Cli commands

CLI Commands

This is the canonical CLI reference for Govard.

---

Aliases and Shortcuts

Root Lifecycle Shortcuts

Shortcut	Equivalent
govard up	govard env up
govard down	govard env down
govard restart	govard env restart
govard ps	govard env ps
govard logs	govard env logs

Command Aliases

Alias	Full Command
govard boot	govard bootstrap
govard cfg	govard config
govard dbg	govard debug
govard gui	govard desktop
govard diag	govard doctor
govard ext	govard extensions
govard prj	govard project
govard rmt	govard remote
govard sh	govard shell
govard snap	govard snapshot

govard tool Aliases

Alias	Full Command
govard tool mr	govard tool magerun

govard sync Aliases

• --from is an alias for --source
• --to is an alias for --destination
• -e, --environment remains a supported source-environment option

---

🌿 Environment Commands

govard init

Detect the project framework and generate .govard.yml.

govard init
govard init --framework magento2
govard init --framework custom
govard init --migrate-from warden

When migrating from Warden, govard init --migrate-from warden maps WARDEN_TABLE_PREFIX to Govard's table_prefix field for Magento 2, Magento 1, and OpenMage projects.

govard bootstrap

Run bootstrap flows for clone or fresh-install setups.

govard bootstrap
govard bootstrap --clone --environment staging --yes
govard bootstrap --framework magento2 --fresh --framework-version 2.4.9
govard bootstrap -e staging --no-pii --no-noise

Mode selection:

• --fresh + --framework + --framework-version — fresh install via scaffolder
• --clone + --environment — rsync the whole source from a remote server

Source selection:

• -e, --environment — source remote name; accepts standard names (staging, production, dev) and any custom identifier (qa, preprod, demo, client-uat)
• --remote — alias for --environment
• --db-dump — import database from a local SQL file path

Privacy & performance filters:

Flag	Effect
-N, --no-noise	Exclude ephemeral data (logs, sessions, cache tags, cron history)
-S, --no-pii	Exclude sensitive data (customers, orders, admin users, passwords)
--delete	Delete destination files not present on source
--no-compress	Disable rsync compression
-X, --exclude	Custom rsync exclude patterns (repeatable)
--no-db	Skip database import
--no-media	Skip media sync
--media [mode]	Media sync mode (none, minimal, optimized, all)
--no-composer	Skip composer install
--no-admin	Skip admin user creation (Magento 2 only)
--no-stream-db	Use local temp file for DB transfer

For Magento projects with table_prefix set, DB privacy filters target prefixed table names automatically.

Magento special flags:

| --include-sample | Install sample data (fresh install) | | --hyva-install | Auto-install Hyva theme |

Plan & confirmation:

• --plan — print plan and exit without executing
• -y, --yes — skip interactive confirmation (CI/non-interactive)

govard env

Project lifecycle and Docker Compose wrapper.

govard env up
govard env start
govard env stop
govard env restart
govard env down
govard env ps
govard env logs php -f
govard env pull
govard env build
govard env cleanup

govard env up flags:

Flag	Effect
--pull	Pull images before starting
--fallback-local-build	Build missing images locally
--remove-orphans	Remove orphaned containers
--quickstart	Fastest startup path
--update-lock	Auto-update govard.lock on mismatches

Files re-rendered on env up:

• ~/.govard/compose/<project-hash>.yml
• ~/.govard/nginx/<project>/default.conf
• ~/.govard/apache/<project>/httpd.conf
• ~/.govard/nginx/<project>/mage-run-map.conf

govard env down flags:

• -v, --volumes — remove volumes
• --rmi local — remove local images

govard svc

Manage global services (proxy, Mailpit, PHPMyAdmin, Portainer).

govard svc up
govard svc restart --no-trust
govard svc logs --tail 50
govard svc sleep
govard svc wake

Portainer is accessible at https://portainer.govard.test Default login: admin / AdminGovard123$

govard domain

Manage extra local domains for the current project.

govard domain add brand-b.test
govard domain remove brand-b.test
govard domain list

govard status

List running Govard environments across the workspace.

govard status

govard desktop

Launch the Wails desktop app.

govard desktop
govard desktop --dev
govard desktop --background

See Desktop App for details.

---

🛠️ Development Commands

govard shell

Open a shell in the application container.

govard shell
govard shell --no-tty

• PHP frameworks → php container at /var/www/html
• Node-first frameworks (Next.js, Emdash) → web container at /app

govard debug

Manage Xdebug status and sessions.

govard debug status
govard debug on
govard debug off
govard debug shell

Requests route to php-debug only when the XDEBUG_SESSION cookie matches stack.xdebug_session.

govard test

Run project test tools inside the application container.

govard test phpunit
govard test phpstan
govard test mftf
govard test integration

govard custom

Run custom commands from .govard/commands or ~/.govard/commands.

govard custom list
govard custom hello
govard custom deploy -- --dry-run

govard project

Browse and manage known projects.

govard project list
govard project list --orphans
govard project open billing
govard project delete demo
govard project delete --yes demo

[WARNING] CAUTION govard project delete removes persistent database volumes by default. Project source code is never deleted.

