CLI Commands

Nuxt provides CLI commands via nuxi (or npx nuxt) for development, building, and project management.

Project Initialization

Create New Project

# Interactive project creation
npx nuxi@latest init my-app

# With specific package manager
npx nuxi@latest init my-app --packageManager pnpm

# With modules
npx nuxi@latest init my-app --modules "@nuxt/ui,@nuxt/image"

# From template
npx nuxi@latest init my-app --template v3

# Skip module selection prompt
npx nuxi@latest init my-app --no-modules

Options:

Development

Start Dev Server

# Start development server (default: http://localhost:3000)
npx nuxt dev

# Custom port
npx nuxt dev --port 4000

# Open in browser
npx nuxt dev --open

# Listen on all interfaces (for mobile testing)
npx nuxt dev --host 0.0.0.0

# With HTTPS
npx nuxt dev --https

# Clear console on restart
npx nuxt dev --clear

# Create public tunnel
npx nuxt dev --tunnel

Options:

Environment Variables:

• NUXT_PORT or PORT - Default port
• NUXT_HOST or HOST - Default host

Building

Production Build

# Build for production
npx nuxt build

# Build with prerendering
npx nuxt build --prerender

# Build with specific preset
npx nuxt build --preset node-server
npx nuxt build --preset cloudflare-pages
npx nuxt build --preset vercel

# Build with environment
npx nuxt build --envName staging

Output is created in .output/ directory.

Static Generation

# Generate static site (prerenders all routes)
npx nuxt generate

Equivalent to nuxt build --prerender. Creates static HTML files for deployment to static hosting.

Preview Production Build

# Preview after build
npx nuxt preview

# Custom port
npx nuxt preview --port 4000

Utilities

Prepare (Type Generation)

# Generate TypeScript types and .nuxt directory
npx nuxt prepare

Run after cloning or when types are missing.

Type Check

# Run TypeScript type checking
npx nuxt typecheck

Analyze Bundle

# Analyze production bundle
npx nuxt analyze

Opens visual bundle analyzer.

Cleanup

# Remove generated files (.nuxt, .output, node_modules/.cache)
npx nuxt cleanup

Info

# Show environment info (useful for bug reports)
npx nuxt info

Upgrade

# Upgrade Nuxt to latest version
npx nuxt upgrade

# Upgrade to nightly release
npx nuxt upgrade --nightly

Module Commands

Add Module

# Add a Nuxt module
npx nuxt module add @nuxt/ui
npx nuxt module add @nuxt/image

Installs and adds to nuxt.config.ts.

Build Module (for module authors)

# Build a Nuxt module
npx nuxt build-module

DevTools

# Enable DevTools globally
npx nuxt devtools enable

# Disable DevTools
npx nuxt devtools disable

Common Workflows

Development

# Install dependencies and start dev
pnpm install
pnpm dev  # or npx nuxt dev

Production Deployment

# Build and preview locally
pnpm build
pnpm preview

# Or for static hosting
pnpm generate

After Cloning

# Install deps and prepare types
pnpm install
npx nuxt prepare

Environment-specific Builds

# Development build
npx nuxt build --envName development

# Staging build
npx nuxt build --envName staging

# Production build (default)
npx nuxt build --envName production

Corresponds to $development, $env.staging, $production in nuxt.config.ts.

Layer Extension

# Dev with additional layer
npx nuxt dev --extends ./base-layer

# Build with layer
npx nuxt build --extends ./base-layer

<!-- Source references:

• https://nuxt.com/docs/api/commands/dev
• https://nuxt.com/docs/api/commands/build
• https://nuxt.com/docs/api/commands/generate
• https://nuxt.com/docs/api/commands/init

-->