Documentation
API reference
CLI

Ponder CLI

The Ponder CLI (provided by the @ponder/core package) is the entrypoint for your Ponder project.

Usage: ponder <command> [OPTIONS]
 
Options:
  --root <PATH>          Path to the project root directory (default: working directory)
  --config <PATH>        Path to the project config file (default: "ponder.config.ts")
  -v, --debug            Enable debug logs, e.g. realtime blocks, internal events
  -vv, --trace           Enable trace logs, e.g. db queries, indexing checkpoints
  --log-level <LEVEL>    Minimum log level ("error", "warn", "info", "debug", or "trace") (default: "info")
  --log-format <FORMAT>  The log format ("pretty" or "json") (default: "pretty")
  -V, --version          Show the version number
  -h, --help             Show this help message
 
Commands:
  dev [options]          Start the development server with hot reloading
  start [options]        Start the production server
  serve [options]        Start the production HTTP server without the indexer
  codegen                Generate the schema.graphql file, then exit

dev

Start the app in development mode.

  • The app automatically restarts when changes are detected in any project file.
  • An auto-updating terminal UI displays useful information.
Usage: ponder dev [options]
 
Start the development server with hot reloading
 
Options:
  -p, --port <PORT>          Port for the web server (default: 42069)
  -H, --hostname <HOSTNAME>  Hostname for the web server (default: "0.0.0.0" or "::")
  -h, --help                 display help for command

start

Start the app in production mode.

  • Project files are built once on startup, and file changes are ignored.
  • The terminal UI is disabled.
Usage: ponder start [options]
 
Start the production server
 
Options:
  -p, --port <PORT>          Port for the web server (default: 42069)
  -H, --hostname <HOSTNAME>  Hostname for the web server (default: "0.0.0.0" or "::")
  -h, --help                 display help for command

serve

Start the app in server-only mode. This option can be used to horizontally scale the GraphQL API in production.

  • Only works with Postgres.
  • Project files are built once on startup, and file changes are ignored.
  • The sync and indexing engines is disabled.
  • The GraphQL API server runs as normal, serving data from the connected database.
Usage: ponder serve [options]
 
Start the production HTTP server without the indexer
 
Options:
  -p, --port <PORT>          Port for the web server (default: 42069)
  -H, --hostname <HOSTNAME>  Hostname for the web server (default: "0.0.0.0" or "::")
  -h, --help                 display help for command

codegen

During development (when using ponder dev), codegen runs automatically run when changes are detected in ponder.schema.ts.

Generate the schema.graphql file.

Usage: ponder codegen [options]
 
Generate the schema.graphql file, then exit
 
Options:
  -h, --help  display help for command
Indexing functionscreate-ponder