CLI Reference

Accent CMS uses subcommands for all operations. Run accent --help to see available commands, or accent <command> --help for details on a specific command.

Global Options

These flags are available on the top-level accent binary, before any subcommand.

Flag	Short	Description
--version	-V	Print version and git commit hash
--help	-h	Print help

accent init [PATH]

Create a new Accent CMS project with starter files.

Argument	Default	Description
PATH	. (current directory)	Directory to initialize

Creates config.yaml, a starter content page at content/01.home/default.md, and the simple theme at themes/simple/ with base templates.

# Initialize in the current directory
accent init

# Initialize in a new directory
accent init my-site

accent serve

Start the development web server.

Flag	Short	Default	Description
--config <PATH>	-c	config.yaml	Path to configuration file
--site-dir <PATH>			Project root directory (sets content and theme directories relative to it)
--content-dir <PATH>			Override content directory
--theme-dir <PATH>			Override themes directory
--theme <NAME>			Override active theme name
--address <ADDR>			Override server bind address
--port <PORT>	-p		Override server port
--production			Disable dev features (hot reload, browser reload, debug). Requires Standard or Pro license.
--tls			Enable HTTPS. Generates a self-signed certificate if --cert/--key are not provided.
--cert <PATH>			Path to a PEM certificate file. Requires --tls and a Standard or Pro license.
--key <PATH>			Path to a PEM private key file. Requires --tls and a Standard or Pro license.

By default, accent serve runs in development mode with hot reload, browser auto-refresh, and the debug panel enabled. Use --production to disable all dev features for production deployments.

CLI arguments take precedence over values in config.yaml.

# Start with defaults (dev mode)
accent serve

# Custom port
accent serve --port 3000

# Test with different content and theme
accent serve --content-dir ./site/content/test --theme dark

# Use a separate config file
accent serve --config staging.yaml

# Production mode
accent serve --production

# Enable HTTPS with a self-signed certificate (all editions)
accent serve --tls

# HTTPS with custom certificates (Standard or Pro license required)
accent serve --tls --cert /path/to/cert.pem --key /path/to/key.pem

# Combine multiple options
accent serve --content-dir ./demo --theme minimal --port 8080

Serving Arbitrary Content Directories

Accent CMS can serve any directory of markdown files, not just those following CMS conventions. Use --content-dir to point at any markdown collection:

# Serve a project's docs folder
accent serve --content-dir ./docs

# Serve any markdown collection
accent serve --content-dir ~/notes

See the Getting Started guide for details on index file recognition, automatic title derivation, and template fallback.

accent build

Generate a static site as HTML, CSS, and assets.

Flag	Short	Default	Description
--config <PATH>	-c	config.yaml	Path to configuration file
--output <PATH>	-o	output	Output directory for the built site
--clean			Remove existing output directory before building
--base-url <URL>			Base URL for absolute links in sitemap and feed (fallback: site.url from config)
--site-dir <PATH>			Project root directory override
--content-dir <PATH>			Override content directory
--theme-dir <PATH>			Override themes directory
--theme <NAME>			Override active theme name

The static build requires no license key.

# Build with defaults
accent build

# Build to a custom directory, cleaning first
accent build --output ./dist --clean

# Build with a base URL for sitemap and feed
accent build --base-url https://example.com

accent validate

Validate content integrity across all pages. Checks for missing templates, broken internal links, invalid dates, orphaned pages, and missing required fields.

Flag	Short	Default	Description
--config <PATH>	-c	config.yaml	Path to configuration file
--site-dir <PATH>			Project root directory override
--content-dir <PATH>			Override content directory
--theme-dir <PATH>			Override themes directory
--theme <NAME>			Override active theme name
--templates			Validate only template syntax (skip content validation). Parses all .jinja/.j2 files and reports syntax errors.

# Validate all content
accent validate

# Validate with a specific config
accent validate --config prod.yaml

# Validate template syntax only (fast feedback loop)
accent validate --templates

# Use in CI pipelines (exits with code 1 if problems found)
accent validate || echo "Content issues found"

accent serve-static

Serve a pre-built static site from a local directory. Useful for previewing the output of accent build before deploying, or for running parity checks between the dynamic server and the static build.

