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The HubSpot CLI connects your local development tools to HubSpot, allowing you to develop on the HubSpot CMS with version control, your favorite text editor, and various web development technologies.

If you're new to developing on HubSpot, check out our quick start guide where you'll walk through installing the CLI all the way to publishing a live page.

Quick start to CMS Hub development

Use this guide as a reference for the available commands and file formatting options for HubSpot's local development tooling. For a walkthrough of how to use these tools, see the getting started with local development tutorial.

Shows all commands and their definitions. To learn more about a specific command, add --help to the end of the command.

You can install HubSpot local development tools either globally (recommended) or locally. To install the HubSpot tools globally, in your command line run the command below. To install locally, omit -g from the command.

To install the tools only in your current directory instead, run the command below. You do not need to install locally if you already have the CLI installed globally.

The CLI is updated regularly. To upgrade to the latest version of the local tools, run:

The following commands enable you to authenticate HubSpot accounts with the CLI so that you can interact with the account. If you haven't yet authenticated an account with the CLI, you'll first run hs init to create a hubspot.config.yml file, which will contain the authentication details for any connected HubSpot accounts. The rest of the commands will update that file.

Creates a hubspot.config.yml file in the current directory and sets up authentication for an account. If you're adding authentication for a new account to an existing config file, run the auth command. When prompted for a name to use for the account, the name can't contain spaces.

Flags

FlagDescription
--auth-typeThe authentication protocol to use for authenticating your account. Supported values are personalaccesskey (default) and oauth2.
--accountThe specific account name to authenticate using the CLI. To get a full list of accounts, use the hs accounts command.

Generate authentication for a HubSpot account using a personal access key. You can generate your access key here. If you already have a hubspot.config.yml file you can use this command to add credentials for additional accounts. For example you might use your sandbox account as a development environment. When prompted for a name to use for the account, the name can't contain spaces.

Flags

FlagDescription
--auth-typeThe authentication protocol to use for authenticating your account. Supported values are personalaccesskey (default) and oauth2.
--accountThe specific account name to authenticate using the CLI. To get a full list of accounts, use the hs accounts command.

Lists the name, ID, and auth type for the each account in your config file. If you're not seeing the accounts you expect, you may need to run the auth command to add accounts to your config file.

Set the default account in your config file.

ParameterDescription
accountNameOrIDIdentify the new default account by its name (as set in the config file) or ID.

Removes an account from your config file.

ParameterDescription
accountNameOrIDIdentify the account to remove by its name (as set in the config file) or ID.

Removes any deactivated HubSpot accounts from your config file.

Using the CLI, you can interact with the developer file system, which is the file system in the Design Manager. These commands enable you to create new assets locally, such as modules and themes, upload them to the account, list files in the HubSpot account, or download existing files to your local environment.

List files stored in the developer file system by path or from the root. Works similar to using standard ls to view your current directory on your local machine.

Arguments

ArgumentDescription
destOptionalPath to the remote developer file system directory you would like to list files for. If omitted, defaults to the account root.

Fetch a file, or directory and its child folders and files, by path. Copies the files from your HubSpot account into your local environment.

By default, fetching will not overwrite existing local files. To overwrite local files, include the --overwrite flag.

Arguments

ArgumentDescription
srcRequiredPath in HubSpot Design Tools
destOptionalPath to the local directory you would like the files to be placed, relative to your current working directory. If omitted, this argument will default to your current working directory.

Flags

OptionsDescription
--accountSpecify an accountId or name to fetch fromSupports an alias of --portal for backward compatibility with older versions of the CLI.
--overwriteOverwrite existing files with fetched files.
--modeSpecify if fetching a draft or published version of a file from HubSpot. Click here for more info

Upload a new local asset to your HubSpot account. Changes uploaded through this command will be live immediately.

Arguments

ArgumentDescription
srcRequiredPath to the local file, relative to your current working directory.
destRequiredPath in HubSpot Design Tools, can be a net new path.

Flags

OptionsDescription
--accountSpecify a accountId or name to fetch from.Supports an alias of --portal for backward compatibility with older versions of the CLI.
--modeSpecify if uploaded files are published in HubSpot. See "modes" for more info.
--cleanAn optional flag that will delete the destination directory and its contents before uploading.

