bb — Bitbucket CLI

bb is a fast, gh-style command line for Bitbucket Cloud and Bitbucket Data Center/Server. It gives you pull requests, repos, issues, pipelines, and more from your terminal — with human-readable tables by default and a --json flag on every list/view command for scripts and agents.

bb pr list
bb pr create --title "Fix login bug"
bb repo clone myteam/myrepo

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Install

bb runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows. Pick the option for your platform — each puts a bb command on your PATH, no prefixes, no activation:

# macOS / Linux — Homebrew
brew install ml-lubich/tap/bitbucket-client

# macOS / Linux / Windows — pip or uv
pip install bitbucket-client          # or: uv tool install bitbucket-client

# from a clone (any OS)
uv tool install .

bb --help

Homebrew is macOS/Linux only; on Windows, use pip install bitbucket-client (or uv tool install bitbucket-client) — both work the same in PowerShell, cmd, or WSL.

The PyPI package is bitbucket-client (bitbucket-cli, bb, and bb-cli were already taken). The installed command is always bb.

Developing on bb itself

To run from a clone without installing globally:

git clone https://github.com/ml-lubich/bitbucket-cli
cd bitbucket-cli
./scripts/setup.sh                              # installs uv if missing, then syncs
UV_PROJECT_ENVIRONMENT=venv uv run bb --help    # run inside the project venv

setup.sh is idempotent — re-run it anytime. It uses venv/ (not .venv/) so macOS hidden-file flags can't break the editable install. The UV_PROJECT_ENVIRONMENT=venv uv run prefix is only for this run-from-source workflow; once you uv tool install ., just use bb.

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Authenticate

bb targets Bitbucket Cloud by default. On Bitbucket Cloud in an interactive terminal, just log in through your browser:

bb auth login          # opens your browser for Atlassian SSO (OAuth 2.0)
bb auth status         # confirm you're logged in

bb stores an access token plus a rotating refresh token in your OS keyring and refreshes them automatically — you won't log in again until the refresh token is revoked or expires. See docs/AUTH.md for the full flow and how to use your own OAuth consumer.

Token login (Data Center, CI, or any non-interactive shell):

bb config set base_url https://bitbucket.example.com   # Data Center only
bb auth login --token "$YOUR_TOKEN"
echo "$YOUR_TOKEN" | bb auth login --with-token        # from stdin

• Data Center HTTP access tokens (often BBDC-…) use Bearer auth against https://your-host/rest/api/1.0.
• Atlassian API tokens (ATATT…) use Basic auth — pass --username <email> or set BITBUCKET_EMAIL / BB_USERNAME.

bb also reads a token from the environment (first match wins): BB_TOKEN, BITBUCKET_TOKEN, BITBUCKET_AUTH_TOKEN, or a BB_TOKEN=… line in a repo-local .env. Never commit tokens — use env vars or your CI secret store.

Other auth commands: bb auth refresh (force refresh), bb auth setup-git (print git -c flags for authenticated HTTPS), bb auth logout.

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Quick start

# Pull requests
bb pr list
bb pr list --state MERGED --limit 10
bb pr create --title "Fix login bug"
bb pr merge 42 --merge-strategy squash --delete-branch

# Repositories
bb repo list --workspace myteam
bb repo clone myteam/myrepo
bb repo create --name new-service --workspace myteam

# Issues
bb issue list
bb issue create --title "Crash on startup" --kind bug --priority critical
bb issue close 7

# Pipelines
bb pipeline list
bb pipeline run --branch main
bb pipeline logs abc-uuid-1234
bb pipeline variable create --key API_KEY --value secret --secured

# Search & status
bb search repos myservice --workspace myteam
bb search code "TODO" --workspace myteam
bb status            # you + PRs awaiting your review

Add --json to any list/view command for machine-readable output, and bb doctor --json for agent-friendly setup/auth diagnostics.

