---
layout: commands
page_title: 'Commands: Server bootstrap'
sidebar_title: 'server bootstrap'
description: 'Bootstrap the server and retrieve the initial auth token'
---

# Waypoint Server bootstrap

Command: `waypoint server bootstrap`

Bootstrap the server and retrieve the initial auth token

@include "commands/server-bootstrap_desc.mdx"

## Usage

Usage: `waypoint server bootstrap [options]`

Bootstrap a new server and retrieve the initial auth token.

When a server is started for the first time against an empty database,
it is able to be bootstrapped. The bootstrap process retrieves the initial
auth token for the server. After the auth token is retrieved, it can never
be bootstrapped again.

This command is only required for manually run servers. For servers
installed with "waypoint install", the bootstrap is done automatically
during the install process.

The easiest way to run this command against a new server is by using
flags to specify server connection information. This command will setup
a CLI context by default.

#### Global Options

- `-plain` - Plain output: no colors, no animation. The default is false.
- `-app=<string>` (`-a`) - App to target. Certain commands require a single app target for Waypoint configurations with multiple apps. If you have a single app, then this can be ignored.
- `-project=<string>` (`-p`) - Project to target.
- `-workspace=<string>` (`-w`) - Workspace to operate in.

#### Connection Options

- `-server-addr=<string>` - Address for the server.
- `-server-tls` - True if the server should be connected to via TLS. The default is true.
- `-server-tls-skip-verify` - True to skip verification of the TLS certificate advertised by the server. The default is false.

#### Command Options

- `-context-create=<string>` - Create a CLI context for this bootstrapped server. The context name will be the value of this flag. If this is an empty string, a context will not be created. The default is bootstrap-timestamp.
- `-context-set-default` - Set the newly bootstrapped server as the default CLI context. This only has an effect if -context-create is non-empty. The default is true.

@include "commands/server-bootstrap_more.mdx"
