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Environment Setup

To build extension CLI locally you will need Node.js and any web IDE of your choice.

Developing the CLI requires two projects open at the same time:

  1. the CLI source code, which you are developing
  2. a driver project that is used to execute the CLI commands

The following instructions explain how to set up this environment.

Instructions

1. Setup the CLI

  1. Fork the extension-CLI repo

  2. Clone the forked repo and then open it in your favorite web IDE

  3. Run the following command in terminal: 

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npm install

2. Setup driver project

Next you will need a project to drive the CLI to be able to execute its commands. You can use any existing extension project that is using extension-cli.

If you do not have an existing project, create a new project. In the directory where you want to create the driver project run:

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npx extension-cli

then follow the on-screen instructions. Once you have the project ready, open it in a web IDE. At this point you should have two IDE windows open.

  1. In CLI project terminal run this command (use sudo npm link if necessary):

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    npm link


  2. In the driver project terminal run this command: 

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    npm link extension-cli

Your dev environment should now be ready to use.

Clean up

Unlink CLI and driver project to remove all local links.

In the driver project terminal run: 

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npm unlink --no-save extension-cli

to unlink project from the local CLI version. Note that this may remove extension-cli from the project completely, and you may need to run install extension-cli to add back the version from NPM registry. This is relevant only if you used an existing project as a driver.

In CLI project terminal run:

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npm r extension-cli -g

to remove the CLI symlink.