Bench CLI Complete Reference

Complete bench CLI reference for site management, app lifecycle, configuration, and multi-tenancy.

Version: v14/v15/v16

Quick Reference: Essential Commands

Workflow 1: Creating a New Bench

# Initialize bench with specific Frappe version
bench init myproject --frappe-branch version-15

# With Python version
bench init myproject --frappe-branch version-15 --python python3.11

# Enter bench directory (REQUIRED for all subsequent commands)
cd myproject

What `bench init` creates:

myproject/
├── apps/           # Installed Frappe apps (frappe is default)
├── sites/          # All sites and shared config
│   └── common_site_config.json
├── config/         # Redis, Procfile, supervisor configs
├── env/            # Python virtual environment
├── logs/           # Log files
└── Procfile        # Process definitions for bench start

Critical Rules

• ALWAYS specify --frappe-branch to pin Frappe version
• ALWAYS run commands from inside the bench directory
• NEVER run bench commands as root — use a dedicated frappe user

Workflow 2: Site Management

Creating Sites

# Basic site creation
bench new-site mysite.localhost --admin-password admin

# With specific database
bench new-site mysite.localhost --db-name mysite_db --admin-password admin

# With MariaDB root password
bench new-site mysite.localhost --mariadb-root-password rootpass --admin-password admin

# Install apps during creation
bench new-site mysite.localhost --admin-password admin --install-app erpnext

Setting Default Site

bench use mysite.localhost
# OR set environment variable for current session:
export FRAPPE_SITE=mysite.localhost

Dropping a Site

bench drop-site mysite.localhost --force
# Deletes database and archives site directory

Site Directory Structure

sites/mysite.localhost/
├── site_config.json     # Site-specific config (db credentials)
├── private/             # Auth-required files, backups
├── public/              # Publicly accessible files
├── locks/               # Scheduler lock files
└── task-logs/           # Scheduler task logs

Workflow 3: App Management

# Download app from GitHub
bench get-app erpnext --branch version-15
bench get-app https://github.com/org/custom-app.git --branch main

# Install app on a site
bench --site mysite install-app erpnext

# List installed apps
bench --site mysite list-apps

# Remove app from site (creates backup first)
bench --site mysite uninstall-app custom_app

# Remove app from bench entirely
bench remove-app custom_app

# Switch app branch
bench switch-to-branch version-15 erpnext frappe

# Exclude app from updates
bench exclude-app custom_app

# Re-include app in updates
bench include-app custom_app

Critical Rules

• ALWAYS get-app before install-app — get downloads, install activates
• ALWAYS backup before uninstall-app — it deletes app-related data
• NEVER manually delete app folders — use bench remove-app

Workflow 4: bench update: What It Does

# Full update (pull + migrate + build + restart)
bench update

# Update specific app only
bench update --pull --app erpnext

# Skip build step
bench update --no-build

# Skip backup
bench update --no-backup

# Reset to upstream (DESTROYS local changes)
bench update --reset

`bench update` executes these steps in order:

1. Backup all sites
2. Pull latest code for all apps (git pull)
3. Install Python/Node requirements
4. Build static assets (bench build)
5. Run migrations on all sites (bench migrate)
6. Restart bench processes

Critical Rules

• ALWAYS run bench update in a screen/tmux session — it takes time
• NEVER use --reset in production without understanding it does git reset --hard
• ALWAYS test updates on staging first

Workflow 5: bench migrate

# Migrate specific site
bench --site mysite migrate

# Migrate all sites
bench --site all migrate

# Check if safe to migrate (no pending jobs)
bench --site mysite ready-for-migration

What `bench migrate` does:

1. Runs schema sync (DocType changes → database)
2. Runs patches (data migrations)
3. Rebuilds search index
4. Syncs translations
5. Rebuilds Dashboard cache

When to Migrate

• After bench update (done automatically)
• After changing hooks.py
• After adding/modifying DocTypes
• After pulling code changes
• NEVER skip migrate after code changes — leads to schema mismatches

Workflow 6: bench build

# Build all apps
bench build

# Build specific app
bench build --app myapp

# Build with bundle analyzer
bench build --app myapp --production

# Watch mode (auto-rebuild on file changes)
bench watch

When to Build

• After changing JS/CSS files
• After bench get-app (done automatically)
• After modifying package.json
• ALWAYS build after modifying client-side assets

