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Heroku CLI

Manage Heroku apps from the terminal

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Description

The Heroku CLI lets you create and manage Heroku applications directly from the terminal. It supports the full Heroku workflow including creating apps, deploying code via Git, managing add-ons, scaling dynos, viewing logs, running one-off processes, and managing environment config vars.

Install

homebrewbrew tap heroku/brew && brew install heroku

AI Summary

Manage Heroku apps from the terminal. Create apps, deploy via Git push, scale dynos, manage add-ons and config vars, view logs, and run one-off processes.

Capabilities

  • + Create and manage Heroku applications
  • + Deploy code via git push to Heroku remote
  • + Scale dynos and manage process types
  • + Add and configure add-ons (Postgres, Redis, etc.)
  • + Manage environment config vars
  • + Stream real-time application logs
  • + Run one-off commands and open interactive consoles

Use When

  • → Deploying web applications to Heroku's managed platform
  • → Need a simple git-based deployment workflow
  • → Managing Heroku add-ons like Postgres, Redis, or Kafka
  • → Debugging production issues via log streaming or remote console

Avoid When

  • x Need fine-grained infrastructure control (use AWS, GCP, or Azure)
  • x Cost-sensitive workloads at scale (Heroku can be expensive)
  • x Applications requiring edge deployment or global distribution (use Fly.io)

Usage Patterns

Create and deploy an app

heroku create my-app && git push heroku main

Creates a new Heroku app and deploys the current branch to it

View streaming logs

heroku logs --tail --app my-app

Continuously streams application logs for real-time debugging

Open a remote console

heroku run bash --app my-app

Opens an interactive bash session on a one-off dyno

Scale dynos

heroku ps:scale web=2 worker=1 --app my-app

Scales to 2 web dynos and 1 worker dyno

Input / Output

stdin: Interactive input for heroku run commands
stdout: App info, deployment status, logs, and command output
Exit codes:
0 Success
1 Error

Typical Pipelines

heroku logs --tail --app my-app | grep ERROR
heroku config --json --app my-app | jq 'to_entries[] | "\(.key)=\(.value)"' -r
heroku apps --json | jq '.[].name' -r | fzf | xargs heroku open --app

Related Tools

flyctl alternative

Fly.io is a modern alternative with edge deployment and Docker containers
vercel alternative

Vercel for frontend/Jamstack, Heroku for full-stack applications
docker complementary

Heroku supports container deployment alongside buildpack-based deploys
View AGENTS.md for Heroku CLI