NKDS CLI

Command reference for the nkds command-line application.

For core concepts and how the storage format works, see NKDS. For quick copy-paste examples, see the NKDS CLI Cheat Sheet.

Interactive Mode

Run nkds with no arguments (or drop a DataStore path onto the executable) to launch the interactive guided builder. Pick a command, answer the prompts, and it shows the full equivalent command before running it.

# Launch interactive builder
nkds

# Drop a DataStore path — interactive launches with it pre-seeded
nkds /data/nkit/wii.nkds

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Commands

Command	Alias	Description
create	—	Create a new set
add	—	Import disc images (runs full NKit dedupe pipeline)
adddir	—	Store directory contents directly (bypasses NKit pipeline)
ogmr	—	Batch import with per-game routing via regex YAML
list	ls	List stored images
remove	rm	Soft-delete images (data preserved until compact)
restore	—	Restore previously soft-deleted images
compact	cp	Permanently delete removed image data and reclaim space
rollback	—	Revert a set to a previous image state
verify	vfy	Verify stored image integrity
export	—	Export images (expand or convert to any format)
sets	—	List all sets in a DataStore
stats	—	Storage statistics
mount	—	Mount as a virtual filesystem drive

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Quick Start

1. Create a set

nkds create --datastore D:\NKitData wii

2. Add images

nkds add --datastore D:\NKitData\wii.nkds D:\WiiISOs --recursive

This runs the full NKit pipeline: detect system, normalise, deduplicate, verify, and store.

3. Check stats

nkds stats --datastore D:\NKitData\wii.nkds

4. Mount as a virtual drive

nkds mount --datastore D:\NKitData --mount N:\

nkds mount --datastore /data/nkit --mount /mnt/nkit

Your emulator sees regular ISOs. No extraction needed.

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Common Options

Option	Description
--datastore, -ds	DataStore directory or explicit .nkds set path
--mask, -m	Image name wildcard mask for filtering (verify, export)
--output, -out	Output folder (export)
--format, -f	Output format for export (e.g. rvz:zstd:19:128k:16) or list/stats format (text, json, yaml)
--config, -cfg	Path to an NKit YAML config file
--recursive, -r	Scan input folders recursively (add, ogmr)
--no-archives	Skip scanning inside archives (add, ogmr)
--shard-size, -ss	Max shard file size for new sets (default 50 GiB, 0 = embedded)
--block-size, -bs	Deduplication block size for new sets (default 64 KiB)

DataStore path behaviour

• --datastore D:\NKitData\wii.nkds — operations scoped to the wii set only
• --datastore D:\NKitData — operations apply to all sets in the directory

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Mount Options

Option	Default	Description
--mount, -m	—	Mount point (drive letter on Windows, directory on Linux)
-i	—	Show images as files
-fs	—	Show disc filesystem as folders
-s	—	Show system entries (headers, filesystem.yaml)
-u	off	Enable write operations (rename/delete from file explorer)
--uid	—	Owner UID for mounted files (Linux only)
--gid	—	Owner GID for mounted files (Linux only)
--allow-other	off	Allow other users to access the mount (Linux only)

When no view flags are specified, the default is image + filesystem views.

Unmount: Press Ctrl+C in the nkds mount console, or use your OS unmount command.

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NKit Parameter Pass-Through

The add, ogmr, verify, and export commands pass unrecognised options directly to the NKit engine. Any valid NKit parameter can be appended — keys, dats, verification mode, etc.

nkds add --datastore D:\NKitData\wiiu.nkds D:\WiiU --recursive -keys WiiUKeys.zip

nkds verify --datastore D:\NKitData\wii.nkds --mask *.iso -dat wii.dat -v datLookup

nkds export --datastore D:\NKitData\wii.nkds --mask *.iso -out C:\Temp --format rvz:zstd:19:128k:16 -dat wii.dat -outAsDatMatch y

See NKDS CLI Cheat Sheet for comprehensive pass-through parameter documentation.

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Size Syntax

Shard and block sizes accept these suffixes (case-insensitive):

Suffix	Meaning
KiB, KB	Kilobytes
MiB, MB	Megabytes
GiB, GB	Gigabytes
TiB, TB	Terabytes

Examples: 50GiB, 10GB, 64KiB, 0 (embedded mode)