TYPO3 — The TYPO3 CMS Command Line

TYPO3 is a long-established open-source enterprise CMS for professional websites – and its command line is your most important tool for maintenance, deployment and automation. Through vendor/bin/typo3 (Composer installation) or typo3/sysext/core/bin/typo3 (Classic Mode) you control caches, the database schema, extensions, sites and the scheduler without ever opening the backend. This guide gathers the commands you reach for most in day-to-day work and in CI/CD pipelines – from cache:flush to complete deployment recipes.

Command Paths

vendor/bin/typo3 <command> — Composer-based installation (recommended). Run from the project root.

vendor/bin/typo3 cache:flush

typo3/sysext/core/bin/typo3 <command> — Classic (non-Composer) installation. Run from the document root.

typo3/sysext/core/bin/typo3 cache:flush

ddev typo3 <command> — DDEV local development environment. Runs inside the DDEV web container.

ddev typo3 cache:flush

typo3 list — List all available console commands.

vendor/bin/typo3 list

typo3 <command> --help — Show detailed help and available options for a specific command.

vendor/bin/typo3 cache:flush --help

typo3 list --format=json — List all commands in JSON format for scripting.

vendor/bin/typo3 list --format=json

Setup & Installation

typo3 setup — Interactive setup wizard. Creates database, admin user, and base configuration.

vendor/bin/typo3 setup

typo3 setup --driver=mysqli --dbname=<db> --username=<user> --password=<pass> --host=<host> — Non-interactive setup with database credentials.

vendor/bin/typo3 setup --driver=mysqli --dbname=typo3 --username=root --password=root --host=db

typo3 setup --admin-username=<user> --admin-user-password=<pass> --admin-email=<email> — Setup with admin credentials in non-interactive mode.

vendor/bin/typo3 setup --admin-username=admin --admin-user-password=Password1! --admin-email=admin@example.com

typo3 setup --server-type=apache — Setup with a specific web server type (apache or other).

vendor/bin/typo3 setup --server-type=apache

Cache Management

typo3 cache:flush — Flush all caches. The most commonly used TYPO3 command.

vendor/bin/typo3 cache:flush

typo3 cache:flush --group=pages — Flush only the page caches.

vendor/bin/typo3 cache:flush --group=pages

typo3 cache:flush --group=system — Flush only system caches (configuration, DI container, etc.).

vendor/bin/typo3 cache:flush --group=system

typo3 cache:flush --group=di — Flush the dependency injection container cache.

vendor/bin/typo3 cache:flush --group=di

typo3 cache:warmup — Warm up all caches. Rebuilds cached data for faster first requests.

vendor/bin/typo3 cache:warmup

typo3 cache:warmup --group=system — Warm up only system caches.

vendor/bin/typo3 cache:warmup --group=system

Database

typo3 database:updateschema — Update the database schema based on TCA and ext_tables.sql. Interactive by default.

vendor/bin/typo3 database:updateschema

typo3 database:updateschema '*.add,*.change' — Only add new fields/tables and change existing fields (safe operations).

vendor/bin/typo3 database:updateschema '*.add,*.change'

typo3 database:updateschema '*.drop' — Only drop unused tables and fields (destructive, use with caution).

vendor/bin/typo3 database:updateschema '*.drop'

typo3 database:updateschema '*' — Apply all schema changes including adds, changes, and drops.

vendor/bin/typo3 database:updateschema '*'

typo3 database:updateschema --dry-run — Preview what schema changes would be applied without executing them.

vendor/bin/typo3 database:updateschema --dry-run

typo3 database:export — Export the database to stdout as SQL. Pipe to a file for backups.

vendor/bin/typo3 database:export > backup.sql

typo3 database:import < <file> — Import a SQL file into the database via stdin.

vendor/bin/typo3 database:import < backup.sql

Extension Management

typo3 extension:list — List all available extensions with their status (active/inactive).

vendor/bin/typo3 extension:list

typo3 extension:setup — Set up all active extensions (run ext_tables.sql, import data, etc.).

vendor/bin/typo3 extension:setup

typo3 extension:setup --extension=<ext_key> — Set up a specific extension.

vendor/bin/typo3 extension:setup --extension=news

typo3 extension:deactivate <ext_key> — Deactivate an extension (Classic Mode only, Composer uses composer require/remove).

typo3/sysext/core/bin/typo3 extension:deactivate indexed_search

typo3 extension:activate <ext_key> — Activate an extension (Classic Mode only).

typo3/sysext/core/bin/typo3 extension:activate indexed_search

Site Management

typo3 site:list — List all configured sites with their identifiers and base URLs.

vendor/bin/typo3 site:list

typo3 site:show <identifier> — Show the full YAML configuration of a specific site.

vendor/bin/typo3 site:show main

Language & Localization

typo3 language:update — Download and update all language packs for installed extensions.

vendor/bin/typo3 language:update

typo3 language:update <locale> — Update language packs for a specific locale only.

vendor/bin/typo3 language:update de

Upgrade Wizards

typo3 upgrade:list — List all available upgrade wizards and their status (done/not done).

vendor/bin/typo3 upgrade:list

typo3 upgrade:run — Run all pending upgrade wizards interactively.

vendor/bin/typo3 upgrade:run

typo3 upgrade:run <identifier> — Run a specific upgrade wizard by its identifier.