Deletion process:

1. Runs pre-delete lifecycle hooks
2. Executes docker compose down -v (removes containers + volumes)
3. Unregisters proxy domains
4. Removes project from registry (projects.json)
5. Runs post-delete hooks

---

🔗 Remote, Sync, and Data Commands

govard remote

Manage named remotes for sync, deploy, shell, and database workflows.

govard remote add staging --host staging.example.com --user deploy --path /var/www/app
govard remote copy-id staging
govard remote test staging
govard remote exec staging -- ls -la
govard remote audit tail --status failure --lines 50

For home-relative remote paths, quote the value:

govard remote add staging --host staging.example.com --user deploy --path '~/public_html'

Key features:

• Capabilities: files, media, db, deploy
• Auth methods: keychain, ssh-agent, keyfile
• Production write protection by default
• Audit logs: ~/.govard/remote.log

→ Full guide: Remotes and Sync

govard sync

Synchronize files, media, or databases between local and named remotes.

govard sync --source staging --destination local --full --plan
govard sync --from staging --to local --media
govard sync -s prod --file --path app/etc/config.php
govard sync --db --no-noise --no-pii

Auto-selects staging remote if no --source is provided, falling back to dev. When --media is used without a mode, Govard defaults it to optimized.

Key flags:

Flag	Effect
-s, --source / --from	Source environment
-d, --destination / --to	Destination environment
--file, --media, --db, --full	Scope selection
--plan	Print plan and exit
-I, --include	Rsync include pattern (repeatable)
-X, --exclude	Rsync exclude pattern (repeatable)
-m, --media [mode]	Media sync scope (none, minimal, optimized, all); bare --media defaults to optimized
-N, --no-noise	Exclude ephemeral data
-P, --no-pii	Exclude sensitive data

govard db

Database utilities for local and remote-backed workflows.

govard db connect
govard db dump
govard db dump -e staging --local
govard db query "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM sales_order"
govard db info
govard db top
govard db import --file backup.sql --drop
govard db import --stream-db -e staging --drop
govard db clone-volume warden_magento2_dbdata

govard deploy

Run deploy lifecycle hooks for the current project.

govard deploy

govard snapshot

Manage local and remote snapshots for DB and media.

govard snapshot create
govard snapshot create -e staging
govard snapshot list
govard snapshot list -e staging
govard snapshot restore latest
govard snapshot pull latest -e staging
govard snapshot push before-deploy -e prod

govard open

Open common browser targets.

govard open app
govard open admin
govard open mail
govard open db
govard open db --pma
govard open db --client
govard open db -e staging

govard tunnel

Manage public tunnels (requires cloudflared).

govard tunnel start
govard tunnel status
govard tunnel stop

[IMPORTANT] IMPORTANT The cloudflared binary must be installed separately. Install via the official Cloudflare repository or GitHub releases.

---

🔧 Tool Commands

Run framework CLIs inside project containers:

govard tool magento [command]    # Magento 2
govard tool magerun [command]    # Magento 1 / Magento 2 (Shortcut: mr)
govard tool artisan [command]    # Laravel
govard tool drush [command]      # Drupal
govard tool symfony [command]    # Symfony
govard tool shopware [command]   # Shopware
govard tool cake [command]       # CakePHP
govard tool wp [command]         # WordPress

# General tools
govard tool composer [command]
govard tool npm [command]
govard tool yarn [command]
govard tool npx [command]
govard tool pnpm [command]
govard tool grunt [command]

For node-first frameworks, package-manager commands run in the web container at /app.

---

⚙️ Configuration Commands

govard config get stack.php_version
govard config set stack.php_version 8.4
govard config set table_prefix demo_
govard config profile
govard config profile --json
govard config profile apply --framework laravel --framework-version 11
govard config auto   # Magento 2: inject settings into env.php

govard extensions

Initialize .govard/* extension scaffolding.

govard extensions init
govard extensions init --force

govard blueprint cache

Manage the remote blueprint registry cache.

govard blueprint cache list
govard blueprint cache clear

---

🩺 Diagnostics

govard doctor

Run startup diagnostics with actionable remediation.

govard doctor
govard doctor --fix
govard doctor --json
govard doctor --pack
govard doctor trust

Checks include: Docker, Compose, ports, disk sanity, Govard home, compose directory health, SSH agent, and outbound connectivity.

• --fix — Automatically detect and repair common issues
• trust — Install Root CA into system trust store + browser NSS

---

🔁 Utility Commands

govard lock

Generate or validate govard.lock snapshots for environment drift detection.

govard lock generate
govard lock check
govard lock diff
govard lock generate --file .govard/govard.lock

govard self-update

Download release artifacts, verify checksums, and replace binaries atomically.

govard self-update

govard upgrade

Native framework upgrade pipeline.

govard upgrade --version 2.4.8-p4     # Magento 2
govard upgrade --version 11            # Laravel
govard upgrade --version 7             # Symfony
govard upgrade --version 6.7           # WordPress
govard upgrade --version 11 --dry-run  # Preview steps

Flags:

Flag	Effect
--version	Target version (required)
--dry-run	Show steps without executing
--no-db-upgrade	Skip DB migrations
--no-env-update	Skip profile update and container restart
-y, --yes	Auto-confirm all prompts

govard version

govard version

govard redis

Smart shortcut for Redis/Valkey management.

govard redis cli
govard redis flush
govard redis info

govard varnish

Smart shortcut for Varnish management.

govard varnish purge
govard varnish status

---

🌐 Global Flags

All commands support:

• -h, --help — Show help

---

← Getting Started | Configuration →