CLI Reference

CLI Reference

bull                           Launch the interactive menu
bull <command> [args]          Run a command directly
bull --help | -h | help        Show built-in help
bull --version | -v | version  Print the version

Bull must be run as root.

Commands

Command	Aliases	Arguments	Description
init	—	—	Check dependencies, set up the inventory, prepare the provider
create	—	<name> [options]	Create a new Kali or Parrot VM
list	ls	—	List all VMs with their status
start	—	<name>	Start a VM
stop	—	<name>	Gracefully stop a VM
destroy	rm	<name>	Permanently destroy a VM (asks to confirm)
connect	ssh	<name>	SSH into a running VM
view	gui	<name>	Open the graphical console
snapshot	snap	<name> [label]	Snapshot a VM (label optional)
restore	—	<name> <label>	Restore a VM to a snapshot
vpn	—	<name> <config>	Configure a VPN with kill switch
toolkit	—	<name> <git-url>	Install a toolkit from a Git URL
status	—	—	Global status overview
sync	—	—	Reconcile the inventory with real VM state
show-pass	showpass, credentials	<name>	Decrypt and display VM credentials

create options

Option	Default	Description
--os <kali|parrot>	kali	Guest operating system
--ram <MB>	4096	Memory in megabytes
--cpu <N>	2	Number of vCPUs
--resolution <WxH>	1920x1080	Display resolution (prompted if omitted)
--username <user>	OS default	Login user created inside the VM
--password-file <path>	—	Read the password from a file, then wipe the file
--password <pass>	—	Deprecated — visible in ps aux, use --password-file
--keyboard <layout>	prompted	Keyboard layout (us, fr, de, …)

If no password option is given, Bull generates a strong 24-character password and stores it encrypted. Retrieve it with show-pass.

Environment variables

Variable	Default	Effect
BULL_HOME	~/.bull	Data directory (inventory, credentials, GPG keys, registry). On WSL2+VirtualBox this must be a Windows path under /mnt/.
BULL_PROVIDER	auto	Force libvirt or virtualbox
BULL_DEBUG	0	Set to 1 for verbose debug logging
BULL_DRY_RUN	0	Set to 1 to print actions without changing any VM
NO_COLOR	unset	Disable colored output (no-color.org)

Examples

bull init
bull create kali-lab --ram 4096 --cpu 2 --resolution 2560x1440
bull create parrot-lab --os parrot --ram 4096 --cpu 2 --keyboard fr
bull create scratch --password-file ~/secret.txt
bull start kali-lab
bull connect kali-lab
bull snapshot kali-lab pre-exploit
bull restore kali-lab pre-exploit
bull vpn kali-lab ~/vpn/config.ovpn
bull toolkit kali-lab https://github.com/owner/tool.git
bull show-pass kali-lab
bull destroy kali-lab

Exit behavior

Commands return non-zero on failure and log the reason. Failures are also appended to ${BULL_HOME}/bull-error.log for later inspection.