Smooth CDN – CLI Tool

Smooth CDN CLI is a command-line tool for managing projects and assets on Smooth CDN.

It helps you initialize projects, upload assets, optionally manage versions, and control access to protected resources.

The CLI uses a local configuration file (.scdn.json) to define project settings, asset sources, and ignore patterns.

For CI/CD, you can provide the SCDN_TOKEN environment variable to authenticate the CLI in non-interactive environments.

Full documentation

Requirements

• Smooth CDN account – create an account
• Node.js ≥ 18.17.0 (recommended: Node.js 20 LTS)

Installation

npm install -g @smoothcdn/cli

Commands

scdn login

Logs in to your Smooth CDN account.

scdn logout

Logs out from your Smooth CDN account.

scdn init

Initializes a new project and creates a local configuration file.

scdn load

Loads an existing project into the local config file.

scdn create-version [version]

Creates a new version and sets it as the active deployment target.

If no version is provided, the version from the config file will be used.

scdn publish-version [version]

Publishes the selected version.

If no version is provided, the version from the config file will be published.

Optionally add --blank to create blank version (without any assets from previous version).

scdn push

Uploads assets to Smooth CDN.

Use the --sync flag to remove assets from CDN that no longer exist in the project.

Use --concurrency <number> to set parallel upload workers (default: 4).

Use --optimize=local to optimize assets in the CLI before upload (default).

Local audio and video optimization require ffmpeg, and local PDF optimization requires Ghostscript (gs).

Use --optimize=remote to queue assets optimization on Smooth CDN level.

If you want to create multiple image variants, add the imageVariants field to .scdn.json. The CLI will automatically generate and upload resized variants for images, linked to the original asset.

Example .scdn.json:

{
  "imageVariants": {
    "mobile": 360,
    "tablet": 720,
    "desktop": 1600
  }
}

For original.png, this creates variants such as original_mobile.png, original_tablet.png and original_desktop.png, but only when the source image is wider than the configured variant.

scdn get-snippet

Outputs an embed snippet for the selected asset.

For images with configured imageVariants, the command can generate either a single-image snippet or a responsive <img> snippet with srcset.

scdn check-assets

Validates asset paths and lists assets before deployment.

scdn grant-access

Grants an access token for protected assets.

scdn revoke-access

Revokes a previously granted access token.

scdn status

Displays account status, including current user, plan, and limits.

Quick example

scdn login
scdn init