CLI

Scaffold Ownfold server setup, generate adapter schemas, and apply SQLite or PostgreSQL migrations.

Install

pnpm add -D @ownfold/cli@beta

The CLI writes files only inside the current project. Existing generated files are preserved unless you pass --force.

Command reference

Flags

Unknown commands, options, database names, identities, or missing flag values exit with status 1 and a recovery-oriented message. Successful generation prints every written path. A migration with nothing pending prints No migrations pending..

init

Choose the adapter. The command creates ownfold.config.json, ownfold.server.ts, and schema files.

pnpm ownfold init --database sqlite --identity custom

pnpm ownfold init --database postgres --identity custom

pnpm ownfold init --database drizzle --identity custom

pnpm ownfold init --database prisma --identity custom

Choose the identity scaffold with --identity better-auth, --identity auth-js, --identity custom, or --identity none. The default custom scaffold denies every request until you connect a verified session. none emits singleUserResolver and is only for private single-user processes.

Use --output path/to/schema to change the generated schema directory or --config path/to/config.json to change the config path.

generate

Regenerate schema and migration files after upgrading Ownfold:

pnpm ownfold generate

Review changes before using --force. Commit generated schemas with the application migration history.

migrate

pnpm ownfold migrate --database-path ./ownfold.db

pnpm ownfold migrate --database-url "$DATABASE_URL"

pnpm ownfold migrate --database-url "$DATABASE_URL"

pnpm prisma migrate dev --name add-ownfold
pnpm prisma generate

Never run migrations in a request handler. Apply them as a controlled deployment step before code that depends on the new schema begins serving traffic.

Configuration file

{
  "version": 1,
  "database": "postgres",
  "identity": "better-auth",
  "output": "ownfold"
}

The parser rejects unknown database/identity values, unsupported versions, and an empty output path. When identity is absent it defaults to custom for compatibility. Paths are resolved from the command’s current working directory.

Generated server scaffold

init writes ownfold.server.ts beside the config. The selected database changes only the adapter construction; the selected identity changes only getUserId:

The scaffold is a starting file owned by the application. Review imports, environment variables, database lifecycle, and authentication before serving it.

File replacement behavior

Generation is conservative:

• parent directories are created as needed;
• an existing target returns an error unless --force is present;
• the CLI does not merge an existing Prisma schema or edit an existing migration;
• a failure reports the exact path and preserves unrelated files; and
• --force replaces only resolved generated targets, not the output directory wholesale.

Review the diff before committing forced regeneration.

Programmatic API

The package root also exports the command operations for custom build tooling. They return CliResult<T> instead of exiting the process.

import { generateSchema } from "@ownfold/cli"

const generated = await generateSchema({
  cwd: process.cwd(),
  database: "postgres",
  output: "ownfold",
})

if (generated.status === "error") {
  console.error(generated.message)
  process.exitCode = 1
} else {
  for (const path of generated.value) console.log(path)
}

initializeProject(options)

Writes the config, server scaffold, and selected schema artifacts. Returns the absolute paths in write order. If a later write fails, earlier new files remain and are named in the filesystem; the result does not falsely report success.

generateSchema(options)

When database or output is omitted, both missing values are loaded from the config. SQLite emits one schema file. PostgreSQL and Drizzle emit ordered SQL migrations. Prisma additionally emits the schema fragment.

migrateDatabase(options)

SQLite executes the idempotent bundled schema and returns sqlite-schema. PostgreSQL creates the ownfold_migrations ledger, checks each bundled migration by name, and applies each pending file in its own transaction.

readConfig(cwd, configPath?)

Reads and validates JSON into OwnfoldConfig. Invalid JSON, missing files, invalid values, or read errors return { status: "error", message }; the function does not throw expected configuration failures.

Exported types

See Database adapter APIs, Authentication APIs, and the complete export index.