# InsForge CLI: Manage Your Backend from the Terminal

24 Feb 2026 • 3 minutes

Junwen Feng

Engineer

We just published `@insforge/cli` on npm. It's a single command-line tool that gives you full control over your InsForge backend: databases, edge functions, storage, deployments, secrets, and documentation — all from the terminal.

But here's the part we're most excited about: **when you set up a project with the CLI, it automatically installs Agent Skills that teach AI coding assistants how to build on InsForge.** That means Claude Code, Cursor, Cline, Windsurf, and 11 other AI agents can configure your backend and write SDK integration code — guided by structured, up-to-date documentation.

## Getting Started

Three commands to go from zero to a fully linked project:

When you run `insforge create` or `insforge link`, the CLI does something extra behind the scenes: it installs **InsForge Agent Skills** into your project directory. More on that below — it's a game changer for AI-assisted development.

## What You Can Do

The CLI covers every InsForge service. Here's a quick tour.

### Database

Query your database directly, inspect schema, and manage imports/exports:

### Edge Functions

List, inspect, deploy, and invoke serverless functions:

### Storage

Full bucket and object management:

### Deployments

Deploy frontend applications with automatic build polling:

### Secrets

Manage environment secrets for your project:

### Documentation

Browse InsForge SDK docs right from the terminal — by feature and language:

Supported features: `db`, `storage`, `functions`, `auth`, `ai`, `realtime`  
Supported languages: `typescript`, `swift`, `kotlin`, `rest-api`

## Built for AI Agents

Every command in the CLI is designed to work in non-interactive, machine-readable mode:

- **`--json`** on any command returns structured JSON instead of formatted tables  
- **`-y`** skips all confirmation prompts  
- **Semantic exit codes** tell agents exactly what went wrong (0 = success, 2 = auth failure, 3 = project not linked, etc.)  
- **Environment variable auth** for CI/CD pipelines — no interactive login needed

## CLI + Agent Skills: Teaching AI How to Build on InsForge

This is where it gets interesting.

When you run `insforge create` or `insforge link`, the CLI automatically runs:

This installs a set of structured documentation files — **Agent Skills** — into your project's `.agents/skills/insforge/` directory. These skills are compatible with multiple AI coding platforms.

### What Skills Teach the Agent

The skills are organized into **9 feature modules**, each with two types of guidance:

| Module | Backend Configuration | SDK Integration |  
| --- | --- | --- |  
| **Database** | Create tables, RLS policies, triggers, indexes | CRUD, filters, pagination |  
| **Auth** | Configure providers, user management | Sign up/in, OAuth, sessions |  
| **Storage** | Create and manage buckets | Upload, download, delete files |  
| **Functions** | Deploy and manage functions | Invoke functions |  
| **AI** | Configure models and credits | Chat, images, embeddings |  
| **Real-time** | Channel patterns, triggers | Connect, subscribe, publish |  
| **Schedules** | Cron jobs, HTTP triggers | — |  
| **Deployments** | Deploy frontend apps | — |  
| **Logs** | Fetch container logs | — |

The key distinction: **Backend Configuration** guides the agent to use HTTP API calls (e.g., `POST /api/database/advance/rawsql` to create a table), while **SDK Integration** guides it to write application code using `@insforge/sdk`.

With InsForge CLI and Agent Skills, the entire flow — from empty project to deployed app — happens with AI assistance, guided by structured skills that the CLI installed automatically.