How to list Certbot certificates

A Certbot host can hold several certificate lineages, and guessing from the web server hostname can send renewal tests, deletes, or reconfiguration commands to the wrong certificate. Listing the local lineages first shows the Certbot certificate name, covered domains, expiry status, key type, and live file paths before another command changes anything.

The certbot certificates command reads the local Certbot configuration and renewal files. It does not contact the ACME server, issue a new certificate, renew an existing one, reload a web server, or prove that every listed certificate is currently installed in Nginx, Apache, or another TLS service.

Run the check on the server and configuration tree that owns the certificates. Default package installs usually use the system Certbot directory, but containerized or non-default deployments can keep a separate tree; an empty result only means that Certbot found no managed lineages in the selected configuration.

1. List the certificate lineages known to the default Certbot configuration.

   $ sudo certbot certificates
   Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log
   
   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
   Found the following certs:
     Certificate Name: www.example.com
       Serial Number: 534c1976e5fcb1e3f8d7c8edd03fd1daddb2bb76
       Key Type: RSA
       Domains: www.example.com example.com
       Expiry Date: 2026-09-02 20:26:24+00:00 (VALID: 82 days)
       Certificate Path: /etc/letsencrypt/live/www.example.com/fullchain.pem
       Private Key Path: /etc/letsencrypt/live/www.example.com/privkey.pem
   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

   Certificate Name is the lineage name to pass to commands such as --cert-name www.example.com. Domains lists the names inside that certificate, and Expiry Date shows whether the local certificate is still valid.

2. Check the intended lineage by name before using that name in a renewal, reconfigure, revoke, or delete command.

   $ sudo certbot certificates --cert-name www.example.com
   Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log
   
   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
   Found the following matching certs:
     Certificate Name: www.example.com
       Key Type: RSA
       Domains: www.example.com example.com
       Expiry Date: 2026-09-02 20:26:24+00:00 (VALID: 82 days)
       Certificate Path: /etc/letsencrypt/live/www.example.com/fullchain.pem
       Private Key Path: /etc/letsencrypt/live/www.example.com/privkey.pem
   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

   Use the exact value after Certificate Name, not a domain alias that happens to appear in the Domains line.

3. List certificates from a non-default Certbot configuration tree when renewals are containerized or stored outside /etc/letsencrypt.

   $ sudo certbot certificates --config-dir /srv/certbot/config --work-dir /srv/certbot/work --logs-dir /srv/certbot/logs
   Saving debug log to /srv/certbot/logs/letsencrypt.log
   
   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
   Found the following certs:
     Certificate Name: app.example.net
       Key Type: ECDSA
       Domains: app.example.net
       Expiry Date: 2026-09-14 08:19:07+00:00 (VALID: 94 days)
       Certificate Path: /srv/certbot/config/live/app.example.net/fullchain.pem
       Private Key Path: /srv/certbot/config/live/app.example.net/privkey.pem
   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

   Match the same custom directories used by the renewal job. Listing the default path on the host can miss certificates managed by a container, deployment user, or separate ACME server configuration.

4. Treat an empty list as a configuration-scope result, not proof that the server has no TLS certificate.

   $ sudo certbot certificates
   Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log
   
   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
   No certificates found.
   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

   If the site still serves HTTPS, check whether another Certbot config tree, another ACME client, a hosting control panel, or manually installed certificate files own the active certificate.

5. Use the listed file path when a separate certificate inspection is needed.

   $ sudo openssl x509 -in /etc/letsencrypt/live/www.example.com/fullchain.pem -noout -subject -issuer -dates
   subject=CN = www.example.com
   issuer=C = US, O = Let's Encrypt, CN = E7
   notBefore=Jun 11 19:26:24 2026 GMT
   notAfter=Sep  2 20:26:24 2026 GMT

   Related: Check a Certbot certificate chain