vendor/bin/typo3 upgrade:run sysLogChannel

typo3 upgrade:run --confirm=all — Run all pending upgrade wizards non-interactively (auto-confirm).

vendor/bin/typo3 upgrade:run --confirm=all

typo3 upgrade:mark-undone <identifier> — Mark an upgrade wizard as undone so it can be run again.

vendor/bin/typo3 upgrade:mark-undone sysLogChannel

Reference Index & Cleanup

typo3 referenceindex:update — Update the sys_refindex table. Ensures correct reference tracking between records.

vendor/bin/typo3 referenceindex:update

typo3 cleanup:deletedrecords — Permanently remove all soft-deleted records from the database.

vendor/bin/typo3 cleanup:deletedrecords

typo3 cleanup:orphanrecords — Remove orphaned records that have no valid parent page.

vendor/bin/typo3 cleanup:orphanrecords

typo3 cleanup:missingfiles — Find sys_file records that reference non-existing files on disk.

vendor/bin/typo3 cleanup:missingfiles

typo3 cleanup:lostfiles — Find files in fileadmin that are not referenced in the database.

vendor/bin/typo3 cleanup:lostfiles

typo3 cleanup:multiplereferencedfiles — Find files that are referenced by multiple records when they should be unique copies.

vendor/bin/typo3 cleanup:multiplereferencedfiles

typo3 cleanup:flexforms — Clean up FlexForm data by removing fields not defined in the data structure.

vendor/bin/typo3 cleanup:flexforms

typo3 cleanup:missingrelations — Find and report database relations pointing to non-existing records.

vendor/bin/typo3 cleanup:missingrelations

Scheduler & Tasks

typo3 scheduler:run — Execute all due scheduled tasks. Typically called via system cron.

vendor/bin/typo3 scheduler:run

typo3 scheduler:run --task=<uid> — Execute a specific scheduled task by its UID.

vendor/bin/typo3 scheduler:run --task=5

typo3 scheduler:run --force — Force execution of tasks regardless of their scheduled time.

vendor/bin/typo3 scheduler:run --force

Redirects (EXT:redirects)

typo3 redirects:checkintegrity — Check all redirects for conflicts (loops, duplicates, clashing with existing pages).

vendor/bin/typo3 redirects:checkintegrity

typo3 redirects:cleanup — Clean up redirect records (remove duplicates and invalid entries).

vendor/bin/typo3 redirects:cleanup

Mailer & Spool

typo3 mailer:spool:send — Send all queued (spooled) emails. Used when TYPO3 is configured to spool mail.

vendor/bin/typo3 mailer:spool:send

typo3 mailer:spool:send --message-limit=<n> — Send a limited number of spooled emails per run.

vendor/bin/typo3 mailer:spool:send --message-limit=50

typo3 mailer:spool:send --time-limit=<seconds> — Stop sending after a time limit to prevent long-running processes.

vendor/bin/typo3 mailer:spool:send --time-limit=30

Backend Users & Sessions

typo3 backend:lock — Lock the TYPO3 backend. Prevents all backend logins (maintenance window).

vendor/bin/typo3 backend:lock

typo3 backend:unlock — Unlock the TYPO3 backend after maintenance.

vendor/bin/typo3 backend:unlock

typo3 backend:resetpassword <email> — Send a password reset email to a backend user.

vendor/bin/typo3 backend:resetpassword admin@example.com

typo3 backend:createadmin — Interactively create a new backend admin user.

vendor/bin/typo3 backend:createadmin

typo3 backend:createadmin --username=<user> --password=<pass> --email=<email> — Create a backend admin user non-interactively.

vendor/bin/typo3 backend:createadmin --username=admin --password=Password1! --email=admin@example.com

Deployment & CI/CD Recipes

typo3 cache:flush && typo3 database:updateschema '*.add,*.change' && typo3 upgrade:run --confirm=all && typo3 cache:warmup — Typical deployment pipeline: flush caches, update DB schema (safe only), run upgrades, warm caches.

vendor/bin/typo3 cache:flush && vendor/bin/typo3 database:updateschema '*.add,*.change' && vendor/bin/typo3 upgrade:run --confirm=all && vendor/bin/typo3 cache:warmup

typo3 extension:setup && typo3 language:update && typo3 referenceindex:update — Post-deployment: set up extensions, update translations, rebuild reference index.

vendor/bin/typo3 extension:setup && vendor/bin/typo3 language:update && vendor/bin/typo3 referenceindex:update

typo3 backend:lock && <deploy> && typo3 backend:unlock — Lock backend during deployment, then unlock when finished.

vendor/bin/typo3 backend:lock && git pull && composer install && vendor/bin/typo3 cache:flush && vendor/bin/typo3 backend:unlock

Conclusion

The TYPO3 command line takes care of maintenance and deployment work that would be tedious or outright impossible in the backend. Treat its powerful commands with respect, though: always create a database backup before database:updateschema, before cache:flush on production, and before upgrade:run, and never run *.drop carelessly. Also make sure you run the CLI as the correct web server user so that file permissions and cache directories stay consistent – if the scheduler cron or extension:setup runs as a different user, permission problems are guaranteed. Handled this way, the console becomes the reliable backbone of your TYPO3 automation.