# Command Line Interface (CLI)

Strapi comes with a full featured Command Line Interface (CLI) which lets you scaffold and manage your project in seconds.

✏️ NOTE

It is recommended to install Strapi locally only, which requires prefixing all of the following strapi commands with the package manager used for the project setup (e.g npm run strapi help or yarn strapi help) or a dedicated node package executor (e.g. npx strapi help).

# strapi new

Create a new project.

strapi new <name>

options: [--no-run|--use-npm|--debug|--quickstart|--dbclient=<dbclient> --dbhost=<dbhost> --dbport=<dbport> --dbname=<dbname> --dbusername=<dbusername> --dbpassword=<dbpassword> --dbssl=<dbssl> --dbauth=<dbauth> --dbforce]

  • strapi new <name>
    Generates a new project called <name> and installs the default plugins through the npm registry.

  • strapi new <name> --debug
    Will display the full error message if one is fired during the database connection.

  • strapi new <name> --quickstart
    Use the quickstart system to create your app.

  • strapi new <name> --quickstart --no-run
    Use the quickstart system to create your app, and do not start the application after creation.

  • strapi new <name> --dbclient=<dbclient> --dbhost=<dbhost> --dbport=<dbport> --dbname=<dbname> --dbusername=<dbusername> --dbpassword=<dbpassword> --dbssl=<dbssl> --dbauth=<dbauth> --dbforce

    Generates a new project called <name> and skip the interactive database configuration and initialize with these options.

    • <dbclient> can be postgres, mysql.
    • --dbforce Allows you to overwrite content if the provided database is not empty. Only available for postgres, mysql, and is optional.

# strapi develop

Alias: dev

Start a Strapi application with autoReload enabled.

Strapi modifies/creates files at runtime and needs to restart when new files are created. To achieve this, strapi develop adds a file watcher and restarts the application when necessary.

strapi develop
options: [--no-build |--watch-admin |--browser ]
  • strapi develop
    Starts your application with the autoReload enabled
  • strapi develop --no-build
    Starts your application with the autoReload enabled and skip the administration panel build process
  • strapi develop --watch-admin
    Starts your application with the autoReload enabled and the front-end development server. It allows you to customize the administration panel.
  • strapi develop --watch-admin --browser 'google chrome'
    Starts your application with the autoReload enabled and the front-end development server. It allows you to customize the administration panel. Provide a browser name to use instead of the default one, false means stop opening the browser.

️❗️ WARNING

You should never use this command to run a Strapi application in production.

# strapi start

Start a Strapi application with autoReload disabled.

This command is there to run a Strapi application without restarts and file writes (aimed at production usage). Certain features are disabled in the strapi start mode because they require application restarts.

Allowed environment variables:

Property Description Type Default
STRAPI_HIDE_STARTUP_MESSAGE If true then Strapi will not show startup message on boot. Values can be true or false string false
STRAPI_LOG_LEVEL Values can be 'fatal', 'error', 'warn', 'info', 'debug', 'trace' string debug
STRAPI_LOG_TIMESTAMP Enables or disables the inclusion of a timestamp in the log message. Values can be true or false string false
STRAPI_LOG_FORCE_COLOR Values can be true or false string true
STRAPI_LOG_PRETTY_PRINT If true then pino-pretty module will be used to format logs. Values can be true or false string true

# strapi build

Builds your admin panel.

strapi build

options: [--no-optimization]
  • strapi build
    Builds the administration panel and delete the previous build and .cache folders
  • strapi build --no-optimization
    Builds the administration panel without minimizing the assets. The build duration is faster.

# strapi watch-admin

Starts the admin server. Strapi should already be running with strapi develop.

strapi watch-admin
options: [--browser <name>]

# strapi configuration:dump

Alias: config:dump

Dumps configurations to a file or stdout to help you migrate to production.

The dump format will be a JSON array.

strapi configuration:dump

Options:
  -f, --file <file>  Output file, default output is stdout
  -p, --pretty       Format the output JSON with indentation and line breaks (default: false)

Examples

  • strapi configuration:dump -f dump.json
  • strapi config:dump --file dump.json
  • strapi config:dump > dump.json

All these examples are equivalent.

