Installation

The pan-scm-cli tool installs into any Python environment and provides the scm command for managing Strata Cloud Manager configurations.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following:

Requirement	Description
Python 3.10+	Python 3.10 or higher must be installed on your system
pip	Python package installer should be available
SCM Credentials	Valid client ID, client secret, and TSG ID for Strata Cloud Manager

Install via pip

Create a Virtual Environment

It is recommended to use a virtual environment to manage dependencies.

macOS and Linux:

python3 -m venv scm-env
source scm-env/bin/activate

Windows:

python3 -m venv scm-env
scm-env\Scripts\activate

Install the Package

Within the activated environment, install the package using pip:

$ pip install pan-scm-cli
---> 100%
Successfully installed pan-scm-cli

Verify Installation

Verify that the installation was successful by checking the available commands:

$ scm --help

 Usage: scm [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

 CLI for Palo Alto Networks Strata Cloud Manager

Commands:
  backup   Backup configurations to YAML files
  context  Manage authentication contexts for multiple SCM tenants
  delete   Remove configurations
  load     Load configurations from YAML files
  set      Create or update configurations
  show     Display configurations

Set Up Authentication

After installation, create your first context to connect to SCM:

$ scm context create my-tenant \
    --client-id "your-app@123456789.iam.panserviceaccount.com" \
    --client-secret "your-secret-key" \
    --tsg-id "123456789"
---> 100%
✓ Context 'my-tenant' created successfully
✓ Context 'my-tenant' set as current

Test the connection:

$ scm context test
Testing authentication for context: my-tenant
✓ Authentication successful!
  Client ID: your-app@123456789.iam.panserviceaccount.com
  TSG ID: 123456789
✓ API connectivity verified (found 15 address objects in Shared folder)

warning

Never commit credentials to version control. Use contexts or environment variables to manage authentication securely.

Docker Installation

The CLI is also available as a Docker image for containerized environments.

$ docker pull ghcr.io/cdot65/pan-scm-cli:latest

Run with context support by volume-mounting your credentials:

$ docker run -d \
    --name pan-scm \
    -v ~/.scm-cli:/home/scmuser/.scm-cli \
    ghcr.io/cdot65/pan-scm-cli:latest

Use contexts inside the container:

$ docker exec pan-scm scm context list
$ docker exec pan-scm scm context use production

info

The Docker image is available at ghcr.io/cdot65/pan-scm-cli:latest (AMD64) and ghcr.io/cdot65/pan-scm-cli:apple (ARM64).

Next Steps

1. Get started with basic commands
2. Explore the CLI Reference
3. Read the Troubleshooting guide if you encounter issues