The CLI (mlcl)

mlcl — the open-source Molecule.dev command line: scaffold, search packages, wire and swap capabilities, check env, and operate deployments.

Overview

mlcl is the open-source (Apache-2.0) command line for Molecule.dev. It runs on Node 22+, works without an account for everything local — scaffolding, searching packages, checking env — and logs in only when you want to touch the cloud: deploy, sandboxes, teams.

npm install -g mlcl

Or run it without installing — npx mlcl <command> everywhere below works the same.

The everyday commands

Command	What it does
`npx mlcl create <name>`	scaffold from a template or a custom stack
`npx mlcl templates`	browse the 152 flagship apps
`npx mlcl search <capability>`	find packages by what they do ("send emails")
`npx mlcl add @molecule/<pkg> --inject`	install AND wire a package (bonds, migrations, routes)
`npx mlcl swap @molecule/<provider>`	same interface, different vendor
`npx mlcl env check`	which env vars the app needs and which are missing
`npx mlcl deploy --project <id> --follow`	production deploy — the IDE pipeline
`npx mlcl logs --project <id> --stream`	live runtime logs
`npx mlcl sandbox status --project <id>`	the project sandbox (+ start / stop / exec)
`npx mlcl check`	run the project’s own typecheck / lint / build / tests

Tip

npx mlcl env check --fix writes the fixable missing vars into your .env for you.

Machine-readable output

Every command that prints a table takes --json; every interactive prompt can be bypassed with --no-interactive. That is deliberate — the CLI is the same surface the MCP server exposes to coding agents, so scripts and agents get first-class output:

npx mlcl search "payments" --json | jq '.[].name'

The full surface

This page is the short list. The mlcl page carries the full tour — agent wiring, existing-app integration, package authors, telemetry — and the complete command map; npx mlcl --help always tells the truth for your installed version.