Flag	Short	Default	Description
--dir <PATH>	-d	output	Directory to serve
--address <ADDR>		127.0.0.1	Server bind address
--port <PORT>	-p	4403	Server port
--tls			Enable HTTPS. Generates a self-signed certificate if --cert/--key are not provided.
--cert <PATH>			Path to a PEM certificate file. Requires --tls and a Standard or Pro license.
--key <PATH>			Path to a PEM private key file. Requires --tls and a Standard or Pro license.
--config <PATH>	-c	config.yaml	Path to config file (used for license key lookup only)
--open			Open the URL in the default browser after starting

# Build then preview
accent build --clean
accent serve-static

# Serve from a custom directory on a custom port
accent serve-static --dir ./dist --port 8080

# Preview with HTTPS (self-signed certificate, all editions)
accent serve-static --tls

# HTTPS with custom certificates (Standard or Pro license required)
accent serve-static --tls --cert cert.pem --key key.pem

# Open the browser automatically
accent serve-static --open

accent plugin Free

Manage WASM plugins. The accent plugin commands require no license key.

Flag	Short	Default	Description
--config <PATH>	-c	config.yaml	Configuration file (for plugin directory)

Subcommands

Subcommand	Description
plugin list	List all installed plugins with name, version, hooks, filters, and routes
plugin info <NAME>	Show detailed plugin metadata from plugin.toml
plugin install <NAME[@VERSION]>	Install a plugin from the registry (supports version pinning)
plugin remove <NAME>	Remove an installed plugin

# List installed plugins
accent plugin list

# Show details for a plugin
accent plugin info syntax-highlight

# Install a plugin (latest version)
accent plugin install my-plugin

# Install a specific version
accent plugin install my-plugin@1.0.0

# Remove a plugin
accent plugin remove old-plugin

accent query Free

Query content, tags, and hierarchy from the command line. Requires no license key.

Shared Flags

Flag	Short	Default	Description
--config <PATH>	-c	config.yaml	Path to configuration file
--site-dir <PATH>			Project root directory override
--content-dir <PATH>			Override content directory
--theme-dir <PATH>			Override themes directory
--theme <NAME>			Override active theme name

Subcommands

Subcommand	Description
query page <URL>	Get a single page by URL path
query list	List pages matching filter criteria
query tags [TAG]	List tags with page counts (optionally filter to one tag)
query tree	Show the content hierarchy tree
query schema	Show the content model schema
query search <TERM>	Search content by text
query validate [URL]	Validate content integrity (optionally for a single page)

query page

Argument / Flag	Default	Description
URL (required)		Page URL path (e.g., /blog/my-post)
--include-content		Include raw markdown content in output
--format <FORMAT>	json	Output format: json, yaml, plain
--fields <FIELDS>		Comma-separated list of fields to include

query list

Flag	Default	Description
--tag <TAG>		Filter by tag name
--author <AUTHOR>		Filter by author
--status <STATUS>		Filter by status (published, draft, review, archived)
--path <PATH>		Filter by URL path glob (e.g., /blog/*)
--template <TEMPLATE>		Filter by template name
--language <LANGUAGE>		Filter by language code
--sort <FIELD>	date	Sort field: date, title, url, modified
--order <ORDER>	desc	Sort order: asc, desc
--limit <NUM>	50	Maximum pages to return
--offset <NUM>	0	Offset for pagination
--format <FORMAT>	json	Output format: json, yaml, plain
--fields <FIELDS>		Comma-separated list of fields to include
--nav		Show only navigation-visible pages (menu-visible, published, top-level). Sorted by menu.order then URL.

query tags

Argument / Flag	Default	Description
TAG (optional)		Filter to a specific tag name
--include-pages		Include page URLs for each tag
--format <FORMAT>	json	Output format: json, yaml, plain

query tree

Flag	Default	Description
--root <URL>	/	Root URL for subtree
--flat		Output flat list with parent references instead of nested tree
--format <FORMAT>	json	Output format: json, yaml, plain

query schema

Flag	Default	Description
--format <FORMAT>	json	Output format: json, yaml, plain

query search

Argument / Flag	Default	Description
TERM (required)		Search term
--in <FIELDS>	title,content,tags	Fields to search in (comma-separated). Allowed: title, content, tags, lead, frontmatter
--limit <NUM>	20	Maximum results
--format <FORMAT>	json	Output format: json, yaml, plain
--fields <FIELDS>		Comma-separated list of fields to include in results

query validate

Argument / Flag	Default	Description
URL (optional)		Validate a specific page only
--format <FORMAT>	json	Output format: json, yaml, plain

This wraps the same validation infrastructure as the top-level accent validate command but with structured output and optional per-page targeting. For CI pipelines, prefer accent validate which returns exit code 1 on errors and produces human-readable output.