Subcommands

SubcommandsDescription
filemanagerUploads the specified src directory to the File Manager, rather than to the developer file system in the Design Manager.Note: Uploaded files will be set to public, making them viewable by anyone with the URL. See our help documentation for more details on file visibility settings.

Watch your local directory and automatically upload changes to your HubSpot account on save. Any changes made when saving will be live immediately.

Keep the following in mind when using watch:

  • Deleting watched files locally will not automatically delete them from HubSpot. To delete files, use --remove.
  • Renaming a folder locally will upload a new folder to HubSpot with the new name. The existing folder in HubSpot will not be deleted automatically. To delete the folder, use --remove.

Arguments

ArgumentDescription
srcRequiredPath to the local directory your files are in, relative to your current working directory.
destRequiredPath in HubSpot Design Tools, can be a net new path.

Flags

FlagDescription
--accountSpecify a accountId or name to fetch fromSupports an alias of --portal for backward compatibility with older versions of the CLI.
--modeSpecify if uploaded files are published or saved as drafts in HubSpot. Learn more about using modes.
--initial-uploadUpload the directory before watching for updates. Supports an alias of -i.
--removeWill cause watch to delete files in your HubSpot account that are not found locally.
--notify=log to specified file when a watch task is triggered and after workers have gone idle.

Moves files within the developer file system from one directory to another. Does not affect files stored locally.

Arguments

ArgumentDescription
srcRequiredPath to the remote developer file system directory your files are in.
destRequiredPath to move assets to within the developer file system.

Flags

FlagDescription
--accountSpecify a accountId or name to move files within. Supports an alias of --portal for backward compatibility with older versions of the CLI.

Creates the folder/file structure of a new asset.

Arguments

ArgumentDescription
typeRequiredType of asset. Supported types include:
nameRequiredThe name of the new asset.
destOptionalThe destination folder for the new asset, relative to your current working directory. If omitted, this will default to your current working directory.

Deletes files, or folders and their files, from your HubSpot account. This does not delete the files and folders stored locally. This command has an alias of rm.

Arguments

ArgumentDescription
pathRequiredThe path of the file or folder in HubSpot's developer file system.

Flags

FlagDescription
--accountSpecify a accountId or name to remove a file from.Supports an alias of --portal for backward compatibility with older versions of the CLI.

You can include a .hsignore file to specify files that should not be tracked when using the CLI. This file functions similar to how .gitignore files work. Files matching the patterns specified in the .hsignore file will not be uploaded to HubSpot when using the upload or watch commands.

When developing a theme, you can run hs theme preview in the theme's root directory to render a live preview of your changes without uploading files to the account. The preview will run on a local proxy server at https://hslocal.net:3000/.

Once run, this command will run a watch process so that any saved changes are rendered in the preview.

Arguments

ArgumentDescription
srcRequiredPath to the local file, relative to your current working directory. This command should be run in the theme's root directory..
destRequiredThe path for the preview. This can be any value, and is only used internally and for display purposes on the preview page.

The main page at https://hslocal.net:3000/ will display a list of your theme's templates and modules, all of which can be individually previewed by clicking the provided links. You'll also see a list of the account's connected domains, which you can use to preview content on specific domains. The domain will be prepended to the hslocal.net domain.

local-theme-preview-homepage

Use these commands to create, delete, fetch, and clear all rows of a HubDB table. The HubSpot account must have access to HubDB to use these commands.

Create a new HubDB table in the HubSpot account.

Flags

FlagDescription
--pathRequiredThe local JSON file to use to generate the HubDB table.
--accountSpecify a accountId or name to create HubDB in. Supports an alias of --portal for backward compatibility with older versions of the CLI.

Download a HubDB table's data to your local machine.

Arguments

ArgumentDescription
table-idRequiredHubDB table id found in the HubDB dashboard.
destThe local path destination to store the hubdb.json file.

When you fetch a HubDB the data is stored as tablename.hubdb.json. When you create a new table you must specify a source JSON file. Below is an example of a table in JSON format.

Clear all of the rows in a HubDB table.

Arguments

ArgumentDescription
tableIdRequiredHubDB table id found in the HubDB dashboard.

