---
name: "desync-cat"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "desync"
version: "1.1.5-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/desync-cat"
---

# desync-cat(1)

Stream a blob to stdout or a file-like object

## NAME

desync-cat - Stream a blob to stdout or a file-like object

## SYNOPSIS

**desync cat \<index\> \[\<output\>\] \[flags\]**

## DESCRIPTION

Stream a blob to stdout or a file-like object, optionally seeking and limiting the read length.

Unlike extract, this supports output to FIFOs, named pipes, and other non-seekable destinations.

This is inherently slower than extract as while multiple chunks can be retrieved concurrently, writing to stdout cannot be parallelized.

Use '-' to read the index from STDIN.

## OPTIONS

**--ca-cert**=""\
 	trust authorities in this file, instead of OS trust store

**-c**, **--cache**=""\
 	store to be used as cache

**-r**, **--cache-repair**\[=true\]\
 	replace invalid chunks in the cache from source

**--client-cert**=""\
 	path to client certificate for TLS authentication

**--client-key**=""\
 	path to client key for TLS authentication

**-n**, **--concurrency**=10\
 	number of concurrent goroutines, -1 to let desync choose: the number of CPUs for chunking and hashing, adapting to each store up to 128 for transfers

**-e**, **--error-retry**=3\
 	number of times to retry in case of network error

**-b**, **--error-retry-base-interval**=500ms\
 	initial retry delay, increases linearly with each subsequent attempt

**-h**, **--help**\[=false\]\
 	help for cat

**-l**, **--length**=0\
 	number of bytes to read (0 reads to the end)

**-o**, **--offset**=0\
 	offset in bytes to seek to before reading

**-s**, **--store**=\[\]\
 	source store(s)

**-t**, **--trust-insecure**\[=false\]\
 	trust invalid certificates

## OPTIONS INHERITED FROM PARENT COMMANDS

**--config**=""\
 	config file (default $HOME/.config/desync/config.json)

**--digest**="sha512-256"\
 	digest algorithm, sha512-256 or sha256

**--verbose**\[=false\]\
 	verbose mode

## EXAMPLE

```
  desync cat -s http://192.168.1.1/ file.caibx | grep something
  desync cat -s /path/to/store -o 1048576 -l 4096 file.caibx slice.bin
```

## SEE ALSO

**[desync(1)](/desync/1.md)**

## HISTORY

20-Oct-2026 Auto generated by spf13/cobra