RetroArch CLI

RetroArch can be utilized via its robust graphical interfaces as well as a powerful command-line interface (CLI). Getting familiar with the command-line helps you understand the design principles of RetroArch.

Note: please be aware of whether your system uses DOS/Windows style paths with backslashes \ or Unix-style paths with forward slashes: /.

Loading a ROM and libretro core (Unix-style path)

retroarch -L /path/to/libretro/core.so game.rom

Loading a ROM and libretro core with flatpak

retroarch -L /path/to/libretro/core.so game.rom
flatpak run org.libretro.RetroArch/x86_64/stable -L /home/MYUSERNAME/.var/app/org.libretro.RetroArch/config/retroarch/cores/nestopia_libretro.so Tetris.nes

Verbose logging output

To get a better idea on what's going on, use the --verbose flag. If you want to report a bug, it is vital that this log is included.

Using a config file

By default, RetroArch looks for a config in various places depending on OS:

Linux/OSX: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/retroarch/retroarch.cfg, then ~/.config/retroarch/retroarch.cfg, then ~/.retroarch.cfg, and finally, as a fallback, /etc/retroarch.cfg.
Windows: retroarch.cfg in same folder as retroarch.exe, then %APPDATA%\retroarch.cfg.

To override this, use retroarch --config customconfig.cfg. If you have some special options you want to store in separate config files, you can use retroarch --config baseconfig.cfg --appendconfig specialconfig.cfg. Be sure to pass --menu as well if you aren't loading content directly from the command-line, or RetroArch will close immediately after launching. See man-page and/or --help for detail.

Other essential CLI flags

retroarch --help

Use the --help help flag to display RetroArch's built-in CLI documentation. You'll probably discover some features you didn't think about.

retroarch --features

If you're unsure if a particular feature is compiled in, execute retroarch --features

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