emdash-cli — Claude Code skill: run EmDash CMS from the terminal

---
name: emdash-cli
description: Use the EmDash CLI to inspect and manage an EmDash instance from the command line, including content, schema, media, taxonomies, menus, search, authentication, seeds, migrations, generated types, and whole-site export and import.
---

# EmDash CLI

The EmDash CLI (`emdash`, with the short alias `em`) manages EmDash CMS instances. Commands fall into two categories:

- **Local commands** work with project files or a configured database: `init`, `doctor`, `seed`, `migrate`, `export-seed`, and `secrets`.
- **Remote commands** talk to a running EmDash instance: `types`, `login`, `logout`, `whoami`, `content`, `schema`, `media`, `search`, `taxonomy`, `menu`, and `site`.

Run `npx emdash --help` and `npx emdash <command> --help` for the installed version's exact commands and flags. Resolve the current target with a read command before a destructive or bulk mutation; examples in this skill do not authorize changing an instance the user did not place in scope.

## Authentication

Remote commands resolve auth automatically:

1. `--token` flag
2. `EMDASH_TOKEN` env var
3. Stored credentials from `emdash login`
4. Dev bypass (localhost only — no token needed)

For a localhost development server with the development bypass enabled, the client can authenticate automatically. For a remote instance, run `emdash login --url https://example.com` or provide a scoped token.

## Custom Headers & Reverse Proxies

Sites behind Cloudflare Access or other reverse proxies need auth headers on every request. The CLI supports this via `--header` flags and environment variables.

### Service tokens for automation

```bash
# Provide sensitive headers through the environment in CI.
export EMDASH_HEADERS="CF-Access-Client-Id: xxx
CF-Access-Client-Secret: yyy"
npx emdash whoami --url https://example.com
```

`emdash login --header` persists custom headers to `~/.config/emdash/auth.json` for later commands. Prefer environment-provided headers in CI so a service secret is not written to the credential file or shell history.

### Cloudflare Access Browser Flow

If you don't have service tokens and `cloudflared` is installed, the CLI will automatically:

1. Detect when Access blocks the request
2. Try to get a cached JWT via `cloudflared access token`
3. Fall back to `cloudflared access login` for browser-based auth

This works for interactive use but isn't suitable for CI. Use service tokens for automation.

### Generic Reverse Proxy Auth

The `--header` flag works with any auth scheme:

```bash
# Basic auth
npx emdash login --url https://example.com -H "Authorization: Basic dXNlcjpwYXNz"

# Custom auth header
npx emdash login --url https://example.com -H "X-API-Key: secret123"
```

## Quick Reference

### Database Setup

For normal site startup, use the project's package script. The first request runs pending migrations and, before setup is completed, applies the bundled seed's schema and structure once; sample content comes from the setup wizard, `/_emdash/api/setup/dev-bypass`, or `emdash seed`. The Astro integration generates `emdash-env.d.ts` when the server starts.

```bash
# Start the site with its package script
pnpm dev

# Export an existing database as a seed file
# (the runtime auto-discovers .emdash/seed.json on first boot;
# `mkdir -p` because the directory may not exist yet)
mkdir -p .emdash
npx emdash export-seed > .emdash/seed.json
npx emdash export-seed --with-content=all > .emdash/seed.json
```

### Type Generation

```bash
# Generate types from local dev server
npx emdash types

# Generate from remote
npx emdash types --url https://example.com

# Custom output path
npx emdash types --output src/types/cms.ts
```

Writes `.emdash/types.ts` (TypeScript interfaces) and `.emdash/schema.json`.

### Authentication

```bash
# Login (OAuth Device Flow)
npx emdash login --url https://example.com

# Check current user
npx emdash whoami

# Logout
npx emdash logout

# Generate an encryption key for deployment
npx emdash secrets generate
```

### Content CRUD

The CLI is designed for agents. Create and update auto-publish by default so agents get read-after-write consistency without managing drafts.

```bash
# List content
npx emdash content list posts
npx emdash content list posts --status published --limit 10

# Get a single item (Portable Text fields converted to markdown)
# Returns draft data if a pending draft exists
npx emdash content get posts 01ABC123
npx emdash content get posts 01ABC123 --raw        # skip PT->markdown conversion
npx emdash content get posts 01ABC123 --published   # ignore pending drafts

# Create content (auto-publishes by default)
npx emdash content create posts --data '{"title": "Hello", "body": "# World"}'
npx emdash content create posts --file post.json --slug hello-world
npx emdash content create posts --draft --data '...'  # keep as draft
cat post.json | npx emdash content create posts --stdin

# Update (requires --rev from a prior get, auto-publishes by default)
npx emdash content update posts 01ABC123 --rev MToyMDI2... --data '{"title": "Updated"}'
npx emdash content update posts 01ABC123 --rev MToyMDI2... --draft --data '...'  # keep as draft

# Delete (soft delete)
npx emdash content delete posts 01ABC123

# Lifecycle
npx emdash content publish posts 01ABC123
npx emdash content unpublish posts 01ABC123
npx emdash content schedule posts 01ABC123 --at 2026-03-01T09:00:00Z
npx emdash content restore posts 01ABC123
```

