Constructive CLI

API Server and Development Tools for PostgreSQL

Constructive CLI provides GraphQL server capabilities and code generation tools for PostgreSQL databases. For database migrations, packages, and deployment operations, use pgpm.

Installation

npm install -g @constructive-io/cli

Commands

cnc server

Start the GraphQL development server.

# Start with defaults (port 5555)
cnc server

# Custom port and options
cnc server --port 8080 --no-postgis

# With custom CORS origin
cnc server --origin http://localhost:3000

Options:

• --port <number> - Server port (default: 5555)
• --origin <url> - CORS origin URL
• --simpleInflection - Use simple inflection (default: true)
• --oppositeBaseNames - Use opposite base names (default: false)
• --postgis - Enable PostGIS extension (default: true)
• --metaApi - Enable Meta API (default: true)

cnc explorer

Launch GraphiQL explorer for your API.

# Launch explorer
cnc explorer

# With custom CORS origin
cnc explorer --origin http://localhost:3000

Options:

• --port <number> - Server port (default: 5555)
• --origin <url> - CORS origin URL (default: http://localhost:3000)
• --simpleInflection - Use simple inflection (default: true)
• --oppositeBaseNames - Use opposite base names (default: false)
• --postgis - Enable PostGIS extension (default: true)

cnc codegen

Generate TypeScript types, operations, and SDK from a GraphQL schema.

# From SDL file
cnc codegen --schema ./schema.graphql --out ./codegen

# From endpoint with Host override
cnc codegen --endpoint http://localhost:3000/graphql --headerHost meta8.localhost --out ./codegen

Options:

• --schema <path> - Schema SDL file path
• --endpoint <url> - GraphQL endpoint to fetch schema via introspection
• --headerHost <host> - Optional Host header for endpoint requests
• --auth <token> - Optional Authorization header value
• --header "Name: Value" - Optional HTTP header (repeatable)
• --out <dir> - Output root directory (default: graphql/codegen/dist)
• --format <gql|ts> - Document format (default: gql)
• --convention <style> - Filename convention (dashed|underscore|camelcase|camelUpper)
• --emitTypes <bool> - Emit types (default: true)
• --emitOperations <bool> - Emit operations (default: true)
• --emitSdk <bool> - Emit SDK (default: true)
• --config <path> - Config file (JSON/YAML)

Config file example (codegen.json):

{
  "input": {
    "schema": "./schema.graphql",
    "headers": { "Host": "meta8.localhost" }
  },
  "output": {
    "root": "graphql/codegen/dist"
  },
  "documents": {
    "format": "gql",
    "convention": "dashed",
    "excludePatterns": [".*Module$"]
  },
  "features": {
    "emitTypes": true,
    "emitOperations": true,
    "emitSdk": true,
    "emitReactQuery": true
  }
}

cnc get-graphql-schema

Fetch or build GraphQL schema SDL.

# From database schemas
cnc get-graphql-schema --database mydb --schemas myapp,public --out ./schema.graphql

# From running server
cnc get-graphql-schema --endpoint http://localhost:3000/graphql --out ./schema.graphql

Options:

• --database <name> - Database name (for programmatic builder)
• --schemas <list> - Comma-separated schemas to include
• --endpoint <url> - GraphQL endpoint to fetch schema via introspection
• --headerHost <host> - Optional Host header for endpoint requests
• --auth <token> - Optional Authorization header value
• --header "Name: Value" - Optional HTTP header (repeatable)
• --out <path> - Output file path (prints to stdout if omitted)

Configuration

Environment Variables

Constructive respects standard PostgreSQL environment variables:

export PGHOST=localhost
export PGPORT=5432
export PGDATABASE=myapp
export PGUSER=postgres
export PGPASSWORD=password

Database Operations

For database migrations, packages, and deployment, use pgpm:

npm install -g pgpm

Common pgpm commands:

• pgpm init workspace - Initialize a new workspace
• pgpm init - Create a new module
• pgpm add <change> - Add a database change
• pgpm deploy - Deploy database changes
• pgpm verify - Verify database state
• pgpm revert - Revert database changes

See the pgpm documentation for more details.

Getting Help

# Global help
cnc --help

# Command-specific help
cnc server --help
cnc codegen -h

Global Options

• --help, -h - Show help information
• --version, -v - Show version information
• --cwd <dir> - Set working directory

Education and Tutorials

1. 🚀 Quickstart: Getting Up and Running Get started with modular databases in minutes. Install prerequisites and deploy your first module.

