Globus CLI

October 1, 2025

You can use the Globus Command Line Interface (CLI) to manage Globus transfers from the command line, or from a script / cron job.

Installation QuickStart for Linux

sudo apt install pipx
pipx install globus-cli
add globus to your $PATH: eg: /home/username/.local/bin
globus login

Globus Transfer Command

globus transfer --help
   Usage: globus transfer [OPTIONS] SOURCE_ENDPOINT_ID[:SOURCE_PATH]  DEST_ENDPOINT_ID[:DEST_PATH]

To copy files between 2 Globus servers using CLI, you'll need to get the globus endpoint IDs. e.g.:

     globus endpoint search "ESnet*Anonymous"
         ID for ESnet DTN in Sunnyvale:  8409a10b-de09-4670-a886-2c0b33f0fe25

     globus endpoint search "ESnet*read-write*"
         ID for ESnet writable DTN in Wash DC: 0ddf6ef6-8768-45f0-8974-977185010806

Directory listing for ESnet DTN:

     globus ls 8409a10b-de09-4670-a886-2c0b33f0fe25

Start Transfer

     globus transfer 8409a10b-de09-4670-a886-2c0b33f0fe25:/50GB-in-medium-files 0ddf6ef6-8768-45f0-8974-977185010806:/

This will return a 'task ID'

Monitor Transfer

globus task show

You can also monitor the status by logging into globus.org, and click on 'activity'.

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To transfer files to your laptop or desktop, you can use Globus Connect Personal (GCP)

GCP Installation (Linux)

wget https://downloads.globus.org/globus-connect-personal/linux/stable/globusconnectpersonal-latest.tgz
tar xvzf globusconnectpersonal-latest.tgz
cd globusconnectpersonal-3.2.7
./globusconnectpersonal -setup

Start GCP

./globusconnectpersonal -start & # run in the background

Find local endpoint ID

globus endpoint local-id

Use this ID for globus transfer, as above.

For information on installing GCP for Windows or OSX, see the link below.

For more information, see the Globus Docs: