HoHu CLI

HoHu CLI creates, develops and deploys HoHu projects. To run your first application, follow development setup. For a server installation, follow the deployment guide. This section explains commands, options and results.

Command reference

Select a command for its options and examples. Square brackets mark optional arguments; ... means multiple values are accepted. Do not type these markers.

Use hohu <command> --help in your terminal, for example hohu create --help or hohu deploy logs --help.

Command	Purpose
hohu create [NAME]	Create a project with Backend, Web and App components
hohu init	Install project dependencies and initialize the backend
hohu dev	Run development services in the foreground
hohu build	Build Backend/Web Docker images from source
hohu deploy init	Generate deployment configuration and initial credentials
hohu deploy	Prepare images, migrate data and start the application
hohu deploy ps	Show deployment service status
hohu deploy logs [SERVICES...]	Read logs; add -f to follow output
hohu deploy restart [SERVICES...]	Restart all or selected services
hohu deploy down	Stop and remove deployment containers
hohu deploy pull	Update images, migrate data and start services
hohu deploy upgrade	Update source in the root repository, build and redeploy
hohu migrate	Run deployment migrations and seed synchronization separately
hohu monitoring init	Prepare Prometheus/Grafana configuration
hohu monitoring up	Start monitoring services
hohu monitoring ps	Show monitoring service status
hohu monitoring logs [SERVICES...]	Read monitoring logs
hohu monitoring restart [SERVICES...]	Restart monitoring services
hohu monitoring down	Stop and remove monitoring containers
hohu skills install	Install HoHu Skills for coding assistants
hohu lang	Select the CLI language
hohu info	Show the CLI version and global configuration location
hohu --version	Show the CLI version
hohu --help	Show available commands
hohu --show-completion	Print the current shell's completion script
hohu --install-completion	Install command completion for the current shell

hohu system lang and hohu system info are aliases of hohu lang and hohu info.

Install and upgrade

The CLI requires Python 3.10+. Install it with uv:

uv tool install hohu
hohu --version
hohu --help

See the uv installation instructions. If hohu is not found, run uv tool update-shell and follow its instructions to refresh PATH or reopen your terminal.

Upgrade the CLI:

uv tool upgrade hohu

Use the unified --source / -s options to select sources. See sources by command for accepted values.

Upgrading the CLI does not update an existing project's source, dependencies or deployment images. See release notes for component releases. If an installed version lacks an option documented here, check the command's --help and upgrade to a version that provides it.

The CLI and application have different Python requirements. Backend/Web development also needs Git, the backend Python runtime, Node.js, pnpm, PostgreSQL and Redis; see development setup for versions. Building and deploying require Docker; deployment and monitoring also require Docker Compose.

Get started

After preparing the development environment, create a Backend + Web project:

hohu create my-project --component backend --component web --non-interactive
cd my-project
hohu init
hohu dev

create fetches source, init installs dependencies and initializes the project, and dev keeps development services running. Database configuration, initial credentials and first sign-in are covered in development setup.

For coding assistants, install HoHu Skills, then follow AI-assisted development to create a project or develop business modules.

Working directory

Operation	Run from
create	The parent directory of the new project
init, dev, build	The project root containing .hohu/project.json, or a subdirectory
deploy init	The intended deployment directory; it writes .hohu/deploy/ under the current directory
Other deployment, migration and monitoring commands	The parent of an initialized deployment directory, or a subdirectory
deploy upgrade	A project satisfying the project marker, deployment configuration and root Git repository requirements
skills install	The coding assistant's workspace, or use a user-wide installation
lang, info, --help, --version	Any directory

Development uses hohu-admin/.env; deployment uses .hohu/deploy/.env. Check the working directory and target configuration when troubleshooting; see configuration and troubleshooting.