---
title: doctl auth init
description: |-
    This command allows you to initialize doctl with a token that allows it to query and manage your account details and resources.

    The command requires 
product: Reference
url: https://docs.digitalocean.com/reference/doctl/reference/auth/init/
last_updated: "2026-08-18"
---

> **For AI agents:** The documentation index is at [https://docs.digitalocean.com/llms.txt](https://docs.digitalocean.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of pages use the same URL with `index.html.md` in place of the HTML page (for example, append `index.html.md` to the directory path instead of opening the HTML document).

# doctl auth init

Generated on 18 Aug 2026 from `doctl` version [`v1.167.0`](https://github.com/digitalocean/doctl/releases/tag/v1.167.0)

## Usage

```shell
doctl auth init [flags]
```

## Description

This command allows you to initialize doctl with a token that allows it to query and manage your account details and resources.

The command requires and API token to authenticate, which you can generate in the control panel at [https://cloud.digitalocean.com/account/api/tokens](https://cloud.digitalocean.com/account/api/tokens).

The `--context` flag allows you to add authentication for multiple accounts and then switch between them as needed. Provide a case-sensitive name for the context and then enter the API token you want use for that context when prompted. You can switch authentication contexts using `doctl auth switch`, which re-initializes doctl. You can also provide the `--context` flag when using any doctl command to specify the auth context for that command. This enables you to use multiple DigitalOcean accounts with doctl, or tokens that have different authentication scopes.

If the `--context` flag is not specified, doctl creates a default authentication context named `default`.

You can use doctl without initializing it by adding the `--access-token` flag to each command and providing an API token as the argument.

## Example

The following example initializes doctl with a token for a single account with the context `your-team`:

```shell
doctl auth init --context your-team
```

## Flags

| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| `--help`, `-h` | Help for this command |
| `--token-validation-server` | The server used to validate a token, Default: `https://cloud.digitalocean.com` |

## Related Commands

| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| [doctl auth](https://docs.digitalocean.com/reference/doctl/reference/auth) | Display commands for authenticating doctl with an account |

## Global Flags

Option Description

`--access-token`, `-t` API V2 access token

`--api-url`, `-u` Override default API endpoint

`--config`, `-c` Specify a custom config file, Default:

`--context` Specify a custom authentication context name

`--http-retry-max` Set maximum number of retries for requests that fail with a 429 or 500-level error , Default: `5`

`--http-retry-wait-max` Set the minimum number of seconds to wait before retrying a failed request , Default: `30`

`--http-retry-wait-min` Set the maximum number of seconds to wait before retrying a failed request , Default: `1`

`--interactive` Enable interactive behavior. Defaults to true if the terminal supports it (default false) , Default: `false`

`--output`, `-o` Desired output format \[text|json], Default: `text`

`--trace` Show a log of network activity while performing a command, Default: `false`

`--verbose`, `-v` Enable verbose output, Default: `false`