CLI reference

About 1100 wordsAbout 4 min

bin/spora is the runtime CLI entry point. Every operational task — install, plugin management, database ops, worker control, asset cleanup, media archiving — is a subcommand. Build-time tools (OpenAPI generation, recipe lint, etc.) live in bin/spora-build and deliberately skip the Kernel / DI / secret-key boot so they can run in a clean checkout.

For the developer-oriented view (the same commands + the dev workflow, testing, and coding standards), see Developers → CLI & coding standards.

Getting help

php bin/spora              # List top-level commands
php bin/spora list         # Same as above
php bin/spora help <cmd>   # Help for a specific command, with options

php bin/spora-build            # List build-time commands
php bin/spora-build list       # Same as above
php bin/spora-build help <cmd> # Help for a specific build-time command

Commands

Command	Description	Source
`spora:install`	Apply database migrations (idempotent — safe to re-run after any new migration ships). Equivalent to `php artisan migrate`.	`app/Console/Commands/InstallCommand.php`
`spora:setup`	Run migrations and seed a fresh database. Existing installs are skipped — use `db:seed` (bootstrap) or `db:repair-admin` (promote an existing row) for repairs. Used by the Docker entrypoint.	`app/Console/Commands/SetupCommand.php`
`db:reset`	Wipe the database (SQLite file or MySQL DROP+CREATE) and clear the schema stamp. Prompts unless `--force` is given.	`app/Console/Commands/DbResetCommand.php`
`db:seed`	Run the bootstrap seeder on an existing install: creates the admin user + sample agent if missing (insert-only — never patches an existing admin row), and reconciles mail templates against `email-templates/` (inserts missing YAMLs, preserves operator-customised rows; `--force` is opt-in).	`app/Console/Commands/SeedCommand.php`
`db:repair-admin [email]`	Promote an existing user to `verified=1`, `Role::ADMIN`, `status=1`. Idempotent, refuses to create a missing row (operator-only). Default email: `admin@spora.local`.	`app/Console/Commands/RepairAdminCommand.php`
`plugin:install <package>`	Install a plugin from Packagist. Accepts `--path=/abs/path` for sibling-clone dev workflows, and `--constraint=<semver>` for pinning.	`app/Console/Commands/PluginInstallCommand.php`
`plugin:uninstall <package>`	Remove a plugin via Composer. Does not roll back plugin-specific migrations.	`app/Console/Commands/PluginUninstallCommand.php`
`plugin:update [<package>]`	Update one plugin, or all when no argument is given.	`app/Console/Commands/PluginUpdateCommand.php`
`plugin:list`	List installed `spora-plugin` packages with version and path. Non-plugin dependencies (e.g. `symfony/console`) are filtered out.	`app/Console/Commands/PluginListCommand.php`
`worker:run`	Run async worker. Default = daemon; `--once` for cron; `--once --include-queue` for full cron replacement; `--reap-only` for orphan reaping; `--scheduled` for scheduled tasks only.	`app/Console/Commands/WorkerRunCommand.php`
`task:run`	Run a single task synchronously (debugging).	`app/Console/Commands/TaskRunCommand.php`
`media:archive:list`	List archived media.	`app/Console/Commands/MediaArchiveListCommand.php`
`media:archive:gc`	Garbage-collect archived media past retention.	`app/Console/Commands/MediaArchiveGcCommand.php`
`assets:gc`	Garbage-collect unreferenced assets.	`app/Console/Commands/AssetGcCommand.php`
`tool:settings:migrate`	One-shot tool settings migration (used when the settings schema changes).	`app/Console/Commands/ToolSettingsMigrationCommand.php`
`mail:templates:sync`	Reconcile stored mail templates with YAML defaults. Use `--check` for a read-only drift check or `--force` to overwrite without prompting.	`app/Console/Commands/MailTemplatesSyncCommand.php`
`spora:openapi`	Generate the OpenAPI 3.0 spec from `RouteDefinitions`. With `--check`, exits non-zero if the reference spec on disk is stale. Dev-only — gated on the `zircote/swagger-php` dep.	`app/Console/Commands/OpenApiGenerateCommand.php`

The spora: prefix is convention for the framework-level commands (spora:install, spora:setup, spora:openapi). Plugin commands are unprefixed (plugin:install, plugin:list). Older docs sometimes use the prefixed form for plugin commands; both work in current versions.

