CLI Overview

Introduction to the Feathers CLI and its code generation capabilities

The Feathers CLI (@feathersjs/cli) is a command-line interface for generating and scaffolding Feathers applications. It provides interactive generators that create production-ready code following best practices.

What the CLI does

The Feathers CLI helps you:

• Generate new applications - Create a complete Feathers application with your choice of framework (Express or Koa), database, authentication, and more
• Add services - Generate new services with database adapters (Knex, MongoDB, or custom)
• Create hooks - Scaffold hooks for your application logic
• Set up authentication - Add authentication with local and OAuth strategies
• Configure databases - Add database connections to your application

Available generators

The CLI includes the following generators:

Generate app

feathers generate app

feathers generate service

feathers generate hook

feathers generate authentication

feathers generate connection

All generators can be run interactively or with command-line options.

Interactive generators

The Feathers CLI uses interactive prompts to guide you through the generation process. Each generator asks relevant questions and creates the appropriate files and configuration.

# Run any generator to see interactive prompts
npx feathers generate service

You’ll be prompted for:

• Service name and path
• Database adapter type
• Schema definition
• And more

Command aliases

The CLI supports shorthand aliases for common commands:

Full command	Alias
feathers generate	feathers g
feathers generate app	feathers g app
feathers generate service	feathers g service

Generator options

Generators support command-line options to skip interactive prompts:

Service with options

feathers generate service --name users --path /users --type knex

feathers generate hook --name validateUser --type around

feathers generate app --name my-app

Help and version

View help for any command:

# General help
feathers --help

# Generator-specific help
feathers generate --help
feathers generate service --help

Check the CLI version:

feathers --version

Generated code structure

The CLI generates TypeScript code following Feathers best practices:

• Type-safe - Full TypeScript support with proper types
• Schema-first - Uses TypeBox or JSON Schema for validation
• Modular - Clean separation of concerns
• Production-ready - Includes error handling, logging, and configuration

Next steps

Installation

Install the Feathers CLI

Generate app

Create your first Feathers application