Flags

FlagDescription
--accountSpecify a accountId or name to clear HubDB rows from.Supports an alias of --portal for backward compatibility with older versions of the CLI.

Deletes the specified HubDB table from the account. You will be prompted to confirm the deletion before proceeding. You can use the --force flag to bypass this confirmation.

Arguments

ArgumentDescription
table-idRequiredHubDB table ID found in the HubDB dashboard.

Flags

FlagDescription
--accountSpecify a accountId or name to delete HubDB from. Supports an alias of --portal for backward compatibility with older versions of the CLI.
--forceBypass the confirmation prompt and immediately delete the table once the command is executed.

Use these commands to create and debug serverless functions (CMS Hub Enterprise only).

Creates a serverless function using the create command. Running this command will guide you through the steps of creating the function, such as naming its parent and function file and defining its methods and endpoint path.

Prints a list of all of the account's deployed functions, their endpoints, methods, the names of the secrets they use and last updated date.

Arguments

ArgumentDescription
--accountThe HubSpot account nickname from your hubspot.config. This parameter is required if you do not have a defaultAccount in your hubspot.config.Supports an alias of --portal for backward compatibility with older versions of the CLI.
--jsonOutput JSON into the command line with data on all of the functions. The JSON data includes, portal id, function id, route, raw asset path, method, secrets, created and last modified dates.

Prints a log from your serverless function. Displays any console.logs contained within your function after execution. Logs also include execution time. Logs are retained for 90 days.

Arguments

ArgumentDescription
endpoint-nameRequiredThe endpoint name as defined in your serverless.json file (not the path to the function file).
--fileOutput the logs to function.log.
--followTail the logs to get a live update as you are executing your serverless functions.
--latestOutput only the most recent log.
--accountThe HubSpot account nickname from your hubspot.config. This parameter is required if you do not have a defaultPortal in your hubspot.config.Supports an alias of --portal for backward compatibility with older versions of the CLI.
--compactHides log output. Returns success/error and execution time.
--limit=limit the amount of logs displayed in the output.

Add a secret to your account which can be used within serverless functions. After running the command you will be prompted to enter the secret's value.

To expose the secret to your function, update your serverless.json file with the secret's name, either to the specific endpoints you want to use it in or globally to make it available to all.

Arguments

ArgumentDescription
secret-nameRequiredName of the secret to add.

Update the value of a secret in your account which can be used within serverless functions. You will then be prompted to enter the secret's value.

Arguments

ArgumentDescription
secret-nameRequiredThe name of the secret, which you'll later use to reference the secret. This can be any unique value, though it's recommended to keep it simple for ease of use.

Remove a secret from your account, making it no longer usable within serverless functions. After running this command, edit your serverless.json file to remove the secret's name. You will be prompted to confirm the deletion before proceeding. You can use the --force flag to bypass this confirmation.

Arguments

ArgumentDescription
secret-nameRequiredName of secret you want to remove.

Flags

FlagDescription
--forceBypass the confirmation prompt and immediately delete the table once the command is executed.

List secrets within your account to know what you have stored already using the add secrets command.

There are so many parts of the HubSpot app that developers need to access frequently. To make it easier to get to these tools you can open them directly from the command line. Your defaultAccount or --account argument will be used to open the associated tool for that account.

Arguments

ArgumentDescription
shortcutRequiredProvide the full shortcut name or alias of the short cut you wish to open in your browser.

Arguments

ArgumentDescription
--listRequiredLists all of the shortcuts, their aliases and destinations.

If you use the CLI frequently, it can be useful to be-able-to tab to auto-complete commands.

For Mac OS X

Uses Google's Lighthouse tools to score the quality of your themes and templates for their adherence to the following categories:

  • Accessibility
  • Web best practices
  • Performance
  • PWA
  • SEO

The following types of templates are scored:

  • landing pages
  • website pages
  • Blog posts
  • Blog listing page

If any templates fail to generate a score because of Lighthouse errors, a list of these templates will be provided.

Flags

FlagDescription
--theme-pathRequiredPath to a theme in the Design Manager.
--verbose
  • When this parameter is excluded, the returned score is an average of all the theme's templates (default).
  • When this parameter is included, the individual template scores are shown. You'll also receive Lighthouse report links for each template.
--targetThis can either be desktop or mobile to see respective scores. By default, the target is desktop.