2. 📦 Modular PostgreSQL Development with Database Packages Learn to organize PostgreSQL projects with pgpm workspaces and reusable database modules.

3. ✏️ Authoring Database Changes Master the workflow for adding, organizing, and managing database changes with pgpm.

4. 🧪 End-to-End PostgreSQL Testing with TypeScript Master end-to-end PostgreSQL testing with ephemeral databases, RLS testing, and CI/CD automation.

5. ⚡ Supabase Testing Use TypeScript-first tools to test Supabase projects with realistic RLS, policies, and auth contexts.

6. 💧 Drizzle ORM Testing Run full-stack tests with Drizzle ORM, including database setup, teardown, and RLS enforcement.

7. 🔧 Troubleshooting Common issues and solutions for pgpm, PostgreSQL, and testing.

Related Constructive Tooling

🧪 Testing

• pgsql-test: 📊 Isolated testing environments with per-test transaction rollbacks—ideal for integration tests, complex migrations, and RLS simulation.
• supabase-test: 🧪 Supabase-native test harness preconfigured for the local Supabase stack—per-test rollbacks, JWT/role context helpers, and CI/GitHub Actions ready.
• graphile-test: 🔐 Authentication mocking for Graphile-focused test helpers and emulating row-level security contexts.
• pg-query-context: 🔒 Session context injection to add session-local context (e.g., SET LOCAL) into queries—ideal for setting role, jwt.claims, and other session settings.

🧠 Parsing & AST

• pgsql-parser: 🔄 SQL conversion engine that interprets and converts PostgreSQL syntax.
• libpg-query-node: 🌉 Node.js bindings for libpg_query, converting SQL into parse trees.
• pg-proto-parser: 📦 Protobuf parser for parsing PostgreSQL Protocol Buffers definitions to generate TypeScript interfaces, utility functions, and JSON mappings for enums.
• @pgsql/enums: 🏷️ TypeScript enums for PostgreSQL AST for safe and ergonomic parsing logic.
• @pgsql/types: 📝 Type definitions for PostgreSQL AST nodes in TypeScript.
• @pgsql/utils: 🛠️ AST utilities for constructing and transforming PostgreSQL syntax trees.

🚀 API & Dev Tools

• @constructive-io/graphql-server: ⚡ Express-based API server powered by PostGraphile to expose a secure, scalable GraphQL API over your Postgres database.
• @constructive-io/graphql-explorer: 🔎 Visual API explorer with GraphiQL for browsing across all databases and schemas—useful for debugging, documentation, and API prototyping.

🔁 Streaming & Uploads

• etag-hash: 🏷️ S3-compatible ETags created by streaming and hashing file uploads in chunks.
• etag-stream: 🔄 ETag computation via Node stream transformer during upload or transfer.
• uuid-hash: 🆔 Deterministic UUIDs generated from hashed content, great for deduplication and asset referencing.
• uuid-stream: 🌊 Streaming UUID generation based on piped file content—ideal for upload pipelines.
• @constructive-io/s3-streamer: 📤 Direct S3 streaming for large files with support for metadata injection and content validation.
• @constructive-io/upload-names: 📂 Collision-resistant filenames utility for structured and unique file names for uploads.

🧰 CLI & Codegen

• pgpm: 🖥️ PostgreSQL Package Manager for modular Postgres development. Works with database workspaces, scaffolding, migrations, seeding, and installing database packages.
• @constructive-io/cli: 🖥️ Command-line toolkit for managing Constructive projects—supports database scaffolding, migrations, seeding, code generation, and automation.
• @constructive-io/graphql-codegen: ✨ GraphQL code generation (types, operations, SDK) from schema/endpoint introspection.
• @constructive-io/query-builder: 🏗️ SQL constructor providing a robust TypeScript-based query builder for dynamic generation of SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, and stored procedure calls—supports advanced SQL features like JOIN, GROUP BY, and schema-qualified queries.
• @constructive-io/graphql-query: 🧩 Fluent GraphQL builder for PostGraphile schemas. ⚡ Schema-aware via introspection, 🧩 composable and ergonomic for building deeply nested queries.

Credits

🛠 Built by the Constructive team — creators of modular Postgres tooling for secure, composable backends. If you like our work, contribute on GitHub.

Disclaimer

AS DESCRIBED IN THE LICENSES, THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", AT YOUR OWN RISK, AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND.

No developer or entity involved in creating this software will be liable for any claims or damages whatsoever associated with your use, inability to use, or your interaction with other users of the code, including any direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, punitive or consequential damages, or loss of profits, cryptocurrencies, tokens, or anything else of value.