The command-line utility

Magento 2.0 has a command-line utility to help developers manage installation and configuration tasks. The new command-line interface can do the following:

• Install Magento
• Manage the cache
• Manage indexers
• Configure and run cron
• Compile code
• Set the Magento mode
• Set the URN highlighter
• Create dependency reports
• Translate dictionaries and language packages
• Deploy static view files
• Create symlinks to LESS files
• Run unit tests
• Convert layout into XML files
• Generate data for performance testing
• Create CSS from LESS (CSS real-time compilation)

To work with this tool, you will need to open a terminal (Linux, OS X) or command prompt (Windows) and access the <your Magento install dir>/bin directory. Then, enter with the php magento command to see all the available commands of the command-line utility:

Note

Remember to configure the PHP path to the system environment variable to execute the command. For further information, access http://php.net/manual/en/faq.installation.php.

Let's play a little bit with the utility by disabling your Magento system cache:

• Run the php magento cache:status command. The cache will probably be enabled.
• Run the php magento cache:disable command to disable any cache system.
  

  Note

  To know more about cache management in command-utility tools, access http://goo.gl/c5ivCY.

Now let's try to manage Magento indexing. Magento indexing transforms the data to improve the performance of your system by executing the following commands. Indexing technique optimizes the price calculations process, for example, and it has an important role to play in the Magento performance:

• Run the php magento indexer:info command to view the lists of indexers
• Run the php magento indexer:status command to view the real-time status
• Run the php magento indexer:reindex command to rebuild the indexation
  

Magento indexing was successfully rebuilt, thanks to the command-line utility actions!

You can build cron jobs in a remote server to automate some Magento actions. For example, create an automation routine to re-index Magento periodically.

I strongly advise you to play more with the command-line utility. You can consult the online documentation available at http://goo.gl/iVnQSn.