Using CLI

• Installing CLI

• Initialize a new TypeORM project

• Create a new entity

• Create a new subscriber

• Create a new migration

• Generate a migration from existing table schema

• Run migrations

• Revert migrations

• Show migrations

• Sync database schema

• Log sync database schema queries without actual running them

• Drop database schema

• Run any SQL query

• Clear cache

• Check version

Installing CLI

If entities files are in javascript

If you have a local typeorm version, make sure it matches the global version we are going to install.

You can install typeorm globally with npm i -g typeorm. You can also choose to use npx typeorm <params> for each command if you prefer not having to install it.

If entities files are in typescript

This CLI tool is written in javascript and to be run on node. If your entity files are in typescript, you will need to transpile them to javascript before using CLI. You may skip this section if you only use javascript.

You may setup ts-node in your project to ease the operation as follows:

Install ts-node:

npm install ts-node --save-dev

Add typeorm command under scripts section in package.json

"scripts": {
    ...
    "typeorm": "typeorm-ts-node-commonjs"
}

For ESM projects add this instead:

"scripts": {
    ...
    "typeorm": "typeorm-ts-node-esm"
}

If you want to load more modules like module-alias you can add more --require my-module-supporting-register

Then you may run the command like this:

npm run typeorm migration:run -- -d path-to-datasource-config

How to read the documentation

To reduce verbosity of the documentation, the following sections are using a globally installed typeorm CLI. Depending on how you installed the CLI, you may replace typeorm at the start of the command, by either npx typeorm or npm run typeorm.

Initialize a new TypeORM project

You can create a new project with everything already setup:

typeorm init

It creates all files needed for a basic project with TypeORM:

• .gitignore

• package.json

• README.md

• tsconfig.json

• src/entity/User.ts

• src/index.ts

Then you can run npm install to install all dependencies. After that, you can run your application by running npm start.

All files are generated in the current directory. If you want to generate them in a special directory you can use --name:

typeorm init --name my-project

To specify a specific database you use you can use --database:

typeorm init --database mssql

To generate an ESM base project you can use --module esm:

typeorm init --name my-project --module esm

You can also generate a base project with Express:

typeorm init --name my-project --express

If you are using docker you can generate a docker-compose.yml file using:

typeorm init --docker

typeorm init is the easiest and fastest way to setup a TypeORM project.

Create a new entity

You can create a new entity using CLI:

typeorm entity:create path-to-entity-dir/entity

Learn more about entities.

Create a new subscriber

You can create a new subscriber using CLI:

typeorm subscriber:create path-to-subscriber-dir/subscriber

Learn more about Subscribers.

Create a new migration

You can create a new migration using CLI:

typeorm migration:create path-to-migrations-dir/migrationName

Learn more about Migrations.

Generate a migration from existing table schema

Automatic migration generation creates a new migration file and writes all sql queries that must be executed to update the database.

If no there were no changes generated, the command will exit with code 1.

typeorm migration:generate path/to/Migration -d path/to/datasource

The rule of thumb is to generate a migration after each entity change. the -d argument value should specify the path where your DataSource instance is defined. You can specify the path and name of the migration with the first argument.

Learn more about Migrations.

Run migrations

To execute all pending migrations use following command:

typeorm migration:run -- -d path-to-datasource-config

Learn more about Migrations.

Revert migrations

To revert the most recently executed migration use the following command:

typeorm migration:revert -- -d path-to-datasource-config

This command will undo only the last executed migration. You can execute this command multiple times to revert multiple migrations. Learn more about Migrations.

Show migrations

To show all migrations and whether they've been run or not use following command:

typeorm migration:show  -- -d path-to-datasource-config

[X] = Migration has been ran

[ ] = Migration is pending/unapplied

Sync database schema

To synchronize a database schema use:

typeorm schema:sync

Be careful running this command in production - schema sync may cause data loss if you don't use it wisely. Check which sql queries it will run before running on production.

Log sync database schema queries without actual running them

To check what sql queries schema:sync is going to run use:

typeorm schema:log

Drop database schema

To completely drop a database schema use:

typeorm schema:drop -- -d path-to-datasource-config

Be careful with this command on production since it completely removes data from your database.

Run any SQL query

You can execute any SQL query you want directly in the database using:

typeorm query "SELECT * FROM USERS"

Clear cache

If you are using QueryBuilder caching, sometimes you may want to clear everything stored in the cache. You can do it using the following command:

typeorm cache:clear

Check version

You can check what typeorm version you have installed (both local and global) by running:

typeorm version