✋ CAUTION

When configuring your application you often enter credentials for third party services (e.g authentication providers). Be aware that those credentials will also be dumped into the output of this command. In case of doubt, you should avoid committing the dump file into a versioning system. Here are some methods you can explore:

  • Copy the file directly to the environment you want and run the restore command there.
  • Put the file in a secure location and download it at deploy time with the right credentials.
  • Encrypt the file before committing and decrypt it when running the restore command.

# strapi configuration:restore

Alias: config:restore

Restores a configuration dump into your application.

The input format must be a JSON array.

strapi configuration:restore

Options:
  -f, --file <file>          Input file, default input is stdin
  -s, --strategy <strategy>  Strategy name, one of: "replace", "merge", "keep". Defaults to: "replace"

Examples

  • strapi configuration:restore -f dump.json
  • strapi config:restore --file dump.json -s replace
  • cat dump.json | strapi config:restore
  • strapi config:restore < dump.json

All these examples are equivalent.

Strategies

When running the restore command, you can choose from three different strategies:

  • replace: Will create missing keys and replace existing ones.
  • merge: Will create missing keys and merge existing keys with their new value.
  • keep: Will create missing keys and keep existing keys as is.

# strapi admin:create-user

Alias admin:create

Creates an administrator. Administrator's first name, last name, email, and password can be:

  • passed as options
  • or set interactively if you call the command without passing any option.

Example

strapi admin:create-user --firstname=Kai --lastname=Doe --email=chef@strapi.io --password=Gourmet1234

Options

Option Type Description Required
-f, --firstname string The administrator's first name Yes
-l, --lastname string The administrator's last name No
-e, --email string The administrator's email Yes
-p, --password string New password for the administrator No
-h, --help display help for command

# strapi admin:reset-user-password

Alias admin:reset-password

Reset an admin user's password. You can pass the email and new password as options or set them interactively if you call the command without passing the options.

Example

strapi admin:reset-user-password --email=chef@strapi.io --password=Gourmet1234

Options

Option Type Description
-e, --email string The user email
-p, --password string New password for the user
-h, --help display help for command

# strapi generate

Run a fully interactive CLI to generate APIs, controllers, content-types, plugins, policies, middlewares and services.

strapi generate

# strapi templates:generate

Create a template from the current strapi project

strapi templates:generate <path>

  • strapi templates:generate <path>
    Generates a Strapi template at <path>

    Example: strapi templates:generate ../strapi-template-name will copy the required files and folders to a template directory inside ../strapi-template-name

# strapi routes:list

Display a list of all the available routes.

strapi routes:list

# strapi policies:list

Display a list of all the registered policies.

strapi policies:list

# strapi middlewares:list

Display a list of all the registered middlewares.

strapi middlewares:list

# strapi content-types:list

Display a list of all the existing content-types.

strapi content-types:list

# strapi hooks:list

Display a list of all the available hooks.

strapi hooks:list

# strapi controllers:list

Display a list of all the registered controllers.

# strapi services:list

Display a list of all the registered services.

strapi services:list

# strapi install

Install a plugin in the project.

strapi install <name>

  • strapi install <name>
    Installs a plugin called <name>.

    Example: strapi install graphql will install the plugin strapi-plugin-graphql

✋ CAUTION

Some plugins have admin panel integrations, your admin panel might have to be rebuilt. This can take some time.

# strapi uninstall

Uninstall a plugin from the project.

strapi uninstall <name>

options [--delete-files]

  • strapi uninstall <name>
    Uninstalls a plugin called <name>.

    Example: strapi uninstall graphql will remove the plugin strapi-plugin-graphql

  • strapi uninstall <name> --delete-files
    Uninstalls a plugin called <name> and removes the files in ./extensions/name/

    Example: strapi uninstall graphql --delete-files will remove the plugin strapi-plugin-graphql and all the files in ./extensions/graphql

✋ CAUTION

Some plugins have admin panel integrations, your admin panel might have to be rebuilt. This can take some time.

# strapi console

Start the server and eval commands in your application in real time.

strapi console

# strapi version

Print the current globally installed Strapi version.

strapi version

# strapi help

List CLI commands.

strapi help

← Error handling →