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Commands

Group	Subcommands
auth	login (browser OAuth or token), logout, status, token, refresh, setup-git
pr	list, view (--comments), create, checkout, merge, close, reopen, edit, review, comment, diff, checks, status
repo	list, view, clone, create, fork, delete, sync, edit, set-default
issue	list, view, create, edit, close, reopen, comment, delete, status
pipeline	list, run, view, steps, logs, stop, variable (list, create, delete)
branch	list, create, delete
workspace	list, view, members
project	list, view, create
snippet	list, view, create, edit, delete
search	repos, code
mcp	serve (read-only MCP server for coding agents)
config	get, set
api	raw authenticated API request
browse	open the repo in your browser
doctor	config/auth diagnostics
status	current user + PRs awaiting your review
completion	print a shell completion script

Help is available at every level: bb --help, bb <group> --help, bb <group> <subcommand> --help (or -h).

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Use bb from a coding agent (MCP)

bb mcp serve runs a read-only Model Context Protocol server over stdio, so Claude, Codex, and other agents can query Bitbucket directly — no shell glue. It reuses your existing bb auth and, because bb maps Cloud paths to Data Center automatically, the same tools work against on-prem hosts. bb is pure Python, so the MCP server runs anywhere bb is installed — macOS, Linux, and Windows.

Tools exposed: whoami, repo_list, repo_view, pr_list, pr_view, issue_list, pipeline_list, and api_get (any read-only GET path). Every tool is a GET — nothing can mutate your data.

Point an MCP client at the command bb mcp serve. For Claude Code:

claude mcp add bitbucket -- bb mcp serve

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Coming from gh?

bb mirrors GitHub CLI ergonomics where Bitbucket has an equivalent:

gh	bb
gh auth login	bb auth login
gh auth status / logout / token / refresh / setup-git	same on bb auth
gh pr list / create / status	same on bb pr
gh pr merge / review --approve / checks / diff / close / edit	bb pr <cmd> <ID>
gh pr comment --body "…"	bb pr comment <ID> --body "…"
gh pr view --comments	bb pr view <ID> --comments
gh repo list / create / edit	same on bb repo
gh repo clone / fork / delete	bb repo <cmd> workspace/slug
gh issue list / create / close / status	same on bb issue
gh run list / view	bb pipeline list / view <UUID>
gh workflow run	bb pipeline run
gh secret set / variable set	bb pipeline variable create --key K --value V [--secured]
gh api /repos/…	bb api /repositories/…
gh browse / status / search repos / search code	same on bb
gh completion -s bash	bb completion bash

Where Bitbucket differs from GitHub:

• No bb pr reopen — Bitbucket Cloud can't reopen a declined PR (the command exits with a clear message).
• No bb pr ready, bb repo rename, or bb repo archive — no Cloud API for them.
• No label or release commands — Bitbucket Cloud has no analog.
• Pipelines are referenced by UUID, not a numeric run ID.
• Issue --kind values: bug, enhancement, proposal, task.
• Browser login is Cloud-only; Data Center always uses --with-token.

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Configuration

Settings resolve top-down (first match wins):

Priority	Source
1	CLI flags (--repo, --workspace, …)
2	Environment (BB_REPO, BB_WORKSPACE, BB_EDITOR, BB_GIT_PROTOCOL, BB_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID, BB_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET)
3	Project config — bb.toml in the current directory
4	User config — config.toml (platformdirs.user_config_dir("bb"))
5	Built-in defaults

Keys (valid in both bb.toml and config.toml):

Key	Default	Description
base_url	https://bitbucket.org	Bitbucket web base URL; set to your host for Data Center
git_protocol	https	Clone protocol: https or ssh
editor	""	Editor for prompts; falls back to $EDITOR
default_repo	""	Default repo as workspace/slug
default_workspace	""	Default workspace slug
oauth_client_id / oauth_client_secret	""	Your own OAuth consumer for browser login (see docs/AUTH.md)

bb config set base_url https://bitbucket.example.com
bb config set default_workspace myteam
bb config set git_protocol ssh
bb repo set-default myteam/myrepo    # writes default_repo to bb.toml at the git root

Set BB_REPO=workspace/slug to pin the target repo anywhere (CI, scripts, or outside a clone). Set NO_COLOR to disable colored output.

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Docs

• Architecture
• Authentication — OAuth flow, refresh model, security notes
• API reference
• Testing · Runbook · Agent usage
• Publishing · Changelog

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MIT License · Copyright (c) 2026 Misha Lubich (ml-lubich) · mishalubich.com