CLI

Nitro ships with a nitro command to develop, build, preview, and deploy your project.

When nitro is installed as a project dependency, run it through your package manager (npx nitro, pnpm nitro, yarn nitro, bun nitro, ...) or add it to your package.json scripts:

package.json

{
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "nitro dev",
    "build": "nitro build",
    "preview": "nitro preview"
  }
}

Then use npm run dev, pnpm dev, etc. as shown in the quick start guide.

Every command supports --help for an overview of its arguments (for example nitro build --help), and nitro --version prints the installed Nitro version.

All commands accept a project root directory, either as a positional argument (nitro build ./my-app) or with the --dir flag (preferred). It defaults to the current directory.

Using Nitro as a Vite plugin? Prefer the Vite CLI (vite dev, vite build, vite preview) — the Nitro dev server does not support the Vite builder.

`nitro dev`

Start the development server with hot reloading.

npx nitro dev [--dir <dir>] [--port <port>] [--host <host>]

Flag	Description
`--dir`	Project root directory.
`--port`	Port to listen on.
`--host`	Hostname to listen on.

The dev server watches your Nitro config: changes to runtimeConfig or routeRules are hot reloaded, while other config changes trigger a full dev server restart.

Example:

npx nitro dev --port 4000 --host 0.0.0.0

`nitro build`

Build the project for production. Nitro prepares the build directory, copies public assets, prerenders any configured routes, and bundles the server into the output directory (.output/ by default).

npx nitro build [--dir <dir>] [--preset <preset>] [--minify] [--builder <builder>] [--compatibility-date <date>]

Flag	Description
`--dir`	Project root directory.
`--preset`	The deployment preset to build for (you can also use the `NITRO_PRESET` environment variable).
`--minify`	Minify the output, overriding preset defaults. Use `--no-minify` to disable minification.
`--builder`	The bundler to use: `rollup`, `rolldown`, or `vite` (you can also use the `NITRO_BUILDER` environment variable).
`--compatibility-date`	The date to use for preset compatibility (you can also use the `NITRO_COMPATIBILITY_DATE` environment variable).

Example:

npx nitro build --preset cloudflare_module

Both set the deployment preset, and the --preset flag takes precedence over the NITRO_PRESET environment variable. The environment variable is handy on deployment platforms and in CI, where you often cannot change the build command:

NITRO_PRESET=cloudflare_module npm run build

`nitro prepare`

Generate the project types (in node_modules/.nitro/types by default) without building.

npx nitro prepare [--dir <dir>]

Flag	Description
`--dir`	Project root directory.

Running nitro prepare in a postinstall script keeps generated types up to date for your editor after each install.

`nitro preview`

Start a local server to preview the production build output.

npx nitro preview [--dir <dir>] [--port <port>] [--host <host>]

Flag	Description
`--dir`	Project root directory.
`--port`	Port to listen on.
`--host`	Hostname to listen on.

Example:

npx nitro build
npx nitro preview

`nitro deploy`

Build the project, then run the deploy command of the selected preset.

npx nitro deploy [--dir <dir>] [--prebuilt] [build flags...] [-- <extra deploy args>]

Flag	Description
`--prebuilt`	Skip the build step and deploy the existing build output.

All nitro build flags (--preset, --minify, --builder, --compatibility-date, ...) are also accepted and applied to the build step. Any arguments after -- are appended to the underlying deploy command.

Not all presets support nitro deploy. If the selected preset does not define a deploy command (or no build output is found), the command fails with an error. In that case, use a different preset, configure a deploy command in your Nitro config, or deploy manually following the deployment guide of your provider.

Example:

# Build with the cloudflare_module preset, then run wrangler deploy
npx nitro deploy --preset cloudflare_module

# Deploy an existing build without rebuilding
npx nitro deploy --prebuilt

`nitro task`

Operate on Nitro tasks (experimental).

Tasks support is experimental and requires the experimental.tasks flag. The task subcommands work against the currently running dev server, so run them in a second terminal while nitro dev is running. See the tasks documentation for details.

`nitro task list`

List available tasks with their descriptions.

npx nitro task list [--dir <dir>]

Flag	Description
`--dir`	Project root directory.

`nitro task run`

Run a task by name, optionally with a JSON payload.

npx nitro task run <name> [--dir <dir>] [--payload <json>]

Flag	Description
`--dir`	Project root directory.
`--payload`	JSON string parsed and passed to the task as its payload.

Example:

npx nitro task run db:migrate --payload '{"force": true}'

`nitro docs`

Explore the Nitro documentation from your terminal (powered by mdzilla), optionally starting at a specific page path.

npx nitro docs [page]

Server Entry

Use a server entry to create a global middleware that runs for all routes before they are matched.

Vite

Use Nitro as a Vite plugin to build full-stack applications, and choose the builder that bundles your server.