Instead of running bknd using a framework, you can also use the CLI to quickly spin up a full functional instance. To see all available options, run:

npx bknd

Here is the output:

$ npx bknd
Usage: bknd [options] [command]

bknd cli

Options:
  -V, --version     output the version number
  -h, --help        display help for command

Commands:
  user <action>     create and update user (auth)
  schema [options]  get schema
  run [options]
  config [options]  get default config
  help [command]    display help for command

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Starting an instance (run)

To see all available run options, execute npx bknd run --help.

$ npx bknd run --help
Usage: bknd run [options]

Options:
  -p, --port <port>      port to run on (default: 1337, env: PORT)
  -c, --config <config>  config file
  --db-url <db>          database url, can be any valid libsql url
  --db-token <db>        database token
  --server <server>      server type (choices: "node", "bun", default: "node")
  -h, --help             display help for command

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In-memory database

To start an instance with an ephemeral in-memory database, run the following:

npx bknd run

Keep in mind that the database is not persisted and will be lost when the process is terminated.

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File-based database

To start an instance with a file-based database, run the following:

npx bknd run --db-url file:data.db

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Turso/LibSQL database

To start an instance with a Turso/LibSQL database, run the following:

npx bknd run --db-url libsql://your-db.turso.io --db-token <your-token>

The --db-token option is optional and only required if the database is protected.

SDK (TypeScript)Overview