### Schema Management

```bash
# List collections
npx emdash schema list

# Get collection with fields
npx emdash schema get posts

# Create collection
npx emdash schema create articles --label Articles --description "Blog articles"

# Delete a collection after inspecting it and confirming the target
npx emdash schema get articles
npx emdash schema delete articles

# Add field
npx emdash schema add-field posts body --type portableText --label "Body Content"
npx emdash schema add-field posts featured --type boolean --required

# Remove field
npx emdash schema remove-field posts featured
```

`schema add-field` supports the field types printed by `npx emdash schema add-field --help`. The full product schema supports additional field types that are not necessarily creatable through this command.

### Media

```bash
# List media
npx emdash media list
npx emdash media list --mime image/png

# Upload
npx emdash media upload ./photo.jpg --alt "A sunset" --caption "Bristol, 2026"

# Get / delete
npx emdash media get 01MEDIA123
npx emdash media delete 01MEDIA123
```

### Search

```bash
npx emdash search "hello world"
npx emdash search "hello" --collection posts --limit 5
```

### Taxonomies

```bash
npx emdash taxonomy list
npx emdash taxonomy terms categories
npx emdash taxonomy add-term categories --name "Tech" --slug tech
npx emdash taxonomy add-term categories --name "Frontend" --parent 01PARENT123
```

### Menus

```bash
npx emdash menu list
npx emdash menu get primary
```

### Site Export and Import

`emdash site` copies a whole site (content model, content, history, settings, and media, but no users or secrets) into a `.emdash` site package, and imports a package into an empty site. The token needs `admin`, which the `emdash login` token has, or the `transfer:export`, `transfer:analyze`, and `transfer:execute` scopes. An `INSUFFICIENT_SCOPE` error means the token has neither. A package holds every entry and the email addresses of authors and commenters: treat it like a database backup.

```bash
# Export (re-run the same command to resume after an interruption)
npx emdash site export --url https://old.example.com --output site.emdash
npx emdash site export --url https://old.example.com --output site.emdash --no-comments

# Import, step 1: upload and analyze; prints the plan and its digest
npx emdash site import site.emdash --url https://new.example.com --analyze
npx emdash site import site.emdash --url https://new.example.com --analyze \
  --map-principal [email protected][email protected] --use-target-title

# Import, step 2: execute exactly the reviewed plan
npx emdash site import site.emdash --url https://new.example.com --plan sha256:<hex> --confirm

# Follow up on an import by operation id
npx emdash site import status <operation-id> --url https://new.example.com
npx emdash site import resume <operation-id> [site.emdash] --url https://new.example.com
npx emdash site import receipt <operation-id> --url https://new.example.com

# Stop an import, or lift the write block a failed or cancelled import leaves
# (neither deletes what the import wrote; --yes skips the prompt)
npx emdash site import cancel <operation-id> --url https://new.example.com
npx emdash site import abandon <operation-id> --url https://new.example.com
```

Show the user the plan (differences from the source site, warnings, blockers, principal mappings) and get their confirmation before running `--confirm`; it writes to the target site and blocks other writes there until it finishes. `site import` exits `2` when the plan has blockers, and `site import status` exits `1` for an import that failed, was cancelled or abandoned, or expired. Only cancel or abandon an import when the user asks: abandoning leaves partial data on the site, which then has to be reset before another import. `--map-principal` takes `<principal id or email>=<user id, email, or none>` and is repeatable; decision flags only work with `--analyze`, and each change produces a new plan digest. The public site is not hidden during an import, so the target should stay private until the command prints a receipt with `receiptDigestValid: true`.

## Drafts and Publishing

The CLI auto-publishes on `create` and `update` by default. This means:

- **`create`** creates the item and immediately publishes it
- **`update`** updates the item and publishes if a draft revision was created
- **`get`** returns draft data if a pending draft exists (e.g. from the admin UI)

Use `--draft` on create/update to skip auto-publishing. Use `--published` on get to ignore pending drafts.

Collections that support revisions store edits as draft revisions. The CLI handles this transparently — agents don't need to know whether a collection uses revisions or not.

## JSON Output

All remote commands support `--json` for machine-readable output. It's auto-enabled when stdout is piped. `emdash site` always writes progress to stderr, so stdout holds only the JSON result; errors are `{ "error": { "code", "message" } }`.

```bash
# Pipe to jq
npx emdash content list posts --json | jq '.items[].slug'

# Use in scripts
ID=$(npx emdash content create posts --data '{"title":"Hello"}' --json | jq -r '.id')
```

## Editing Flow

For details on how content editing works — Portable Text/markdown conversion, `_rev` tokens, and raw mode — see **[EDITING-FLOW.md](./EDITING-FLOW.md)**.