Follow these instructions to use the Mullvad command line interface (CLI) in your operating system's terminal. See also our guide CLI commands for using WireGuard.
Download
If your app isn't up to date, first download the latest version and install it.
Available commands
Open a terminal window and type mullvad to see a full list of subcommands and their usages. Below is a list of the most common ones.
Specify your account
Replace the number string with your Mullvad account number.
mullvad account set 1234123412341234
Type mullvad account to see a list of other account-related commands.
Show account info
This command will show your account number and the expiration date of your account.
mullvad account get
List server locations
This command displays a list of available countries and cities.
mullvad relay list
Select a location
In this example, we are connecting to a server in Sweden (se), in the city of Malmö (mma).
Replace "se" with the country of your choice and, optionally, "mma" with a specific city in that country.
mullvad relay set location se mma
Select a specific server
Replace "se" with the country of your choice and, optionally, "mma" with a specific city in that country and "se-mma-001" with a servername in this group.
mullvad relay set location se mma se-mma-001
Or use this command:
mullvad relay set hostname se-mma-001
Connect
Connect to the location that you selected.
mullvad connect
Disconnect
mullvad disconnect
Force an update to the serverlist
mullvad relay update
Check your connection status
mullvad status
Auto-connect on start-up
If you want Mullvad to start and connect when you boot up your computer, use this command.
mullvad auto-connect set on
To turn this off, run
mullvad auto-connect set off
Enable LAN access
mullvad lan set allow
Report a problem
First create an anonymized log file.
mullvad-problem-report collect --output report.log
Before sending it to us, you have the option to view the log file.
Then send the log file.
mullvad-problem-report send --report report.log --email your@email.address --message "Write a description of your problem."
Although optional, we strongly recommend that you include a description of the problem. You also don't need to fill in an email address, but if you want a reply from us, you will need to include one.
Split tunneling (Linux only)
Split tunneling allows you to exclude some apps from the VPN so they will use your regular Internet connection. This will for example allow you to access some websites that are blocking VPN services.
Using mullvad-exclude
To start a new process excluded from Mullvad use this command:
mullvad-exclude <program>
Using mullvad split-tunnel
This command works with the PID (process ID) of a program. To find the PID of a running program use the pgrep Linux command.
To exclude a process from Mullvad that is already running use this command:
mullvad split-tunnel pid add <pid>
To list the PIDs of all the processes that are currently excluded use this command:
mullvad split-tunnel pid list
To restore a previously excluded process use this command:
mullvad split-tunnel pid delete <pid>
To restore all previously excluded processes use this command:
mullvad split-tunnel pid clear
Block ads / trackers / malware
To enable DNS filtering of ads, trackers and/or malware you can use the following commands.
To view the help, use this command:
mullvad dns set default --help
To enable all filters use the follwing command. To enable some filters remove some of the arguments.
mullvad dns set default --block-ads --block-malware --block-trackers
To reset the filtering use this command:
mullvad dns set default
Use custom DNS server
If you set a custom DNS server it will override "Block ads / trackers / malware". You can only use a public DNS server if you use WireGuard protocol, however you can use a local DNS server with OpenVPN protocol.
To set a custom DNS server use the following command and replace 1.1.1.1 with the server IP you want to use.
mullvad dns set custom 1.1.1.1
To reset the DNS use this command:
mullvad dns set default
Reset settings
This command performs a factory reset on all settings, deletes app logs and cache files, disconnects the app, and logs you out.
mullvad factory-reset
You will be asked to confirm your decision before the reset.