# Compare chainctl usage with the Chainguard Console

URL: https://chainguard-docs-preview-git-1016-404s.chainguard.app/platform/chainctl-usage/comparing-chainctl-to-console.md
Last Modified: October 5, 2026
Tags: chainctl, Chainguard Console

Learn when to use chainctl CLI versus Chainguard Console for managing container security, with practical examples and use case recommendations


Chainguard provides two powerful interfaces for managing container security resources: the web-based Console for visual exploration and the `chainctl` CLI for automation and scripting. Understanding when to use each tool maximizes your efficiency in managing Chainguard's security-hardened containers and access controls.

## Prerequisites

To access the [Chainguard Console](/platform/console/images-directory/) you need to [create an account and sign in](https://console.chainguard.dev/auth/login). The Console is accessible to everyone, including users who aren't Chainguard customers.

To use `chainctl`, start by [installing chainctl](/platform/chainctl-usage/how-to-install-chainctl/). Refer to [Get started with chainctl](/get-started/getting-started-with-chainctl/) to help you begin using it; the examples on this page assume you have `chainctl` installed and are authenticated.

## High-level comparison

The Console is especially useful for one-off information searches, such as when you don't know precisely what you want to know. The Console provides detailed information, but may require a few clicks to hone in on precisely what you are looking for. You can perform useful container-related queries in the Console, as the examples on this page show.

If you know specifically what you are looking for or what you want to accomplish, `chainctl` is a powerful way to do so. It can perform some additional tasks that are not yet available in the Console, such as [comparing images with a diff](/platform/chainctl-usage/comparing-images/).

The following sections walk through a few use cases.

## Find available images

### Find available images in the Console

To find the images available to you in the Console, do this:

1. Open the [Console](https://console.chainguard.dev)
![Screenshot showing the Overview page in the Console.](console-overview.png)

1. On the Overview page that opens, click **Images** in the sidebar.
![Screenshot showing the Images page in the Console, which lists all of the images available along with data for each including Status, Latest tag, Pull URL, and when the image was last updated.](console-org-images.png)

### Find available images with chainctl

To find the images available to you using `chainctl`, use this command. The list of available images is likely to be long and scrolls past quickly in the terminal, so consider piping the output into `grep` or redirecting it into a file.

```sh
chainctl images list

```

## Invite users

### Invite users in the Console

To invite a user using the Console, follow these steps:

1. Open the Console.

1. On the Overview page that opens, click the **Manage pull tokens** link, just below the search box.

1. On the Settings page that opens, click **Users** in the sidebar.
![Screenshot showing the Settings page in the Console.](console-settings.png)

1. Click **Invite users**.
![Screenshot showing the list of users in the Console.](console-users.png)

1. Enter the **Email address** of the user you are inviting and use the dropdown menu to assign a **Role** for this user. Click **Invite**.

### Invite users using chainctl

To invite a user using `chainctl`, use this command, substituting your organization name for ORGANIZATION along with setting the role, email address, length of time for the invite to be valid, and whether this invite may only be used once:

```sh
chainctl iam invite create ORGANIZATION
--role=viewer
--email=sample@organization.dev
--ttl=7d
--single-use

```

## Review container image history

### Review container image history in the Console

To examine the history of an image using the Console:

1. Open the Console and find the image you want to examine more closely. Click it in the **Recent image changes** list on the **Overview** page, or click **View all organization images** to open the full list and find it there.

1. On the image page you start on the **Tags** tab and see a list of tags which correspond to the release version of the image, like this one for `kubectl`.
![Screenshot showing the list of image versions for kubectl in the Console.](console-image-version-list.png)

This list contains columns with data about each image release, like the Pull URL, Digest, and when it was last changed. Click the other tabs to learn more about the *latest* release version of this image.

### Review container image history using chainctl

To examine the history of an image using `chainctl`, enter this:

```sh
chainctl image history kubectl:latest
```

This returns a reverse-chronological history of when a specific tag was updated to point to a new manifest digest. This list can be long. Here's an excerpt:

```yaml
- time: 2025-05-29 03:08:31 UTC
  digest: sha256:34798f562dffc3746cb69bab49b93ff83aa57bea393a07997e87c37bc83a62db
  architectures:
    amd64: sha256:a71ccfdc86cd73d395d3528ce3f8df1f4dd132b73ff03016b0ec42da23d4ec99 (18.13 MB)
    arm64: sha256:2876b0c3de431f0d7df8f888a0d40bb0c8259c47109f978237d305e7818b704b (16.43 MB)
- time: 2025-05-28 17:19:58 UTC
  digest: sha256:1f798940981573c34e1d11c8b6d266f18d06e95b81251d6880f511d55b833cfd
- time: 2025-05-27 19:53:02 UTC
  digest: sha256:81095db3adc00495fceb064e86dfd81c7ffdf081c55daf6b12be6ef1605bd18c
  architectures:
    amd64: sha256:56db73a4b66ad326a7858ca4157ded2d3b6d11ff1030cfbdf3a3bd879a5a5725 (18.13 MB)
    arm64: sha256:280160c9c422d7526169812cf89401043096f5d4ff385d1b59f3610109486aed (16.43 MB)
- time: 2025-05-23 01:09:22 UTC
  digest: sha256:c0934fc335d8b24923487cb7d0b673490bd393fd4b6cd20f6f0e156a7481ffc7
  architectures:
    amd64: sha256:46e11b8beed94d93272e5a87753f9f43f02f5f1b9d83d8ba279eeb18c114c863 (18.13 MB)
    arm64: sha256:b288bc13da78aa7b2a82d50dbca45ed2fe286f0f1f248fa2e12604ef9a109f33 (16.40 MB)

...

```

The details that are returned here and the details found in the Console vary in focus, but where the same details are provided they should match. Refer to [Examine the history of container images](/platform/chainctl-usage/chainctl-images/#examine-the-history-of-container-images) for more information about this command.

## Learn more

To learn more about `chainctl`, see:

* [chainctl usage](/platform/chainctl-usage/)
* [chainctl reference](/platform/chainctl/)

To learn more about the Chainguard Console, see:

* [Using the Chainguard Directory and Console](/platform/console/images-directory/).

### Compare a Chainguard Container to a non-Chainguard alternative in the Console

This is a feature unique to the Console and is described in detail in [Using CVE visualizations](/chainguard/containers/security-and-compliance/vulnerability-management/cve-visualizations/).

### Compare two Chainguard Containers with chainctl

This is a feature unique to `chainctl` and is described in detail in [How to compare Chainguard Containers with chainctl](/platform/chainctl-usage/comparing-images/).