Mail-template reconciliation

Run the drift check after applying framework migrations, then reconcile any differences:

php bin/spora mail:templates:sync --check  # dry run; exits 1 on drift
php bin/spora mail:templates:sync          # prompt before overwriting each drifted row
php bin/spora mail:templates:sync --force  # overwrite without prompting

Build-time CLI: `bin/spora-build`

bin/spora-build is the build-time companion to bin/spora. It boots without the Kernel / DI / secret-key so it works in a clean checkout with only the source tree — which is what downstream tooling (CI, sibling-repo docs builds) actually has. Today it ships the OpenAPI generator; future build-time tools (recipe lint, migration dry-run, etc.) will live alongside it under app/Build/.

Command	Description	Source
`openapi:generate [path]`	Emit the OpenAPI 3.0 spec to `path` (default `openapi.json`, resolved against `BASE_PATH` or the package root). Composer alias: `composer openapi`.	`app/Build/OpenApiGenerateCommand.php`
`openapi:check [path]`	Exit non-zero if the freshly regenerated spec differs from `path` (default `openapi.json`). Use as a CI drift guard against a reference spec on disk.	`app/Build/OpenApiCheckCommand.php`

The build-time entry points do not require a configured app: no storage/secret.key, no DB, no DI container. That’s the whole reason they exist as a separate binary — bin/spora would refuse to boot without them.

Common options

Option	Applies to	Purpose
`--force`	`db:reset`	Skip the interactive confirm prompt
`--path=<dir>`	`plugin:install`	Install from a local path repo (Composer path repository)
`--constraint=<semver>`	`plugin:install`	Pin to a semver constraint instead of `^x.y`
`--once`	`worker:run`	Process one batch and exit (cron mode)
`--include-queue`	`worker:run --once`	Also drain the task queue, not just scheduled runs
`--reap-only`	`worker:run`	Reap orphaned `RUNNING` tasks only (no queue work)
`--scheduled`	`worker:run`	Scheduled runs only (no task queue)
`--stale-minutes=<N>`	`worker:run`	Override `SPORA_WORKER_STALE_MINUTES` (default 60)
`--limit=<N>`	`worker:run`	Max tasks per poll cycle (0 = unlimited)

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
`0`	Success
`1`	Generic failure (catch-all)
`2`	`Command::INVALID` — input validation failure (e.g. `db:reset` without `--force` and the prompt was rejected). Exception: `php bin/spora task:run {taskId}` returns `2` (`TaskRunCommand::TASK_RUN_COMMAND_ABORTED_EXIT`) when the task ended in the `ABORTED` state — a quiescent outcome the user triggered, not a worker error. Differentiate by command name before scripting supervisor restarts.
`64` (EX_USAGE)	Reserved for command-line syntax errors
`78` (EX_CONFIG)	Reserved for config / env errors

The CLI uses Symfony Console’s standard exit codes. Tools that fail return 1 and print a stack trace at verbosity -vv.

Verbosity

php bin/spora plugin:install vendor/pkg -v      # INFO
php bin/spora plugin:install vendor/pkg -vv     # DEBUG (stack traces)
php bin/spora plugin:install vendor/pkg -q      # Quiet

The dev workflow uses -vv to debug. Production cron jobs use the default (no flags) for clean log lines.

Cron examples

The canonical cron schedule for a single-host deployment:

# Drain the task queue every minute
* * * * * cd /home/spora && /usr/bin/php bin/spora worker:run --once --include-queue >> storage/spora.log 2>&1

For the operator-facing workflows (install, plugin management, log tail), see Operations → Day-2 ops.

What’s next

REST API reference — the HTTP surface
Config keys — the config.php reference
Plugin schema — the plugin.json manifest spec
Operations → Day-2 ops — operator workflows