Command Line Interface (CLI)

Strapi comes with a full featured Command Line Interface (CLI) which lets you scaffold and manage your project in seconds. The CLI works with both the yarn and npm package managers.

Caution

Interactive commands such as strapi admin:create-user don't display prompts with npm. Please consider using the yarn package manager.

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).

To pass options with npm use the syntax: npm run strapi <command> -- --<option>.

To pass options with yarn use the syntax: yarn strapi <command> --<option>

ℹ️ Strapi v4 CLI commands removed from Strapi 5:

The strapi install, strapi uninstall, strapi new, and strapi watch-admin commands from Strapi v4 have been removed in Strapi 5:

Strapi v4 command	Strapi 5 equivalent
strapi install [plugin]	Use the npx command corresponding to the plugin (found on the Marketplace, see Marketplace)
strapi new	Use the equivalent yarn or npx command to create a new Strapi project (see CLI installation guide)
strapi watch-admin	yarn develop or npm run develop always starts the Strapi server in "watch-admin" mode. To disable this in Strapi 5, run yarn develop --no-watch-admin or npm run develop --no-watch-admin.

strapi develop

Alias: dev

Start a Strapi application with auto-reloading 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 also adds middlewares to support HMR (Hot Module Replacement) for the administration panel. This allows you to customize the administration panel without having to restart the application or run a separate server.

strapi develop
options: [--bundler | --open | --no-watch-admin | --no-build-admin | --polling | --debug | --silent]

• strapi develop --bundler [bundler]
  Selects the bundler for the admin panel build (vite or webpack).
• strapi develop --open
  Starts your application with auto-reloading enabled & open your default browser with the administration panel running.
• strapi develop --no-watch-admin
  Prevents the server from auto-reload when changes are made to the admin panel code.
• strapi develop --no-build-admin
  Prevents the admin panel from being built when --no-watch-admin is enabled.
• strapi develop --polling
  Watches for file changes in network directories.
• strapi develop --debug
  Enables debugging mode with verbose logs.
• strapi develop --silent
  Suppresses logs.

Warning

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

strapi start

Start a Strapi application with auto-reloading disabled.

This command is to run a Strapi application without restarts and file writes, primarily for use in production. Certain features such as the Content-type Builder are disabled in the strapi start mode because they require application restarts. The start command can be prefaced with environment variables to customize the application start.

strapi build

Builds your admin panel.

strapi build

Option	Type	Description
-d, --debug	-	Enable debugging mode with verbose logs (default: false)
--minify	-	Minify the output (default: true)
--no-optimization	-	[DEPRECATED]: use minify instead
--silent	-	Don't log anything (default: false)
--sourcemaps	-	Produce sourcemaps (default: false)
--stats	-	Print build statistics to the console (default: false)

strapi login

Logs in to Strapi Cloud (see Cloud CLI documentation).

strapi logout

Logs out from Strapi Cloud (see Cloud CLI documentation).

strapi deploy

Deploys to Strapi Cloud (see Cloud CLI documentation).

strapi export

Exports your project data. The default settings create a .tar file, compressed using gzip and encrypted using aes-128-ecb.

strapi export

The archive contains folders such as configuration, entities, links, and schemas with data stored in JSON lines files. Use --no-encrypt --no-compress to generate a readable .tar that can be inspected or converted to other formats.

The exported file is automatically named using the format export_YYYYMMDDHHMMSS with the current date and timestamp. Alternately, you can specify the filename using the -f or --file flag. The following table provides all of the available options as command line flags:

Option	Type	Description
--no-encrypt	-	Disables file encryption and disables the key option.
--no-compress	-	Disables file compression.
-k, --key	string	Passes the encryption key as part of the export command. The --key option can't be combined with --no-encrypt.
-f, --file	string	Specifies the export filename. Do not include a file extension.
--exclude	string	Exclude data using comma-separated data types. The available types are: content, files, and config.
--only	string	Include only these data. The available types are: content, files, and config.
-h, --help	-	Displays help for the strapi export command.

