> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.regatta.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Global Options & Credentials

> SSH credentials and other options available on every RDT command.

These options can be passed on any `rdt` command, before or after the subcommand name.

| Option                | Env var            | Description                                                                         |
| --------------------- | ------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `--user`/`-u`         | `RDT_USER`         | SSH user to connect with                                                            |
| `--key`/`-k`          | `RDT_KEY_FILE`     | SSH private key file to connect with                                                |
| `--password`/`-p`     | `RDT_SSH_PASSWORD` | SSH password to connect with                                                        |
| `--ask-password`/`-P` | N/A                | Prompt for the SSH password interactively instead of passing it on the command line |
| `--verbose`/`-v`      | N/A                | Increase verbosity. `-v` for info-level logs, `-vv` for debug                       |
| `--version`           | N/A                | Print the installed RDT version and exit                                            |

Example:

```bash theme={null}
rdt --user regatta --key ~/.ssh/id_rsa config list
```

## Two separate sets of credentials

RDT talks to your infrastructure in two different ways, each with its own credentials:

* **SSH credentials** (`--user`/`--key`/`--password`/`--ask-password` above): used for
  every node-level operation: distributing files, installing packages, managing
  services, probing hardware, collecting debug info, cleaning, and resetting. Passing
  `--user` or `--key` on **any** command persists it as the default for every
  subsequent command, not just the one you ran. `--password` and `--ask-password` only
  apply to that single invocation.
* **System Manager credentials**: used only by `configure`, `start-cluster`,
  `stop-cluster`, and `reset` (indirectly) to connect to the database itself. These are
  currently fixed to Regatta's default admin account and aren't configurable through the
  CLI today.