CLI Reference

The strapi-types CLI fetches your Strapi schema and generates TypeScript types and a typed client.

Commands

generate

Connects to your Strapi instance, fetches the schema, and generates TypeScript output files.

npx strapi-types generate --url http://localhost:1337

Options:

Option	Description	Default
--url	Strapi server URL	STRAPI_URL env var
--token	API token for authenticated access	STRAPI_TOKEN env var
--output	Output directory for generated files	node_modules/strapi-typed-client/dist
--silent	Suppress all console output	false
--force	Regenerate even if schema has not changed	false

Examples:

# Basic generation
npx strapi-types generate --url http://localhost:1337

# With authentication
npx strapi-types generate --url http://localhost:1337 --token abc123

# Custom output directory, silent mode
npx strapi-types generate --url http://localhost:1337 --output ./src/api --silent

# Force regeneration (ignore schema hash)
npx strapi-types generate --url http://localhost:1337 --force

check

Verifies that the CLI can connect to your Strapi instance and that the plugin is properly registered.

npx strapi-types check --url http://localhost:1337

This is useful for CI pipelines or debugging connection issues. It will:

1. Attempt to reach the schema endpoint
2. Report whether the plugin is accessible
3. Exit with code 0 on success, 1 on failure

Example:

npx strapi-types check --url http://localhost:1337 --token abc123

watch

Polls the Strapi schema endpoint at regular intervals and automatically regenerates types when the schema changes.

npx strapi-types watch --url http://localhost:1337

This is useful during development. The command runs continuously and:

1. Fetches the schema hash from /api/strapi-typed-client/schema-hash
2. Compares it to the last known hash
3. Regenerates types only when the hash changes

TIP

For Next.js projects, consider using the withStrapiTypes wrapper instead of running watch manually. See the Next.js guide.

Environment Variables

Instead of passing flags on every invocation, you can set environment variables:

Variable	Equivalent Flag
STRAPI_URL	--url
STRAPI_TOKEN	--token

Example with a .env file:

# .env
STRAPI_URL=http://localhost:1337
STRAPI_TOKEN=your-api-token-here

# Now you can run without flags
npx strapi-types generate

WARNING

CLI flags take precedence over environment variables. If both are provided, the flag value is used.

Schema Hashing

The CLI uses schema hashing to avoid unnecessary regeneration. When you run generate:

1. The CLI fetches the schema hash from /api/strapi-typed-client/schema-hash
2. It compares the hash against the previously stored hash
3. If the hashes match, generation is skipped (unless --force is used)
4. If the hashes differ, types are regenerated and the new hash is stored

This makes it safe to run generate in CI or on every build without wasting time on unchanged schemas.

# First run — generates types
npx strapi-types generate --url http://localhost:1337

# Second run — skipped, schema unchanged
npx strapi-types generate --url http://localhost:1337

# Force regeneration regardless of hash
npx strapi-types generate --url http://localhost:1337 --force

Usage in package.json Scripts

A typical setup in your frontend project:

{
    "scripts": {
        "generate-types": "strapi-types generate",
        "check-strapi": "strapi-types check",
        "dev": "strapi-types watch & next dev",
        "build": "strapi-types generate --force && next build"
    }
}