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    @maschinenlesbar.org/autobahn-cli

    autobahn-cli

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    Website: English · Deutsch — command reference, guides and API docs

    Query live traffic data — roadworks, warnings, closures, parking, webcams and charging stations — along Germany's motorway network, straight from your terminal. autobahn is a command-line tool over the open Autobahn App API (verkehr.autobahn.de) operated by Autobahn GmbH des Bundes.

    • Works out of the box — no account, no API key, no configuration. Install and query.
    • Clean JSON output — pretty-printed by default, --compact for one-line/scripting.
    • Seven commands — roads plus six service groups (roadworks, webcams, parking, warnings, closures, charging), each with list and get.
    • Nothing to configure — the API is fully open and read-only; no credentials ever leave your machine.

    Want to use this as a TypeScript library or understand how it's built? See DEVELOPING.md.

    npm i -g @maschinenlesbar.org/autobahn-cli

    This installs the autobahn command. Requires Node.js 20+.

    Check it works:

    autobahn --help

    No setup needed — the API requires no key. Your first command:

    autobahn roads

    That returns a JSON array of every motorway the API knows about (A1, A2, …). Pull out a flat list with jq:

    autobahn roads | jq -r '.[]'

    Pick a road id and query a service:

    autobahn roadworks list A1

    roads                              list all motorways (A1, A2, ...)
roadworks   list <roadId> | get <identifier>
webcams     list <roadId> | get <identifier>
parking     list <roadId> | get <identifier>   (lorry parking areas)
warnings    list <roadId> | get <identifier>   (traffic warnings)
closures    list <roadId> | get <identifier>
charging    list <roadId> | get <identifier>   (electric charging stations)

    The <roadId> is a motorway designation from autobahn roads (e.g. A1). The <identifier> for a get command is the identifier field of an item returned by the matching list.

    On the rare occasion an identifier begins with -, it would be read as an option; pass it after a -- separator: autobahn roadworks get -- -odd.identifier.

    Each of the six service groups (roadworks, webcams, parking, warnings, closures, charging) supports the same two subcommands:

    Subcommand Argument Description
    list <roadId> All items for that service along the motorway
    get <identifier> Full detail for one item by its identifier

    A list that matches no items is not an error — it prints [] and exits 0. A get with an unknown or mistyped identifier exits 4.

    A few recipes to get going — see Usage.md for the full, use-case-driven set.

    # Which motorways are covered?
    autobahn roads

    # Current roadworks on the A1
    autobahn roadworks list A1

    # Titles of all active roadworks (jq)
    autobahn roadworks list A1 | jq -r '.[].title'

    # Full detail of one roadwork item (two-step: list → get)
    autobahn roadworks list A1 | jq -r '.[0].identifier'
    autobahn roadworks get <identifier>

    # Webcam URLs along the A99 Munich ring
    autobahn webcams list A99 | jq -r '.[].linkurl'

    # EV charging stations on the A9 (compact, for scripting)
    autobahn --compact charging list A9

    # How many active roadworks on the A7?
    autobahn roadworks list A7 | jq 'length'

    Every command prints pretty JSON to stdout. Errors and diagnostics go to stderr, so piping stdout into jq stays clean.

    # First roadwork title on the A3
    autobahn roadworks list A3 | jq -r '.[0].title'

    # All warning descriptions on the A2 as a flat list
    autobahn warnings list A2 | jq -r '.[].description[]?'

    Use --compact for single-line JSON in pipelines and logs:

    autobahn --compact roadworks list A1

    --compact is a global option and works before or after the command.

    Exit codes make the CLI easy to use in scripts:

    Code Meaning
    0 Success (also --help / --version)
    4 Not found — the API returned 404, or a get <identifier> matched no item
    1 Any other API, network, parse, or usage error

    A list returning zero items is not an error — it exits 0 with [].

    • command not found: autobahn — the global npm bin directory isn't on your PATH. Run npm bin -g to find it and add it, or run via npx @maschinenlesbar.org/autobahn-cli ….
    • Exit 4 / "not found" from get — the identifier doesn't exist or has changed. Re-fetch it from a fresh list result; identifiers are opaque strings whose format varies by service, and they can change as the live data updates.
    • Empty [] from list — there are currently no items of that type on that motorway. This is normal and exits 0.
    • Exit 1 / network error — connectivity, DNS, or a timeout. Try again, or raise the limit with --timeout 60000.
    • 3xx redirect error — the CLI deliberately does not follow redirects (a safety choice for --base-url); this means the upstream host moved. Try the default base URL: --base-url https://verkehr.autobahn.de.

    These apply to every command and may be given before or after it:

    Option Description
    -v, --version Print the version number
    -h, --help Show help for the program or a command
    --compact Print JSON on a single line instead of pretty-printed
    --base-url <url> API base URL (default https://verkehr.autobahn.de)
    --timeout <ms> Per-request timeout in ms (default 30000; 0 disables; at most 2147483647)
    --user-agent <ua> User-Agent header value
    --max-retries <n> Retries for transient 429/503 responses (default 2)
    --max-response-bytes <n> Cap response body size in bytes (0 = unlimited; default 100 MiB)
    • Usage.md — full use-case-driven cookbook.
    • GLOSSARY.md — every command, resource, and domain term explained.
    • DEVELOPING.md — TypeScript library usage, architecture, testing, CI.
    • SKILLS.md — Claude Code Agent Skills bundled with this repo (route check, EV charging planner, GeoJSON export), installable as a plugin.

    This CLI is a client — it accesses data it does not own or redistribute. The upstream data is © its provider and licensed separately from this tool's code. See DATA_LICENSE.md.

    Die Autobahn GmbH des Bundes — Datenlizenz Deutschland Namensnennung 2.0 (dl-de/by-2-0, by analogy; not declared on the App API itself). Attribution required; commercial use and modification allowed.

    Dual-licensed — use it under either:

    • AGPL-3.0-or-later (default, free). Note the AGPL's §13 network clause: if you run a modified version as a network service, you must offer that modified source to the service's users.
    • Commercial license (paid), for closed-source / proprietary or SaaS use without the AGPL's obligations.

    See LICENSING.md for details, and CONTRIBUTING.md for the contribution policy (this project does not accept external code contributions). Commercial enquiries: sebs@2xs.org.

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