--- layout: "docs" page_title: "Commands: job dispatch" sidebar_current: "docs-commands-job-dispatch" description: > The dispatch command is used to create an instance of a parameterized job. --- # Command: job dispatch ~> The `job dispatch` subcommand described here is available only in version 0.5.3 and later. The release candidate is downloadable on the [releases page.](https://releases.hashicorp.com/nomad/0.5.3-rc1/) The `job dispatch` command is used to create new instances of a [parameterized job]. The parameterized job captures a job's configuration and runtime requirements in a generic way and `dispatch` is used to provide the input for the job to run against. A parameterized job is similar to a function definition, and dispatch is used to invoke the function. Each time a job is dispatched, a unique job ID is generated. This allows a caller to track the status of the job, much like a future or promise in some programming languages. ## Usage ``` nomad job dispatch [options] [input source] ``` Dispatch creates an instance of a parameterized job. A data payload to the dispatched instance can be provided via stdin by using "-" for the input source or by specifiying a path to a file. Metadata can be supplied by using the meta flag one or more times. The payload has a **size limit of 16KiB**. Upon successful creation, the dispatched job ID will be printed and the triggered evaluation will be monitored. This can be disabled by supplying the detach flag. On successful job submission and scheduling, exit code 0 will be returned. If there are job placement issues encountered (unsatisfiable constraints, resource exhaustion, etc), then the exit code will be 2. Any other errors, including client connection issues or internal errors, are indicated by exit code 1. ## General Options <%= partial "docs/commands/_general_options" %> ## Run Options * `-meta`: Meta takes a key/value pair seperated by "=". The metadata key will be merged into the job's metadata. The job may define a default value for the key which is overriden when dispatching. The flag can be provided more than once to inject multiple metadata key/value pairs. Arbitrary keys are not allowed. The parameterized job must allow the key to be merged. * `-detach`: Return immediately instead of monitoring. A new evaluation ID will be output, which can be used to examine the evaluation using the [eval-status](/docs/commands/eval-status.html) command * `-verbose`: Show full information. ## Examples Dispatch against a parameterized job with the ID "video-encode" and passing in a configuration payload via stdin: ``` $ cat << EOF | nomad job dispatch video-encode - { "s3-input": "https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/video-bucket/cb31dabb1", "s3-output": "https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/video-bucket/a149adbe3", "input-codec": "mp4", "output-codec": "webm", "quality": "1080p" } EOF Dispatched Job ID = video-encode/dispatch-1485379325-cb38d00d Evaluation ID = 31199841 ==> Monitoring evaluation "31199841" Evaluation triggered by job "example/dispatch-1485379325-cb38d00d" Allocation "8254b85f" created: node "82ff9c50", group "cache" Evaluation status changed: "pending" -> "complete" ==> Evaluation "31199841" finished with status "complete" ``` Dispatch against a parameterized job with the ID "video-encode" and passing in a configuration payload via a file: ``` $ nomad job dispatch video-encode video-config.json Dispatched Job ID = video-encode/dispatch-1485379325-cb38d00d Evaluation ID = 31199841 ==> Monitoring evaluation "31199841" Evaluation triggered by job "example/dispatch-1485379325-cb38d00d" Allocation "8254b85f" created: node "82ff9c50", group "cache" Evaluation status changed: "pending" -> "complete" ==> Evaluation "31199841" finished with status "complete" ``` Dispatch against a parameterized job with the ID "video-encode" using the detach flag: ``` $ nomad job dispatch -detach video-encode video-config.json Dispatched Job ID = example/dispatch-1485380684-c37b3dba Evaluation ID = d9034c4e ``` [parameterized job]: /docs/job-specification/parameterized.html "Nomad parameterized Job Specification"