Valve SteamCMD¶
- ID
steamcmd- Home page
- Platforms
🅱️ BSD · 🐧 Linux · 🍎 macOS · ⨂ Unix · 🪟 Windows
- Operations
install- purl types
pkg:steamcmd- CLI name
steamcmd- Every call
steamcmd <command> +quit- Issues and PRs
- Source
Valve’s SteamCMD drives the Steam content system from the command line.
SteamCMD exposes no inventory: there is no way to list installed titles, pending
updates or search the catalog from the CLI, so only install and per-title upgrade
are declared, both mapping to the same idempotent +app_update command. Titles
are designated by their numeric Steam application ID.
What mpm adds to steamcmd¶
mpm reaches across every manager at once, not steamcmd alone: mpm installed and mpm outdated cover steamcmd alongside every other manager you run in one table, mpm upgrade --all updates them together, and mpm sbom exports the whole machine as one bill of materials.
Every mpm command also gains --dry-run and --plan previews, cross-scheme version comparison and purl identifiers. See manager augmentations for how each one is built.
Operations¶
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Selecting and configuring steamcmd¶
Deselect steamcmd for a single run with --no-steamcmd, or persist the choice in your configuration:
[mpm]
steamcmd = false
The arguments and environment variables listed in the box atop this page are forced on every steamcmd call, so runs stay quiet, non-interactive and reproducible: the defaults you would set in CI anyway.
Keep it enabled but tune how mpm drives it with a per-manager override:
[mpm.managers.steamcmd]
timeout = 900
mpm config-template steamcmd prints every overridable attribute as a ready-to-paste block.
Recipes¶
A few jobs you would otherwise script around steamcmd, one mpm command each:
Snapshot and clone a machine:
mpm --steamcmd dump steamcmd.toml, thenmpm restore steamcmd.tomlon the next one.Export a compliance SBOM:
mpm --steamcmd sbom(CycloneDX by default,--spdxfor SPDX).
Privilege escalation¶
mpm runs this manager as the current user and never prepends sudo by default. Flip the policy for its privileged operations with --sudo or the per-manager sudo override.
None of its operations needs root.
See privilege escalation for the full policy.
Cooldown¶
State of Valve SteamCMD’s release-age gating, from the cooldown support table:
Status: ❌ None
A cooldown only pays off where a compromised release can be withdrawn while the clock runs, and can only be emulated where the registry dates its releases. From the retraction table:
Registry: Curated app stores and archives
With --cooldown set, mpm skips this manager’s install and upgrade operations rather than run them unguarded (fail-closed); --allow-unsupported-managers opts back in.
Version probe¶
The version is probed by running:
$ steamcmd +quit
Steam Console Client (c) Valve Corporation - version 1648077083
and extracted with:
r"Valve Corporation - version (?P<version>\S+)"