---
layout: commands
page_title: 'Commands: Operator Raft'
sidebar_title: raft
description: >
  The operator raft subcommand is used to view and modify Consul's Raft
  configuration.
---

# Consul Operator Raft

Command: `consul operator raft`

The Raft operator command is used to interact with Consul's Raft subsystem. The
command can be used to verify Raft peers or in rare cases to recover quorum by
removing invalid peers.

```text
Usage: consul operator raft <subcommand> [options]

The Raft operator command is used to interact with Consul's Raft subsystem. The
command can be used to verify Raft peers or in rare cases to recover quorum by
removing invalid peers.

Subcommands:

    list-peers     Display the current Raft peer configuration
    remove-peer    Remove a Consul server from the Raft configuration
```

## list-peers

This command displays the current Raft peer configuration.

Usage: `consul operator raft list-peers -stale=[true|false]`

- `-stale` - Optional and defaults to "false" which means the leader provides
  the result. If the cluster is in an outage state without a leader, you may need
  to set this to "true" to get the configuration from a non-leader server.

The output looks like this:

```text
Node     ID              Address         State     Voter  RaftProtocol
alice    127.0.0.1:8300  127.0.0.1:8300  follower  true   2
bob      127.0.0.2:8300  127.0.0.2:8300  leader    true   3
carol    127.0.0.3:8300  127.0.0.3:8300  follower  true   2
```

`Node` is the node name of the server, as known to Consul, or "(unknown)" if
the node is stale and not known.

`ID` is the ID of the server. This is the same as the `Address` in Consul 0.7
but may be upgraded to a GUID in a future version of Consul.

`Address` is the IP:port for the server.

`State` is either "follower" or "leader" depending on the server's role in the
Raft configuration.

`Voter` is "true" or "false", indicating if the server has a vote in the Raft
configuration.

## remove-peer

This command removes the Consul server with given address from the Raft configuration.

There are rare cases where a peer may be left behind in the Raft configuration
even though the server is no longer present and known to the cluster. This command
can be used to remove the failed server so that it is no longer affects the
Raft quorum. If the server still shows in the output of the
[`consul members`](/docs/commands/members) command, it is preferable to
clean up by simply running
[`consul force-leave`](/docs/commands/force-leave)
instead of this command.

Usage: `consul operator raft remove-peer -address="IP:port"`

- `-address` - "IP:port" for the server to remove. The port number is usually
  8300, unless configured otherwise.

- `-id` - ID of the server to remove.

The return code will indicate success or failure.
