Primo CLI

Local development CLI for Primo - build and edit sites with a visual CMS.

Installation

npm install -g primo-cli

Quick Start

# Create a new site
primo new my-site

# This starts the local CMS automatically
# It scaffolds a workspace like:
# ./server.yaml
# ./library/
# ./sites/my-site/

Commands

primo init [name]

Initialize a new Primo workspace (server) in a new folder or the current directory.

primo init                   # Initialize in the current directory
primo init my-workspace      # Create and initialize "my-workspace"

primo new [name]

Create a new site with starter files.

primo new                    # Interactive prompt for name
primo new my-site            # Create "sites/my-site" in the current workspace
primo new --skip-dev         # Create files without starting CMS

primo dev

Start the local CMS server. Watches for file changes and syncs edits from the CMS back to local files.

primo dev                    # Start in current directory
primo dev -p 8080            # Use custom port
primo dev --author files     # Push file edits to the CMS; CMS UI is read-only (default)
primo dev --author cms       # CMS edits write to files; file edits revert
primo dev --author both      # Bidirectional sync (beta; CMS edits often lost on conflict)

primo push

Sync local changes to an existing hosted Primo server. Requires a server you've already deployed (run primo deploy first) and authenticated against (primo login -s <server-url>).

primo push https://cms.example.com --site abc123
primo push --only my-site    # Push just one site folder (workspace root)
primo push --preview         # Preview changes without applying
primo push --dry-run         # Show what would be sent without making requests

Options:

• -s, --server <url> - Server URL
• --site <id> - Site ID
• --only <slug> - Push only the named site folder under sites/ (skips library)
• -d, --dir <dir> - Directory (default: .)
• -t, --token <token> - Auth token
• --preview - Preview only
• --dry-run - Show what would be pushed without sending requests

primo pull

Pull an entire hosted Primo server — all sites plus the shared library — to local files.

primo pull https://cms.example.com
primo pull https://cms.example.com -o ./my-workspace

Options:

• -s, --server <url> - Server URL (auto-detects local)
• -o, --output <dir> - Output directory (defaults to ./<server-hostname>)
• -t, --token <token> - Auth token

primo library pull

Pull the shared block library into a workspace root.

primo library pull https://cms.example.com
primo library pull -o ./my-workspace

Options:

• -s, --server <url> - Server URL (auto-detects local)
• -o, --output <dir> - Workspace output directory (default: .)
• -t, --token <token> - Auth token

primo library push

Push the local shared block library back to a hosted Primo instance.

primo library push https://cms.example.com
primo library push https://cms.example.com -d ./my-workspace

Options:

• -s, --server <url> - Server URL
• -d, --dir <dir> - Workspace directory containing library/ (default: .)
• -t, --token <token> - Auth token

primo login

Authenticate with a hosted Primo instance.

primo login https://cms.example.com
primo login https://cms.example.com -e user@example.com

primo deploy

Deploy the entire workspace — all sites under sites/, plus library/ and server.yaml — as one editable-CMS unit, to Railway or Fly.io. Must be run from the workspace root (the directory containing server.yaml).

primo deploy                 # Interactive provider selection
primo deploy -p railway      # Deploy to Railway
primo deploy -p fly          # Deploy to Fly.io
primo deploy --dry-run       # Show what would be deployed without doing anything

For other hosts (Netlify, Vercel, Cloudflare, GitHub Pages), use primo build on a single site and deploy the output folder with that host's CLI.

Picking the right "going-live" command

You want to…	Use
Let collaborators edit content from a CMS UI	primo deploy
Ship a static site to any static host	primo build
Sync local edits to an existing hosted server	primo push

primo validate

Check site structure for errors.

primo validate
primo validate --strict      # Strict mode

primo build

Build static HTML site for deployment to any static host.

primo build                  # Output to ./dist
primo build -o ./public      # Custom output directory

Deploy the output anywhere:

# Netlify
npx netlify deploy --prod --dir=dist

# Vercel
npx vercel dist

# Cloudflare Pages
npx wrangler pages deploy dist

# Or just push to a repo connected to any static host

Site Structure

workspace/
├── server.yaml
├── library/
└── sites/
    └── my-site/
        ├── site.yaml
        ├── blocks/
        ├── pages/
        ├── page-types/
        └── site/

Multiple Sites

Run primo dev from a workspace folder to work on multiple sites at once:

workspace/
├── server.yaml         # Optional: port + site_groups
└── sites/
    ├── site-one/
    │   └── site.yaml   # includes group: default
    └── site-two/
        └── site.yaml   # includes group: default

Each site gets its own subdomain: site-one.localhost:3000, site-two.localhost:3000

Shared Library Workspace

The shared block library can live at the workspace root alongside the sites/ folder:

workspace/
├── server.yaml
├── library/
│   ├── marketing/
│   │   └── hero/
│   └── shared/
│       └── footer/
└── sites/
    ├── site-one/
    └── site-two/

Documentation

Full documentation: primo.page/docs

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• For primo deploy: Railway CLI or Fly.io CLI