ionic
Develop, build, and run Ionic applications
TLDR
Create a new project
Start a local dev server for app dev/testing
Generate new app component, directive, page, pipe, provider, or tabs
Run app on an Android/iOS device
Check the health of an Ionic app
Display versions of Ionic, Cordova, environment, etc.
SYNOPSIS
ionic [command] [options]
PARAMETERS
-d, --debug
Output debugging information
-e, --verbose
More verbose logs (implies --debug)
--no-interactive
Skip user prompts (deprecated, use --no-prompt)
--no-color
Disable colored output
--help
Print help for command
--version
Display CLI version
--profiler
Enable performance profiling
--config-file <path>
Use custom Ionic config file
DESCRIPTION
The ionic command-line interface (CLI) is the official tool for the Ionic Framework, an open-source SDK for building performant, cross-platform mobile apps and Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) using web technologies like HTML, CSS, JavaScript/TypeScript, Angular, React, or Vue.
It simplifies workflows by providing commands to scaffold projects, develop with live reload, build optimized bundles, and deploy to iOS, Android, or web. Key capabilities include integration with Capacitor (native runtime) or Cordova (plugins), UI component generation, and testing tools.
Developers use it to ionic start new apps from templates (blank, tabs, sidemenu), ionic serve for hot-reloading previews, ionic build for production, and ionic capacitor run for native emulation. The CLI handles TypeScript compilation, bundling with webpack/Vite, and environment configurations, making hybrid app development efficient without native code.
CAVEATS
Requires Node.js (≥14) and npm; install via npm i -g @ionic/cli. Node module, not native binary. Subcommands like start, serve have additional options (run ionic <cmd> --help).
INSTALLATION
npm install -g @ionic/cli
Verify: ionic --version
CORE COMMANDS
start: New project from template
serve: Dev server with live reload
build: Production build
generate (g): Pages, components
capacitor: Native iOS/Android sync
HISTORY
Released in 2013 with Ionic v1 for Cordova apps. Evolved through v2-6 with Angular focus, now v7+ (2022+) emphasizes Capacitor, web-first PWAs, and frameworks like React/Vue. Maintained by Ionic Team.
