.TH "DOVEADM-INSTANCE" "1" "May 2026" "e5ac02a" "Dovecot"
.SH "NAME"
\fBdoveadm-instance\fR - Manage the list of running Dovecot instances
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.P
\fBdoveadm\fR \[lB]\fIGLOBAL OPTIONS\fR\[rB] \fBinstance list\fR \[lB]\fB-c\fR\[rB] \[lB]\fIname\fR\[rB]
.P
\fBdoveadm\fR \[lB]\fIGLOBAL OPTIONS\fR\[rB] \fBinstance remove\fR \fIname\fR
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.P
The \fBdoveadm instance\fR commands are used to manage the list of Dovecot instances running on the server. In most installations there is only one Dovecot instance, but in some cases is may be useful to have more (e.g. running proxy and backend in the same server).
.P
Instances are added to the list automatically when Dovecot is started. Each instance is uniquely identified by its \fIbase_dir\fR setting. Instances can be named by setting \fIinstance_name\fR in each instance's \fIdovecot.conf\fR. When an instance is named, it can be accessed easily by giving \fB-i\fR \fIinstance_name\fR command line parameter for Dovecot binaries (e.g. doveadm).
.SH "GLOBAL OPTIONS"
.P
Global doveadm(1) \fIoptions\fR:
.P
\fB-D\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Enables \fIverbosity\fR and debug messages.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-O\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Do not read any config file, just use defaults. The \fBdovecot_storage_version\fR setting defaults to the latest version, but can be overridden with \fB-o\fR.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-k\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Preserve entire environment for doveadm, not just \fBimport_environment\fR setting.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-v\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Enables verbosity, including progress counter.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-i\fR \fIinstance-name\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
If using multiple Dovecot instances, choose the config file based on this instance name.
.P
See \fBinstance_name\fR setting for more information.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-c\fR \fIconfig-file\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Read configuration from the given \fIconfig-file\fR. By default it first reads config socket, and then falls back to \fI/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf\fR. You can also point this to config socket of some instance running compatible version.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-o\fR \fIsetting\fR\fB=\fR\fIvalue\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Overrides the configuration \fIsetting\fR from \fI/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf\fR and from the userdb with the given \fIvalue\fR. In order to override multiple settings, the \fB-o\fR option may be specified multiple times.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-f\fR \fIformatter\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Specifies the \fIformatter\fR for formatting the output. Supported formatters are:
.P
\fBflow\fR
.RS 4
.P
prints each line with \fIkey\fR\fB=\fR\fIvalue\fR pairs.
.RE 0

.P
\fBjson\fR
.RS 4
.P
prints a JSON array of JSON objects.
.RE 0

.P
\fBpager\fR
.RS 4
.P
prints each \fIkey\fR: \fIvalue\fR pair on its own line and separates records with form feed character (\fB^L\fR).
.RE 0

.P
\fBtab\fR
.RS 4
.P
prints a table header followed by tab separated value lines.
.RE 0

.P
\fBtable\fR
.RS 4
.P
prints a table header followed by adjusted value lines.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.RE 0

.SH "ARGUMENTS"
.P
\fIname\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
The value of an instance's \fIinstance_name\fR setting. Each instance can also be uniquely identified by its \fIbase_dir\fR setting.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.SH "COMMANDS"
.SS "instance list"
.P
\fBdoveadm\fR \[lB]\fIGLOBAL OPTIONS\fR\[rB] instance list \[lB]\fB-c\fR\[rB] \[lB]\fIname\fR\[rB]
.P
This command lists the seen Dovecot instances.
.P
\fB-c\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Output the config path instead of instance information.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.SS "instance remove"
.P
\fBdoveadm\fR \[lB]\fIGLOBAL OPTIONS\fR\[rB] instance remove \fIname\fR
.P
This command removes the specified instance.
.SH "REPORTING BUGS"
.P
Report bugs, including \fIdoveconf -n\fR output, to the Dovecot Mailing List \fI\(ladovecot@dovecot.org\(ra\fR. Information about reporting bugs is available at: \fI\(lahttps://dovecot.org/bugreport.html\(ra\fR
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.P
doveadm(1)