@webhouse/cms-cli

CLI for @webhouse/cms — scaffold projects, run the dev server, build static sites, and generate content with AI.

Quick start

# 1. Install the CLI globally
npm install -g @webhouse/cms-cli

# 2. Create a new project
npm create @webhouse/cms my-site
cd my-site
npm install

# 3. Add your AI key (optional, for AI content generation)
echo "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-..." >> .env

# 4. Start developing
cms dev

Your site is running at http://localhost:3000 with a full REST API.

The full workflow

Here's what a typical workflow looks like — from zero to published site:

Step 1: Scaffold

npm create @webhouse/cms my-site
cd my-site && npm install

This creates cms.config.ts with a posts collection, an example post, and a .env file for your API keys.

Step 2: Define your schema

Edit cms.config.ts to add collections:

import { defineConfig, defineCollection } from '@webhouse/cms';

export default defineConfig({
  collections: [
    defineCollection({
      name: 'posts',
      label: 'Blog Posts',
      fields: [
        { name: 'title', type: 'text', label: 'Title', required: true },
        { name: 'excerpt', type: 'textarea', label: 'Excerpt' },
        { name: 'content', type: 'richtext', label: 'Content' },
        { name: 'date', type: 'date', label: 'Publish Date' },
      ],
    }),
    defineCollection({
      name: 'pages',
      label: 'Pages',
      fields: [
        { name: 'title', type: 'text', label: 'Title', required: true },
        { name: 'body', type: 'richtext', label: 'Body' },
        { name: 'slug', type: 'text', label: 'URL Slug', required: true },
      ],
    }),
  ],
});

Step 3: Create content

You have three ways to create content:

A) Via the REST API (programmatic)

curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/api/content/posts \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"slug":"my-post","status":"published","data":{"title":"My Post","content":"# Hello"}}'

B) Via AI generation (from terminal)

cms ai generate posts "Write a blog post about TypeScript best practices"

C) Via Claude Code (AI-assisted development)

> Build a website with 2 collections (posts, pages). Create a post about
  why SQLite is great for content management.

Claude Code will edit cms.config.ts, call the API to create content, and verify the build.

Step 4: Build & deploy

cms build    # Generates static HTML, sitemap, llms.txt

Output goes to dist/ — deploy anywhere (Fly.io, Vercel, Cloudflare Pages, etc.)

Using with Claude Code

WebHouse CMS is designed to work seamlessly with AI coding assistants. Here's a real-world session:

You:    Build a website around @webhouse/cms with 2 collections: posts and pages

Claude: I'll set up the project for you.
        [edits cms.config.ts — adds posts and pages collections]
        [starts dev server]
        [creates an "About" page via the API]
        ✓ Site running at http://localhost:3000

You:    Create a blog post about AI-native CMS

Claude: I'll use the AI content generator.
        [runs: cms ai generate posts "Write about AI-native CMS"]
        ✓ Created: why-ai-native-cms-is-the-future
          Cost: $0.0096 | Tokens: 195 in / 602 out

You:    Build it

Claude: [runs: cms build]
        ✓ Build complete — 6 pages in dist/

Commands

| Command | Description | | --- | --- | | cms init [name] | Scaffold a new project | | cms dev [--port 3000] | Start dev server with hot reload | | cms build [--outDir dist] | Build static site (HTML, sitemap, llms.txt) | | cms serve [--port 5000] | Serve built site locally | | cms ai generate <collection> <prompt> | Generate content with AI | | cms ai rewrite <collection/slug> <instruction> | Rewrite existing content | | cms ai seo | Run SEO optimization on all documents | | cms mcp keygen | Generate MCP API key | | cms mcp test | Test MCP server connection | | cms mcp status | Check MCP server status |

Environment variables

The CLI automatically loads .env from the current directory.

| Variable | Required | Description | | --- | --- | --- | | ANTHROPIC_API_KEY | For AI features | Anthropic Claude API key | | OPENAI_API_KEY | For AI features | OpenAI API key (alternative to Anthropic) |

At least one AI key is required for cms ai commands. Anthropic is used by default when both are set.

Installation

# Global install (recommended) — gives you the `cms` command directly
npm install -g @webhouse/cms-cli

cms --version
cms dev
cms ai generate posts "..."

Note: Do not use npx cms — npm will resolve it to an unrelated package called cms. Use npx @webhouse/cms-cli if you prefer not to install globally, or install as a project dependency.

# As a project dependency (added automatically by `npm create @webhouse/cms`)
npm install @webhouse/cms-cli

# Then use via npx within the project
npx @webhouse/cms-cli dev

Documentation

See the main repository for full documentation.

License

MIT