To fetch an existing React theme from your account, use the following command:

Arguments

ArgumentDescription
nameThe name of the module to download.
destThe destination on your local machine to download the module to.

When creating a theme, use the following command to generate an editor-preview.json file which maps CSS selectors to theme fields. This enables content creators to see which theme elements will be impacted by updates to a field's styling options.

After running the command, you'll need to review and refine the editor-preview.json file to ensure that fields and selectors are mapped properly. While this command will make a rudimentary guess as to which fields affect which selectors, you'll need to make corrections based on how your theme is built. For example, this command cannot detect when modules are overriding styling or when you're using macros. Learn more about theme editor field highlighting.

The \--mode option allows you to determine if local changes are published when uploaded to HubSpot. This option can be used in each command or set as a default in your hubspot.config.yml file.

The two options for \--mode are \--mode=draft and \--mode=publish.

The following is the order of precedence for setting \--mode:

  1. Using \--mode in a command will override all other settings.
  2. Setting a defaultMode for each account in your hubspot.config.yml file, removes the need to use \--mode in each command. It will override the top-level setting.
  3. Setting a defaultMode at the top-level in your hubspot.config.yml file, sets a default\--mode for all accounts. It will override the default behavior.
  4. The default behavior for \--mode is publish.

The HubSpot CLI supports the use of environment variables, this can be especially useful when creating automations like a GitHub Action.

Run any command using the --use-env flag to use the environment variables instead of the hubspot.config.yml.

NameDescription
HUBSPOT_ACCOUNT_IDRequiredThe HubSpot account ID.
HUBSPOT_PERSONAL_ACCESS_KEYRecommendedThe personal access key of a user on the HubSpot account. All updates made will be associated to this user.
HUBSPOT_CLIENT_IDThe OAuth client ID.
HUBSPOT_CLIENT_SECRETThe OAuth secret.

The CLI provides a suite of automated tests you can perform on your assets to get them in-line with the marketplace requirements prior to submitting. Passing all automated tests does not mean you will for sure pass the review process, further review is conducted to ensure quality beyond what can be easily automated.

The theme validation command allows you to quickly run automated tests on your theme to identify problems that need to be fixed prior to submission to the asset marketplace. These will be returned in your CLI as a list of [error] and [success] messages separated into groups that represent types of assets within a theme.

Before you can validate a theme, you'll first need to upload it to your account with hs upload. Then, run the following command to validate the uploaded theme.

Arguments

ArgumentDescription
pathRequiredRoot relative path to the theme folder in the design manager.

Similar to validating a theme, this command allows you to quickly run automated tests on a module to identify problems that need to be fixed prior to submission to the asset marketplace.

Before you can validate a module, you'll first need to upload it to your account with hs upload. Then, run the following command to validate the uploaded module.

Arguments

ArgumentDescription
srcRequiredRoot relative path to the module folder in the design manager.

Manage custom objects using the schema subcommand to manage custom object schemas and the create subcommand to create a new custom object.

To fetch the schema for an existing custom object, run the following command:

Arguments

ArgumentDescription
nameThe name of the custom object to fetch the schema for.
destThe destination on your local machine to save the schema to.

Fetch the schemas for all custom objects in an account.

Arguments

ArgumentDescription
destThe destination on your local machine to save the schemas to.

Update the schema for an existing custom object with the definition at the provided path.

Flags

FlagDescription
--pathThe path to a schema definition located on your local machine.

Delete the schema for an existing custom object. You will be prompted to confirm the deletion before proceeding. You can use the --force flag to bypass this confirmation.

Arguments

FlagDescription
nameThe name of the custom object schema to delete.

Create a new custom object with the provided definition for its schema.

Arguments

FlagDescription
nameThe name of your new custom object schema.

Flags

FlagDescription
--pathThe path to a schema definition located on your local machine.

If you're building UI extensions for a private app or public app, or you're building CMS React modules, you can use the HubSpot CLI to manage your projects.

A full reference of project-related commands, as well as any commands related to managing your sandboxes, can be found in this article.