$env:USERPROFILE\bin;" + [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "User"), "User")
$env:Path = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "Machine") + ";" + [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "User")
anchorectl --version

# From your local Anchore deployment
$AnchoreUrl = "https://anchore.my-domain.com"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path "$env:USERPROFILE\bin" | Out-Null
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "$AnchoreUrl/v2/system/anchorectl?operating_system=windows&architecture=amd64" -Headers @{ "accept" = "*/*" } -OutFile "anchorectl.zip"
Expand-Archive -Path "anchorectl.zip" -DestinationPath "$env:USERPROFILE\bin" -Force
# Add $USERPROFILE\bin to your user PATH, refresh PATH and test anchorectl
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "$env:USERPROFILE\bin;" + [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "User"), "User")
$env:Path = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "Machine") + ";" + [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "User")
anchorectl --version

Installation Script

For Linux or MacOS, you have the option of using the automated installation script.
Be sure to specify a destination folder by replacing <DESTINATION_DIR>. A specified version is also required.

curl -sSfL https://anchorectl-releases.anchore.io/anchorectl/install.sh | sh -s -- -b <DESTINATION_DIR> v6.2.1

Configuration

After AnchoreCTL has been installed, it will need to be configured. See AnchoreCTL Configuration for details.

Last modified September 11, 2026