Asterisk CLI essentials — the commands you'll actually use

The Asterisk® CLI (asterisk -rvvv) is where you actually see what's happening when a call doesn't behave the way the GUI suggests it should. FreePBX® and bare Asterisk both expose the same CLI; if you know these commands, you can debug 90% of PBX issues without the GUI's help.

Connecting to the CLI

asterisk -rvvv         # connect with verbose level 3
asterisk -rvvvvv       # verbose level 5 (more chatter)

The vs control how much Asterisk prints. More vs = more detail. asterisk -r is the bare attach (no verbosity bump).

Exit with exit or Ctrl-D. Doesn't restart Asterisk; just detaches the CLI.

Looking at what's running right now

core show channels                  # active calls (one line each)
core show channels concise          # machine-parseable, useful for scripts
core show channels verbose          # extra detail per channel

core show calls                     # call count summary
core show uptime                    # process uptime + reload uptime

Active call output:

Channel              Location              State   Application(Data)
SIP/101-00000abc     1234@from-internal:1  Up      Dial(SIP/trunk1/15555551234)
SIP/trunk1-00000abd  s@macro-dial:23       Up      AppDial((Outgoing Line))
2 active channels
1 active call

SIP endpoint state (chan_sip and PJSIP)

If you're on chan_sip (older):

sip show peers              # all registered endpoints
sip show peer 101           # detail for extension 101
sip show registry           # outbound registrations (trunks)
sip set debug peer 101      # log all SIP traffic for this peer
sip set debug off           # stop debug

If you're on PJSIP (newer, FreePBX 14+ default):

pjsip show endpoints        # all configured endpoints
pjsip show endpoint 101     # detail
pjsip show registrations    # outbound trunk registrations
pjsip set logger on         # enable SIP logging
pjsip set logger off        # disable

Dialplan inspection

dialplan show               # entire dialplan (long!)
dialplan show from-internal # specific context
dialplan show 1234@from-internal   # specific extension
dialplan reload             # apply changes from extensions.conf

FreePBX rebuilds the dialplan from its database; if you edit extensions.conf directly, FreePBX's "Apply Config" overwrites you. Use extensions_custom.conf for hand-edits that survive FreePBX writes.

Module management

module show                 # all loaded modules
module show like sip        # filter by name
module reload chan_pjsip.so # reload a specific module without full restart
core reload                 # reload all reloadable modules
core restart now            # FULL restart (drops all active calls!)
core restart gracefully     # restart once no active calls remain

Logging in context

The CLI shows logs in real-time once you're attached. For historical investigation:

tail -f /var/log/asterisk/full      # active log
tail -f /var/log/asterisk/messages  # rotated daily

# CDR (call detail records)
asterisk -rx "cdr show status"      # backend used (mysql, csv, etc.)

FreePBX setups usually have CDR in MariaDB; query directly:

mysql asteriskcdrdb
SELECT calldate, src, dst, duration, disposition FROM cdr ORDER BY calldate DESC LIMIT 20;

Common targeted debug

"Why isn't extension 101 registering?"

pjsip show endpoint 101         # is it configured?
pjsip set logger on             # see live SIP traffic
# Try registering from the phone — watch the CLI for INVITE/REGISTER attempts
pjsip set logger off

"Why does this call route to the wrong destination?"

core set verbose 5
dialplan show 1234@from-internal
# Make the call, watch the CLI for each app it traverses

"Why is the trunk down?"

pjsip show registrations
# State should be Registered for outbound trunks

Common gotchas

• "This command is not registered" — the module providing it isn't loaded. module show like cdr tells you what's loaded.
• Changes via CLI don't survive restart unless persisted. Dialplan in extensions.conf is loaded at start; CLI edits to in-memory state are temporary. FreePBX's "Apply Config" persists; direct CLI edits don't.
• Verbose output overwhelms. Drop verbosity (core set verbose 0) when investigating specific issues; raise (core set verbose 5) only when actively chasing one call.

For a structured one-shot dump of all the above (active channels + endpoint status + outbound registrations + uptime), the ct_asterisk_state diagnostic verb covers the typical snapshot in one call.