CLI

The Firefly CLI (firefly) provides project scaffolding, code generation, development server, and OpenAPI spec generation.

Installation

dotnet tool install --global Firefly.Cli

Commands

firefly new

Scaffold a new Firefly project with routing, configuration, tests, and a solution file:

firefly new MyApp

Options:

firefly new MyApp --output /path/to/dir    # custom output directory
firefly new MyApp --force                   # overwrite existing directory

Generated structure:

MyApp/
  MyApp.sln
  src/MyApp/
    App.fs
    Router.fs
    Endpoint.fs
    Config/
      Dev.fs
      Prod.fs
    Controllers/
      PageController.fs
    Views/
      PageView.fs
    Layouts/
      RootLayout.fs
    Components/
      CoreComponents.fs
    MyApp.fsproj
  tests/MyApp.Tests/
    Fixtures.fs
    IntegrationTests.fs
    ControllerTests.fs
    MyApp.Tests.fsproj

firefly dev

Start the development server with hot reload:

firefly dev

This runs dotnet watch run with ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Development and DOTNET_ENVIRONMENT=Development. In development mode, Firefly automatically enables live reload (SSE-based script injection for browser auto-refresh).

Options:

firefly dev --project src/MyApp/MyApp.fsproj

Generators in dev (firefly.json)

Drop a firefly.json manifest in the project root to declare generators that should run as part of firefly dev. Each entry is the equivalent of a firefly gen invocation:

{
  "generators": [
    { "kind": "schema",     "name": "User",    "fields": ["name:string", "age:int"] },
    { "kind": "controller", "name": "Health" },
    { "kind": "html",       "name": "Contact", "fields": ["email:string"] }
  ]
}

kind is one of schema, controller, html, json, or docker; fields is omitted for controller and docker. When firefly dev starts it runs every declared generator once, then watches firefly.json and regenerates whenever you edit it — no restart required. Without a firefly.json, firefly dev behaves exactly as before.

Vite dev proxy

If your app has a Vite frontend, App.vite wires the dev proxy with an auto-detected port and is a no-op outside Development, so the same pipeline is safe to ship:

App.defaults
|> App.vite   // proxies Vite assets in dev only; production untouched

The port is detected from vite.config.{ts,js,mjs} (server.port), falling back to the VITE_PORT env var, then Vite's default 5173.

firefly gen controller

Generate a controller file:

firefly gen controller Users

Creates Controllers/UsersController.fs with GET/POST/PUT/DELETE handlers.

firefly gen schema

Generate a Flame schema:

firefly gen schema CreateUser name:string email:string age:int

Creates Schemas/CreateUserSchema.fs with a typed record and schema definition.

Supported field types: string, int, float, bool, datetime.

firefly gen html / firefly gen json

Generate a full resource with controller, views, and routes:

firefly gen html Product name:string price:float description:string
firefly gen json Product name:string price:float description:string

• html generates server-rendered views with forms
• json generates JSON API endpoints

firefly gen docker

Generate Docker deployment files:

firefly gen docker

Creates a Dockerfile and related configuration for containerized deployment.

firefly openapi

Generate a static OpenAPI specification from your route definitions:

firefly openapi
firefly openapi --output openapi.json
firefly openapi --title "My API" --version "1.0.0"
firefly openapi --project src/MyApp/MyApp.fsproj
firefly openapi --routes "apiRoutes"

Options:

Full Usage Reference

Firefly CLI
 
Commands:
  firefly new <Name> [--output <path>] [--force]
  firefly dev [--project <path>]
  firefly gen html <Resource> field:type [field:type ...]
  firefly gen json <Resource> field:type [field:type ...]
  firefly gen controller <Name>
  firefly gen schema <Name> field:type [field:type ...]
  firefly gen docker
  firefly openapi [--project <path>] [--output <path>] [--title <title>] [--version <version>] [--routes <name>]