@webhouse/cms-cli

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

Quick start

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

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

# 3. Start developing
npx 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)

npx 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

npx 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: npx 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: npx cms build]
        ✓ Build complete — 6 pages in dist/

Commands

Environment variables

The CLI automatically loads .env from the current directory.

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

Installation

# Global install
npm install -g @webhouse/cms-cli

# Or use npx (no install needed)
npx @webhouse/cms-cli dev

# Or add to your project
npm install @webhouse/cms-cli

Documentation

See the main repository for full documentation.

License

MIT