Shared Output Options

All query subcommands support --format to control output:

• json (default) – machine-readable JSON
• yaml – human-friendly YAML
• plain – minimal plain-text output

Subcommands that return page data also support --fields to select specific fields (e.g., --fields title,url,date).

# Get details for a specific page
accent query page /blog/my-post

# Include raw markdown content
accent query page /blog/my-post --include-content

# List recent blog posts
accent query list --path "/blog/*" --limit 10

# Filter by tag and author
accent query list --tag rust --author "Jane Doe"

# List navigation-visible pages (matches the `pages` template variable)
accent query list --nav

# List all tags with page counts
accent query tags

# Show pages for a specific tag
accent query tags rust --include-pages

# Show content hierarchy
accent query tree

# Show subtree starting from /docs
accent query tree --root /docs

# Show content schema
accent query schema --format yaml

# Search across content
accent query search "getting started"

# Search only in titles and tags
accent query search "rust" --in title,tags

# Validate all content (JSON report)
accent query validate

# Validate a single page
accent query validate /blog/my-post

accent docs

Generate agent-friendly documentation, template reference material, and serve the built-in documentation site.

Subcommands

Subcommand	Description
docs agent-readme	Write agent-tools-README.md command reference to the current directory
docs claude-md	Append CMS Content Operations section to ./CLAUDE.md
docs template-filters	Print all available template filters, tests, and functions to stdout
docs template-context	Print template context variable schema with types to stdout
docs serve	Serve the built-in documentation site from the binary

# Print filter/function reference (pipe to a file or read directly)
accent docs template-filters

# Print template context variable schema
accent docs template-context

# Generate agent tool documentation
accent docs agent-readme

# Serve the built-in documentation site
accent docs serve

# Serve on a custom port
accent docs serve --port 8080

accent license

Manage license keys from the command line. Offline commands (status, activate, deactivate) work with no license key. Browser-based commands (buy, renew, refund) require a Standard or Pro license.

Flag	Short	Default	Description
--config <PATH>	-c	config.yaml	Path to configuration file

Subcommands

Subcommand	Description	Network?
license status	Show current license details (edition, org, email, expiry, status)	No
license activate <KEY>	Validate a JWT key and save it to config.yaml. Pass - to read from stdin.	No
license deactivate	Remove the license key from config.yaml	No
license buy	Open Polar.sh checkout in the browser and receive the key via localhost callback	Yes (browser)
license renew	Open the renewal page for the current license	Yes (browser)
license refund	Open the Polar.sh customer portal for refund requests	Yes (browser)

license buy

Flag	Description
--edition <EDITION>	Edition to purchase: standard or pro. Skips the interactive selection prompt.

# Show current license status (offline, works in all editions)
accent license status

# Activate a license key from email or team admin
accent license activate eyJhbGciOiJFZERTQSIs...

# Activate from stdin (CI/CD pipelines)
echo "$LICENSE_KEY" | accent license activate -

# Remove the license key (server reverts to dev mode)
accent license deactivate

# Purchase a license (opens browser, receives key via callback)
accent license buy

# Purchase a specific edition directly
accent license buy --edition standard

# Renew an existing license
accent license renew

# Request a refund via the Polar.sh portal
accent license refund

The buy and renew commands start a temporary localhost server to receive the license key after the browser flow completes. If the browser flow does not complete within 5 minutes, you can paste the key manually at the terminal prompt.

When the ACCENTCMS_LICENSE environment variable is set, it takes priority over the key in config.yaml. The CLI warns about this during activate and buy operations.

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Overrides
ACCENTCMS_LICENSE	License key for Standard/Pro editions	license.key in config
RUST_LOG	Detailed log filtering using the tracing directives format	Standard Rust logging

The default log filter is accent=info,tower_http=debug. Set RUST_LOG for fine-grained control:

# Enable debug logging for all Accent CMS modules
RUST_LOG=accent=debug accent serve

# Trace-level logging for content loading
RUST_LOG=accent::content=trace accent serve

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success
1	Content validation found problems (accent validate), or a config-load failure
2	Query error (accent query error path)