NativeScript Command-Line Interface

The NativeScript CLI lets you create, build, and deploy NativeScript-based apps on iOS and Android devices.

Get it using: npm install -g nativescript

• What is NativeScript
• How the NativeScript CLI works
• Supported Platforms
• System Requirements
• Installation
  • Install the NativeScript CLI
  • Configure Proxy Usage
• Quick Start
  • The Commands
  • Create Project
  • Develop Your Project
  • Build Your Project
  • Run Your Project
• Extending the CLI
• Troubleshooting
• How to Contribute
• How to Build
• Get Help
• License

What is NativeScript

NativeScript is a cross-platform JavaScript framework that lets you develop native iOS and Android apps from a single code base. The framework provides JavaScript access to the native APIs, user interface, and rendering engines of iOS and Android. By using JavaScript or TypeScript, you can create one project that builds into an iOS or Android app with completely native user experience.

To learn more about NativeScript, you can check the following resources:

• The NativeScript web page
• NativeScript - a Technical Overview
• Announcing NativeScript - cross-platform framework for building native mobile applications
• The NativeScript Documentation repo and Documentation portal
• The NativeScript FAQ

Back to Top

How the NativeScript CLI works

The NativeScript CLI is the command-line interface for interacting with NativeScript. It incorporates several important services. Consider the following diagram:

• Commands - pretty much what every CLI does - support of different command options, input validation and help
• Devices Service - provides the communication between NativeScript and devices/emulators/simulators used to run/debug the app. Uses iTunes to talk to iOS and adb for Android
• LiveSync Service - redeploys applications when code changes during development
• Hooks Service - executes custom-written hooks in developed application, thus modifying the build process
• Platforms Service - provides app build functionalities, uses Gradle to build Android packages and Xcode for iOS.

Back to Top

Supported Platforms

With the NativeScript CLI, you can target the following mobile platforms.

• Android 4.2 or a later stable official release
• iOS 9.0 or later stable official release

Back to Top

System Requirements

You can install and run the NativeScript CLI on Windows, macOS or Linux.

• Windows
• macOS
• Linux

Installation

Install the NativeScript CLI

The NativeScript CLI is available for installing as an npm package.

In the command prompt, run the following command.

To check if your system is configured properly, run the following command.

ns doctor

Configure Proxy Settings

If you are working with the NativeScript CLI behind a web proxy, you need to configure your proxy settings.

Set Proxy Settings

ns proxy set <Url> <Username> <Password>

Attributes

Options

Limitations

• You can provide the <Username> and <Password> attributes only on Windows systems.
• Proxy settings for the npm, the Android Gradle and (optional) Docker need to be configured separately. For more information, see the following articles:
  • Configure the npm proxy
  • Configure the Android Gradle proxy
  • Configure the Docker proxy

Display Current Proxy Settings

ns proxy

Clear Proxy Settings

ns proxy clear

Back to Top

Quick Start

• The Commands
• Create Project
• Develop Your Project
• Build Your Project
• Run Your Project

The Commands

Run ns help to view all available commands in the browser. Run ns help <Command> to view more information about a selected command in the browser. ns --help opens console help, where help information is shown in the console.

Back to Top

Create Project

To create a new cross-platform project from the default JavaScript template, run the following command.

ns create MyApp --js

To create a new cross-platform project from the default TypeScript, Angular or Vue template, use the template option followed by either typescript, angular or vue.

ns create MyApp --template typescript
ns create MyApp --template angular
ns create MyApp --template vue

Or you can simply use the shorthand tsc and ng options.

ns create MyApp --tsc
ns create MyApp --ng

With the template option you can also specify a local or a remote path to the template that you want to use to create your project.For example, if you want to create a React template, run the following command.

ns create MyApp --template https://github.com/shirakaba/tns-template-blank-react.git

The NativeScript CLI creates a new project and sets the application identifier to org.nativescript.myapp.

The CLI places the project in a new directory in the current directory. The newly created directory has the following structure.

MyApp/
├── app
│   ├── App_Resources
│   └── ...
└── platforms
    └── ...

