Introducing the Eclipse Dirigible CLI

We’re excited to announce the new Command Line Interface (CLI) for the Eclipse Dirigible project — available as an NPM package:
👉 @dirigiblelabs/dirigible-cli

This CLI simplifies the entire development lifecycle of Dirigible projects — from creation and startup to live reloading and testing.
With just a few commands, you can bootstrap a new Dirigible application, run it locally, and iterate quickly — all from your terminal.

In this post, we’ll explore two ways to use the CLI:

1. Globally installed CLI
2. CLI as a local development dependency

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🌍 Using the CLI Globally

The simplest way to get started is to install the CLI globally.

1️⃣ Install the CLI Globally

npm install -g @dirigiblelabs/dirigible-cli

Once installed, the dirigible command becomes available globally in your terminal.

2️⃣ Create a New Dirigible Project

Let’s create a new Dirigible project named demo:

dirigible new --name demo

This command generates a ready-to-run project with a simple hello.ts service.

3️⃣ Start the Project

Navigate to your project directory and start it:

cd demo
dirigible start

The project will start on http://localhost:8080 by default.

4️⃣ Test the Hello Service

Open the hello.ts URL in your browser: http://localhost:8080/services/ts/demo/hello.ts.

Use the default credentials: admin / admin

You should receive status code 200 and body Hello World!.

🎉 Your Dirigible project is running successfully!

Alternatively, you can use curl

curl -u admin:admin http://localhost:8080/services/ts/demo/hello.ts

5️⃣ Enable Watch Mode for Live Development

To automatically apply your code changes, start the project in watch mode:

dirigible start --watch

Open the project in VSCode (or your preferred editor):

code .

Edit the hello.ts file to modify the response, for example:

import { response } from "sdk/http";

response.println("Hello from Watch Mode!");

Save the file, refresh your browser at http://localhost:8080/services/ts/demo/hello.ts and you’ll see the updated body Hello from Watch Mode! — no manual restart needed.

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💻 Using the CLI as a Local Development Dependency

You can also install and use the Dirigible CLI locally inside a Node.js project.

1️⃣ Initialize a New Node.js Project

mkdir demo 
cd demo

npm init --yes

2️⃣ Install the CLI as a Dev Dependency

npm install --save-dev @dirigiblelabs/dirigible-cli

3️⃣ Add NPM Scripts

Open your package.json and add:

{
  "scripts": {
    "start": "dirigible start",
    "start:dev": "dirigible start --watch"
  }
}

4️⃣ Add a Sample Service

Create a file named hello.ts in your project root with the following content:

import { response } from "sdk/http";

response.println("Hello World!");

5️⃣ Start the Project

Run your Dirigible project using the start script:

npm run start

Then open http://localhost:8080/services/ts/demo/hello.ts

Use the default credentials admin / admin.

You should receive status code 200 and body Hello World!.

6️⃣ Enable Watch Mode

To automatically reload the project on file changes, use:

npm run start:dev

Now each time you edit and save hello.ts, Dirigible will reload your changes instantly.

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🎯 Conclusion

With the new Eclipse Dirigible CLI, developing and managing Dirigible projects has never been easier.
You can:

• Scaffold new projects instantly
• Run and debug them locally
• Enable live reloads for faster feedback loops

Whether installed globally or used as a local dev dependency, the CLI offers a streamlined developer experience for building cloud-ready applications on top of Eclipse Dirigible.

Try it out today:

👉 https://www.npmjs.com/package/@dirigiblelabs/dirigible-cli

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