contento

Local CLI for safe programmatic SEO. Bundles 150 niches and 10 content schemas; works with any AI provider via your own API key.

npm install -g contento-cli

Requires Node.js ≥ 18.

What it does

contento generates schema-validated, AI-powered pages and renders them as static HTML you deploy to your own domain. Everything runs on your machine — no Contento server, no central account. The only network calls are to the AI provider you configure (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Groq, OpenRouter, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, including local models via Ollama).

Quick start

# Configure your AI provider once (interactive)
contento config set
# or set provider env var directly:
#   export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...

# Initialize a project in the current directory
contento init --name "My Articles" --domain example.com --output ./dist/articles

# Browse the bundled niches and schemas
contento niches list --category "Software / SaaS"
contento schemas list

# Create a collection (niches × schema = pages)
contento collections create \
  --schema idea-list \
  --niches developer-tools,devops,api-development \
  --url-pattern "/articles/{nicheSlug}-{slug}"

# Generate (calls the AI provider directly)
contento collections generate <collection-id>

# Publish + build static HTML
contento publish <collection-id>
contento build

Commands

| Command | Description | | --- | --- | | contento init | Initialize a project in the current directory | | contento config show / set / clear | AI provider configuration (BYOK) | | contento projects list | List all projects on this machine | | contento projects status [idOrSlug] | Show project status (counts, chrome paths) | | contento projects chrome | Configure header/footer/CSS file paths | | contento niches list | List bundled + custom niches | | contento niches view <slug> | View full niche context (audience, subtopics) | | contento niches fork <slug> | Fork a bundled niche to your custom store | | contento niches create | Create a custom niche from scratch | | contento niches edit <slug> | Edit a custom niche (bundled niches read-only) | | contento niches delete <slug> | Delete a custom niche | | contento niches select | Interactive multi-niche picker | | contento schemas list / view <slug> | Browse content schemas | | contento collections list / show / create / generate | Manage collections | | contento publish <collection-id> | Flip validated pages to published | | contento build [idOrSlug] | Render published pages to static HTML | | contento analytics connect / sync / disconnect | Connect a project to GSC | | contento analytics summary / top-pages / zero-traffic / export | Reporting queries | | contento mcp serve | Run the MCP server over stdio (for AI agents) | | contento pro status / activate / deactivate / features / packs | Manage Contento Pro license + packs |

Add --json to any command for machine-readable output.

Where things live

~/.contento/
  config.json                          AI provider config
  niches/<slug>.json                   custom + forked niches
  projects/<project-id>/
    project.json                       project metadata + chrome paths
    collections/<col-id>.json          collection definition
    pages/<page-id>.json               generated content + metadata
    gsc.json                           Google OAuth tokens (per project)
  analytics.db                         SQLite cache of GSC data

Each project working directory holds a contento.config.json pointing at the project ID. Commit it to git so your team uses the same project.

Environment variables

The CLI reads these in addition to (or instead of) ~/.contento/config.json:

| Variable | Purpose | | --- | --- | | OPENAI_API_KEY | Used when provider is openai | | ANTHROPIC_API_KEY | Used when provider is anthropic | | GROQ_API_KEY | Used when provider is groq | | OPENROUTER_API_KEY | Used when provider is openrouter | | CONTENTO_PROVIDER | Override the configured provider | | CONTENTO_MODEL | Override the configured model identifier | | GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID | OAuth client for analytics connect | | GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET | OAuth client for analytics connect | | NO_COLOR | Disable colored output |

For GSC you need to register your own Google OAuth client (Desktop app type) at https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/credentials. Either export the env vars above or write ~/.contento/google-oauth.json with { "clientId": "...", "clientSecret": "..." }.

Agent integration

Every command supports --json for structured output, and the CLI reads provider keys straight from environment variables, so AI agents can drive the entire pipeline:

export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
contento init --name "Generated Site" --domain example.com --json
contento collections create --schema idea-list --niches developer-tools --json
contento collections generate <id> --json   # streams NDJSON progress
contento publish <id> --json
contento build --json

For MCP-aware agents (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor), run contento mcp serve to expose every command as a typed MCP tool over stdio.

Programmatic API

The package also exports its lib modules so you can compose them in your own scripts:

import {
  loadAiConfig,
  getAllNiches,
  findSchemaBySlug,
  createProject,
  createCollection,
  expandCollection,
  generateCollection,
  renderPage,
  buildInternalLinks,
  renderSitemap,
} from 'contento';

See cli/src/index.ts for the full export surface.

Development

npm install
npm run build
npm test
node dist/bin/contento.js --help

License

Free Use License — see LICENSE. The CLI is free of charge but proprietary: no redistribution, no modification, no derivative works. Pro features (gated by contento pro activate) are covered by a separate subscription agreement.