Examples

Examples of strapi export:

# export your data with the default options and the filename myData, which results in a file named myData.tar.gz.enc.
strapi export -f myData

# export your data without encryption.
strapi export --no-encrypt

strapi import

Imports data into your project. The imported data must originate from another Strapi application. You must pass the --file option to specify the filename and location for the import action.

strapi import

The command accepts archives generated by strapi export. Compression (.gz) and encryption (.enc) are detected from the filename, so providing a plain .tar is also valid.

Option	Type	Description
-k, --key	string	Provide the encryption key in the command instead of a subsequent prompt.
-f, --file	string	Path and filename with extension for the data to be imported.
-h, --help	-	Display the strapi import help commands.

Examples

Example of strapi import:

# import your data with the default parameters and pass an encryption key:
strapi import -f your-filepath-and-filename --key my-key

strapi transfer

Transfers data between 2 Strapi instances. This command is primarily intended for use between a local instance and a remote instance or 2 remote instances. The transfer command requires a Transfer token, which is generated in the destination instance Admin panel. See the User Guide for detailed documentation on creating Transfer tokens.

Caution

The destination Strapi instance should be running with the start command and not the develop command.

Option	Description
--to [destinationURL]	Full URL of the /admin endpoint on the destination Strapi instance (e.g. --to https://my-beautiful-strapi-website/admin)
--to-token [transferToken]	Transfer token for the remote Strapi destination
--from [sourceURL]	Full URL of the /admin endpoint of the remote Strapi instance to pull data from (e.g., --from https://my-beautiful-strapi-website/admin)
‑‑from‑token	Transfer token from the Strapi source instance.
--force	Automatically answer "yes" to all prompts, including potentially destructive requests, and run non-interactively.
--exclude	Exclude data using comma-separated data types. The available types are: content, files, and config.
--only	Include only these data. The available types are: content, files, and config.
-h, --help	Displays the commands for strapi transfer.

Caution

Either --to or --from is required, but it's not currently allowed to enter both or neither.

Example

strapi transfer --to http://example.com/admin --to-token my-transfer-token

strapi report

Prints out debug information useful for debugging and required when reporting an issue.

Option	Description
-u, --uuid	Includes the project UUID
-d, --dependencies	Includes project dependencies
--all	Logs all the data

Examples

To include the project UUID and dependencies in the output:

strapi report --uuid --dependencies

To log everything, use the --all option:

strapi report --all

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

Generate APIs, controllers, content-types, policies, middlewares, services, and migrations.

strapi generate

The command displays an interactive menu with the following options:

• api - Generate a new API with controller and service
• controller - Generate a new controller
• content-type - Generate a new content type with schema
• policy - Generate a new policy
• middleware - Generate a new middleware
• migration - Generate a new database migration
• service - Generate a new service

The generator detects TypeScript or JavaScript automatically and creates files with the correct extension (.ts or .js). Generated files include commented examples. Singular and plural names must be different and use kebab-case format .

API generator

Creates an API with controller and service files.

Generated file: controllers/[name].js|ts, services/[name].js|ts, and routes/[name].js|ts (standard APIs only)

Content-type generator

Creates a content type schema with optional API files.

Available attribute types

Type	Description
string	Short text
text	Long text
richtext	Rich text editor
email	Email field
password	Password field
integer	Whole number
biginteger	Large whole number
float	Decimal number
decimal	Precise decimal
date	Date only
time	Time only
datetime	Date and time
timestamp	Unix timestamp
boolean	True/false
json	JSON data
enumeration	Predefined values
media	File upload

Generated files

Condition	Generated files
Content type only	content-types/[name]/schema.json
With API bootstrap	content-types/[name]/schema.json controllers/[name].js|ts services/[name].js|ts routes/[name].js|ts

Controller generator

Creates a controller file with basic action structure.

Generated file: controllers/[name].js|ts

Service generator

Creates a service file with basic structure.

Generated file: services/[name].js|ts

Policy generator

Creates a policy file for access control.

Generated file: policies/[name].js|ts

Middleware generator

Creates a middleware file for request processing.

Generated file: middlewares/[name].js|ts

Migration generator

Creates a timestamped migration file.