• The app directory is the development space for your application. You should modify all common and platform-specific code within this directory. When you run prepare <Platform>, the NativeScript CLI prepares relevant content to the platform-specific folders for each target platform.
• The platforms directory is created empty. When you add a target platform to your project, the NativeScript CLI creates a new subdirectory with the platform name. The subdirectory contains the ready-to-build resources of your app. When you run prepare <Platform>, the NativeScript CLI prepares relevant content from the app directory to the platform-specific subdirectory for each target platform.

Back to Top

Develop Your Project

• Development with NativeScript
• Development in app
• Development in platforms

Development with NativeScript

For more information about working with NativeScript, see the following resources.

• The NativeScript Documentation Wiki
• The NativeScript API Reference

Development in app

The app directory in the root of the project is the development space for your project. Place all your common and platform-specific code in this directory.

In the app directory, you can use platform-specific files to provide customized functionality and design for each target platform. To indicate that a file is platform-specific, make sure that the file name is in the following format: name.ios.extension or name.android.extension. For example: main.ios.js or main.android.js.

You can develop shared functionality or design in common files. To indicate that a file is common, make sure that the file name does not contain a .android. or .ios. string.

Development in platforms

IMPORTANT: Avoid editing files located in the platforms subdirectory because the NativeScript CLI overrides such files.

Modifying Configuration Files

The NativeScript CLI respects any platform configuration files placed inside app/App_Resources.

Modifying Entitlements File (iOS only)

To specify which capabilities are required by your App - Maps, Push Notifications, Wallet etc. you can add or edit the app.entitlements file placed inside app/App_Resources/iOS. When building the project, the default app/App_Resources/iOS/app.entitlements file gets merged with all Plugins entitlement files and a new yourAppName.entitlements is created in the platforms directory. The path would be app/platforms/ios/<application name>/<application name>.entitlements and will be linked in the build.xcconfig file.

You can always override the generated entitlements file, by pointing to your own entitlements file by setting the CODE_SIGN_ENTITLEMENTS property in the app/App_Resources/iOS/build.xcconfig file.

Back to Top

Build Your Project

You can build it for your target mobile platforms.

ns build android
ns build ios

The NativeScript CLI calls the SDK for the selected target platform and uses it to build your app locally.

When you build for iOS, the NativeScript CLI will either build for a device, if there's a device attached, or for the native emulator if there are no devices attached. To trigger a native emulator build when a device is attached, set the --emulator flag.

IMPORTANT: To build your app for an iOS device, you must configure a valid certificate and provisioning profile pair, and have that pair present on your system for code signing your application package. For more information, see iOS Code Signing - A Complete Walkthrough.

Back to Top

Run Your Project

You can test your work in progress on connected Android or iOS devices.

To verify that the NativeScript CLI recognizes your connected devices, run the following command.

ns devices

The NativeScript CLI lists all connected physical devices and running emulators/simulators.

After you have listed the available devices, you can quickly run your app on connected devices by executing:

ns run android
ns run ios

Back to Top

Extending the CLI

The NativeScript CLI lets you extend its behavior and customize it to fit your needs by using hooks.

When you run one of the extendable commands (for example, ns build), the CLI checks for hooks and executes them. Plugins can also use hooks to control the compilation of the application package.

For more information, see the Extending the CLI document

Back to Top

Troubleshooting

If the NativeScript CLI does not behave as expected, you might be facing a configuration issue. For example, a missing JAVA path. To check if your system is configured properly for the NativeScript CLI, run the following command.

ns doctor

This command prints warnings about current configuration issues and provides basic information about how to resolve them.

If addressing the configuration issues does not resolve your problem, you can report an issue or ask the community.

Back to Top

How to Contribute

To learn how to log a bug that you just discovered, click here.

To learn how to suggest a new feature or improvement, click here.

To learn how to contribute to the code base, click here.

Back to Top

How to Build

git clone https://github.com/NativeScript/nativescript-cli
cd nativescript-cli
npm run setup

To use the locally built CLI instead tns you can call PATH_TO_CLI_FOLDER/bin/tns. For example:PATH_TO_CLI_FOLDER/bin/ns run ios|android

Back to Top

Get Help

Please, use github issues strictly for reporting bugs or requesting features. For general NativeScript questions and support, check out Stack Overflow or ask our experts in the NativeScript community Discord channel.

Back to Top

License

This software is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license, quoted here.

Back to Top