CLI Overview

The ExisJS CLI (exisjs or exis) is the command-line interface for developing, compiling, running, and diagnosing ExisJS applications.

The CLI is structured around ExisJS core conventions:

File-system route discovery under src/http/.
Schema compilation with tex.
Pre-compiled route manifests (.exis/routes-manifest.js) for O(1) runtime lookup.
Environment variable cascading (.env).
Native test execution using node:test.

Installation & Execution

On-Demand via `npx`

Run commands directly without global installation:

# Initialize a new project in a directorynpx exisjs init
# Start the dev servernpx exisjs dev

Global Installation

To install the exisjs / exis binary globally:

npm install -g exisjs

Project-Local Execution

Inside an initialized ExisJS project, the CLI is available locally through npm run scripts or npx exisjs.

Command Syntax

All CLI commands adhere to the standard command structure:

exisjs <command> [arguments] [options]

Or using the shorter alias:

exis <command> [arguments] [options]

Examples

# Start development server on port 5000npx exisjs dev -p 5000
# Scaffold an HTTP route in Functional paradigmnpx exisjs generate route users
# Scaffold with Class-Based (OOP) decoratorsnpx exisjs generate route users --oop
# Print the application routing tablenpx exisjs routes

Command Summary

Command	Alias	Description
`dev`		Starts development server with file watching and automatic port collision avoidance.
`build`		Type-checks and compiles TypeScript to JavaScript, generating route manifests.
`start`		Starts the compiled production server.
`clean`	`cl`	Removes `.exis` build artifacts and cached manifests (`-a` to include `dist/`).
`routes`		Analyzes and prints the application routing table to the terminal or JSON.
`generate`	`g`	Scaffolds framework components (`crud`, `model`, `route`, `service`, `schema`, `boundary`, `plugin`, `middleware`, `test`).
`test`		Runs test suites using the native `node:test` runner.
`run`	`exec`	Executes a script or external command with ExisJS `.env` files pre-loaded.
`console`	`repl`	Launches an interactive Node.js REPL loaded with the application context.
`doctor`		Audits project health, configuration, and route structure.
`info`		Displays runtime environment, Node.js version, platform, and OS architecture.
`exports`		Lists all framework public subpath export modules.
`init`		Initializes an ExisJS application in the current working directory.

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