Generated file: database/migrations/[timestamp].[name].js|ts

Configuration options

The strapi generate interactive CLI may offer various configuration options depending on the chosen Strapi element to generate:

Destination choices

When creating a content-type, controller, policy, middleware, or service, you can choose its destination:

Option	Description
New API	Creates a new API folder
Existing API	Adds to existing API folder
Existing plugin	Adds to existing plugin folder
Root	Adds to project root (policies and middlewares only)

Content-type specific options

When creating a content-type, you can choose to create a collection type or a single type (see Content-Type Builder documentation for differences):

Type	Description	Example
Collection Type	For multiple entries	Articles, users
Single Type	For a single entry	Homepage, settings

You will also have to define various types of names. The following table explains their differences. Only the display name needs to be manually defined, and you can press Enter to accept the default suggested name for the singular and plural names. Singular and plural names matter for API endpoints (see REST API documentation for details):

Field	Format	Description	Example
Display name	Human-readable	Name shown in admin panel	Blog Post
Singular name	Kebab-case	Used for API endpoints	blog-post
Plural name	Kebab-case	Used for collections	blog-posts

strapi openapi generate

Generate OpenAPI specifications for your Strapi application.

strapi openapi generate

Option	Type	Default	Description
--output	string	./openapi-spec.json	Output file path for the generated specification

Examples

Yarn

# Generate OpenAPI specification (default)
yarn strapi openapi generate

# Generate with custom output path
yarn strapi openapi generate --output ./docs/api-spec.json

NPM

# Generate OpenAPI specification (default)
npm run strapi openapi generate

# Generate with custom output path
npm run strapi openapi generate -- --output ./docs/api-spec.json

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 ts:generate-types

Generate TypeScript typings for the project schemas.

strapi ts:generate-types

• strapi ts:generate-types --debug
  Generate typings with the debug mode enabled, displaying a detailed table of the generated schemas.
• strapi ts:generate-types --silent or strapi ts:generate-types -s
  Generate typings with the silent mode enabled, completely removing all the logs in the terminal. Cannot be combined with debug
• strapi ts:generate-types --out-dir <path> or strapi ts:generate-types -o <path>
  Generate typings specifying the output directory in which the file will be created.

Caution

Strapi requires the project types to be generated in the types directory for them to work. The --out-dir option should not be used for most cases. However, it can be useful for cases such as generating a second copy to compare the difference between your existing and updated types after changing your content structure.

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 controllers:list

strapi services:list

Display a list of all the registered services.

strapi services:list

strapi telemetry:disable

Disable data collection for the project (see Usage Information).

strapi telemetry:disable

strapi telemetry:enable

Re-enable data collection for the project after it was disabled (see Usage Information).

strapi telemetry:enable

strapi console

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

strapi console

The console command compiles and loads your application, starts the server in the background, then opens a Node.js REPL. The REPL provides a prompt based on your application's name and gives access to all Strapi APIs through the global strapi object. Closing the REPL by pressing Ctrl-C twice gracefully stops the server.

Available helpers

The strapi object exposes the following getters and methods to interact with your application:

• strapi.services and strapi.service(uid) to use services
• strapi.controllers and strapi.controller(uid) to call controllers
• strapi.contentTypes and strapi.contentType(uid) to inspect content-types
• strapi.components to list components
• strapi.policies and strapi.policy(name) for policies
• strapi.middlewares and strapi.middleware(name) for middlewares
• strapi.plugins and strapi.plugin(name) for plugins
• strapi.hooks and strapi.hook(name) for hooks
• strapi.apis and strapi.api(name) for APIs
• strapi.db to directly query the database through the Query Engine API, for example as follows:
  
  

  await strapi.db.query('api::article.article').findMany();

Use this environment to test code and inspect your project with direct access to all Strapi APIs.

Note

Strapi uses a Node.js feature called AsyncLocalStorage to make the context available anywhere.

strapi version

Print the currently installed Strapi version. It will output the current globally installed version if this command is strapi is installed globally, or the current version of Strapi within a Strapi project if the command is run from a given folder containing a Strapi project.

strapi version

strapi help

List CLI commands.

strapi help