directus/docs/reference/command-line-interface.md

Command Line Interface

Directus ships with a command line interface (CLI) that you can use for various actions. All functionality can be accessed by running npx directus <command> in your project folder.

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Initialize a New Project

npx directus init

Will install the required database driver, and create a .env file based on the inputted values.

Bootstrap a Project

npx directus bootstrap

Will use an existing .env file (or existing environment variables) to either install the database (if it's empty) or migrate it to the latest version (if it already exists and has missing migrations).

This is very useful to use in environments where you're doing standalone automatic deployments, like a multi-container Kubernetes configuration, or a similar approach on DigitalOcean App Platform or AWS Elastic Beanstalk

::: tip First User

You can use the ADMIN_EMAIL and ADMIN_PASSWORD environment variables to automatically provision the first user on first creation using the bootstrap command. See Environment Variables for more information.

:::

Install the Database

npx directus database install

Installs the Directus system tables on an empty database. Used internally by bootstrap

Upgrade the Database

npx directus database migrate:latest
npx directus database migrate:up
npx directus database migrate:down

Migrate the database up/down to match the versions of Directus. Once you update Directus itself, make sure to run npx directus database migrate:latest (or npx directus bootstrap) to update your database.