Valve SteamCMD¶

ID: steamcmd
Link: 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: 📦 manager: steamcmd
Source: steamcmd.toml

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mpm reaches across every manager at once, not steamcmd alone: mpm installed and mpm outdated cover steamcmd alongside every other manager you run in one table, mpm upgrade --all updates them together, and mpm sbom exports the whole machine as one bill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¶

Operation	Supported
`installed`
`outdated`
`orphans`
`search`
`install`	✅
`upgrade`
`upgrade_all`
`remove`
`sync`
`cleanup`
`doctor`

Configuration¶

Ignore steamcmd on the mpm CLI by passing the --no-steamcmd option.
Ignore it for every run in your configuration:
```
[mpm]
steamcmd = false
```
Raise the timeout of all steamcmd calls:
```
[mpm.overrides.steamcmd]
timeout = 900
```

Run mpm config-template steamcmd to print all overridable settings for your configuration file:

[mpm.overrides.steamcmd]
cli_names = [
    "steamcmd",
]
cli_search_path = []
dry_run = false
ignore_auto_updates = true
plan = false
post_args = [
    "+quit",
]
pre_args = []
pre_cmds = []
stop_on_error = false
unmaintained = false
version_cli_options = [
    "+quit",
]
version_regexes = [
    "Valve Corporation - version (?P<version>\\S+)",
]

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.

Recipes¶

A few jobs you would otherwise script around steamcmd, one mpm command each:

Snapshot and clone a machine: mpm --steamcmd dump steamcmd.toml, then mpm restore steamcmd.toml on the next one.
Export a compliance SBOM: mpm --steamcmd sbom (CycloneDX by default, --spdx for 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 is privileged.

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); --cooldown best-effort opts back in.

Version check¶

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+)"

Changelog¶

5.0.0 (2022-04-25)
- Add steamcmd support. Refs #10.