When MinIO Web Console Vanishes, CLI is King:A Beginner's Guide to mc

MinIO, the open-source object storage giant, has drastically removed the core code of its Web Management Console in community releases following version 20250524. With approximately 110,000 lines of code stripped away, the community is in an uproar, accusing MinIO of “burning bridges”—reaping the benefits of open source only to pull the plug on its most accessible features. As I’ve been developing a private project utilizing MinIO recently, I’ve had to rely on AI and documentation to master the basic commands. Since the Web UI is gone, understanding mc is now essential for permission control and general management. Consider this a guide born out of necessity.

Community News

Developer Backlash#

Developer comments

What is mc?#

Don’t be mistaken—this mc isn’t about mining blocks in Minecraft. It stands for MinIO Client. This is the official, incredibly powerful command-line tool and the primary way to interact with a MinIO server. You can install it easily through several methods.

安装#

Direct Binary Download (Recommended)

1
# Download mc for Linux amd64
2
wget https://dl.min.io/client/mc/release/linux-amd64/mc
3
# Grant execution permissions
4
chmod +x mc
5
# Move to a system PATH directory (e.g., /usr/local/bin/) for global access
6
sudo mv mc /usr/local/bin/

Docker Installation

1
# Pull the mc Docker image
2
docker pull minio/mc
3
# Run a temporary container to execute a command (e.g., listing a bucket)
4
docker run minio/mc ls myminio

Command Guide#

For a full list of all mc commands, refer to the official documentation. This section covers the most common and critical operations.

Running mc --help displays all available commands. Here are the core categories:

1
alias      Manage server aliases (configures connection info)
2
  admin      Manage MinIO servers (users, policies, config, etc.)
3
  ...        ...
4
  ls         List buckets and objects
5
  mb         Make bucket
6
  cp         Copy objects
7
  mv         Move/Rename objects
8
  rm         Remove objects
9
  cat        Display object content
10
  head       Display first part of an object
11
  pipe       Stream from STDIN to an object
12
  put        Upload local files to a bucket
13
  mirror     Synchronize local directories to remote buckets (Powerful sync tool)
14
  du         Summarize disk usage
15
  diff       Compare differences between two buckets
16
  find       Search for objects
17
  ...        ... (Other important commands: policy, user, config, event, ilm, etc.)

Essential Commands Detail#

Alias Management#

Setting a Connection (alias):

1
mc alias set ALIAS HOST ACCESSKEY SECRETKEY
2
# Example: Connecting to a local MinIO instance
3
mc alias set myminio http://localhost:9000 minioadmin minioadmin

List all configured aliases:

1
mc alias list

Remove an existing alias:

1
mc alias remove ALIAS

Administration (admin)#

Check Server Information:

1
mc admin info ALIAS
2
# Example: Check status for myminio
3
mc admin info myminio

User Management:

1
# Add a user
2
mc admin user add ALIAS ACCESSKEY SECRETKEY
3
# Example: Add user AK:test SK:123456 to myminio
4
mc admin user add myminio test 123456
5

6
# Disable a user
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mc admin user disable ALIAS USERNAME
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9
# Enable a user
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mc admin user enable ALIAS USERNAME
11

12
# View user info
13
mc admin user info ALIAS USERNAME
14

15
# List all users
16
mc admin user ls ALIAS
17

18
# Remove a user
19
mc admin user rm ALIAS USERNAME

PBAC (Policy-Based Access Control) Management:

1
# Create a policy
2
mc admin policy create ALIAS POLICYNAME POLICYPATH
3
# Example: Create "listmybuckets" policy using a local JSON file
4
mc admin policy create myminio listmybuckets /tmp/listmybuckets.json
5

6
# Attach an IAM policy to a MinIO user or group
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mc admin policy attach ALIAS POLICY [POLICY...] [--user USER | --group GROUP]
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# Example: Bind the "listmybuckets" policy to user "test" on myminio
9
mc admin policy attach myminio listmybuckets test
10

11
# List all policies
12
mc admin policy ls ALIAS
13

14
# View policy details
15
mc admin policy info ALIAS POLICYNAME
16

17
# List entities (users/groups) associated with a policy
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mc admin policy entities ALIAS [--user value] [--group value] [--policy value]
19

20
# Delete a policy
21
mc admin policy rm ALIAS POLICYNAME