Workflow 7: Console and Database Access

# IPython console (with Frappe loaded)
bench --site mysite console
# In console:
# >>> frappe.get_doc("Sales Invoice", "INV-001")
# >>> frappe.db.sql("SELECT name FROM `tabUser` LIMIT 5")

# Auto-reload on code changes
bench --site mysite console --autoreload

# MariaDB shell
bench --site mysite mariadb
# >>> SELECT name, email FROM tabUser LIMIT 5;

# PostgreSQL shell
bench --site mysite postgres

# Execute a method directly
bench --site mysite execute myapp.tasks.daily_cleanup
bench --site mysite execute myapp.api.process --kwargs '{"name": "INV-001"}'

# Make authenticated request as Administrator
bench --site mysite request GET /api/resource/User

Workflow 8: Backup and Restore

# Backup (database + files)
bench --site mysite backup
# Creates: sites/mysite/private/backups/
#   YYYY-MM-DD_HHMMSS-mysite-database.sql.gz
#   YYYY-MM-DD_HHMMSS-mysite-files.tar
#   YYYY-MM-DD_HHMMSS-mysite-private-files.tar

# Backup all sites
bench backup-all-sites

# Backup with encryption
bench --site mysite backup --backup-encryption-key mykey

# Restore from backup
bench --site mysite restore /path/to/database.sql.gz

# Restore with files
bench --site mysite restore /path/to/database.sql.gz \
  --with-public-files /path/to/files.tar \
  --with-private-files /path/to/private-files.tar

# Partial restore
bench --site mysite partial-restore /path/to/database.sql.gz

Critical Rules

• ALWAYS backup before bench update, uninstall-app, or drop-site
• Backups older than 24 hours auto-deleted by default — configure keep_backups_for_hours
• ALWAYS test restore on a staging site before relying on a backup

Workflow 9: Scheduler and Background Jobs

# Enable/disable scheduler
bench --site mysite scheduler enable
bench --site mysite scheduler disable
bench --site mysite scheduler pause
bench --site mysite scheduler resume

# Check scheduler health
bench doctor

# View queued jobs
bench show-pending-jobs

# Purge pending jobs
bench --site mysite purge-jobs

# Manually trigger scheduler event
bench --site mysite trigger-scheduler-event hourly

# Start worker manually (for debugging)
bench worker --queue short

Workflow 10: Multi-Tenancy

DNS-Based Routing (Recommended)

# Enable DNS multi-tenancy
bench config dns_multitenant on

# Create sites with proper hostnames
bench new-site site1.example.com --admin-password admin
bench new-site site2.example.com --admin-password admin

# Regenerate nginx config
bench setup nginx

# Reload nginx
sudo service nginx reload

Requests are routed by matching the Host header to site names.

Port-Based Routing (Alternative)

bench config dns_multitenant off
bench new-site site2.localhost --admin-password admin
bench set-nginx-port site2.localhost 8082
bench setup nginx
sudo service nginx reload

Custom Domain Mapping

# Add domain to site
bench setup add-domain site1.example.com --site mysite
bench setup nginx
sudo service nginx reload

Configuration: common_site_config.json

Located at sites/common_site_config.json — applies to ALL sites.

Essential Keys

Redis Configuration

Setting Config Values

# Set common config (all sites)
bench config set-common-config -c background_workers 4
bench config set-common-config -c developer_mode 1

# Set site-specific config
bench --site mysite set-config developer_mode 1
bench --site mysite set-config maintenance_mode 1

# View current config
bench --site mysite show-config

Configuration: site_config.json

Per-site config at sites/<sitename>/site_config.json.

Mandatory Keys

Important Optional Keys

Environment Variable Overrides

Environment variables override config files. Key mappings: FRAPPE_REDIS_QUEUE, FRAPPE_REDIS_CACHE, FRAPPE_DB_HOST, FRAPPE_DB_PORT, FRAPPE_DB_NAME, FRAPPE_DB_PASSWORD.

Priority: Environment Variable > site_config.json > common_site_config.json > Default

Production Setup

sudo bench setup production frappe-user   # nginx + supervisor + fail2ban
bench setup lets-encrypt mysite.example.com  # SSL
sudo bench restart                          # Restart services
bench disable-production                    # Back to development

Version Differences

Reference Files