VuFind CLI Command Reference for Administrators

VuFind exposes its administrative functions through a set of Symfony Console commands registered in the VuFindConsole module. Every command is invoked through the PHP front controller:

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php <command> [arguments] [options]

Running the entry point without arguments lists all available commands. Append --help to any command for its full argument and option documentation.

# List all commands
php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php

# Show help for a specific command
php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php util/commit --help

Set VUFIND_LOCAL_DIR before running any command that reads configuration files. Without it, VuFind falls back to the base installation defaults and may ignore your local overrides.

Import commands

These commands index records from files into Solr without using the shell-level import-marc.sh script.

import/import-csv — CSV importer

Imports records from a CSV file into Solr according to a CSV import configuration file.

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php import/import-csv <csv-file> <config-file>

Arguments

Argument	Description
`csv-file`	Path to the CSV file to import
`config-file`	Path to the CSV import configuration (`.ini`) file

Options

Option	Description
`--test-only`	Perform a dry run without writing to Solr

Example

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php import/import-csv \
    /data/new-records.csv \
    $VUFIND_HOME/import/csv.ini

import/import-xsl — XSLT importer

Transforms XML metadata records using an XSLT stylesheet and indexes the result into Solr. Used for Dublin Core, OJS, DSpace DIM, and other XML formats.

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php import/import-xsl <xml-file> <properties-file>

Arguments

Argument	Description
`xml-file`	Path to the XML source file
`properties-file`	Path to the import `.properties` file (e.g. `ojs.properties`)

Options

Option	Description
`--test-only`	Dry run; reports what would be indexed without writing to Solr

Example

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php import/import-xsl \
    /data/ojs-records.xml \
    $VUFIND_HOME/import/ojs.properties

Pre-built properties files in import/ include: ojs.properties, dspace.properties, dspace-dim.properties, doaj.properties, ndltd.properties, gsdl.properties, and others.

import/webcrawl — Web crawler importer

Indexes web content collected by the built-in crawler into the website Solr core.

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php import/webcrawl

Harvest commands

harvest/harvest_oai — OAI-PMH harvester

Harvests metadata records from OAI-PMH sources defined in oai.ini and writes the results to the harvest directory.

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php harvest/harvest_oai [options]

Key options

Option	Description
`--ini`	Section name in `oai.ini` to harvest, or a path to an alternative `.ini` file
`--from`	Override the start date for incremental harvest (format: `YYYY-MM-DD`)
`--until`	Override the end date for incremental harvest
`--verbose`	Output detailed progress information

Example

# Harvest all sources
php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php harvest/harvest_oai

# Harvest one source
php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php harvest/harvest_oai --ini MyRepository

# Re-harvest a specific date range
php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php harvest/harvest_oai \
    --ini MyRepository \
    --from 2024-01-01 \
    --until 2024-03-31

harvest/merge-marc — MARC merge tool

Merges multiple harvested MARC XML files into a single combined file. Useful when a repository returns one file per record and you need a single combined input for import-marc.sh.

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php harvest/merge-marc <directory>

Arguments

Argument	Description
`directory`	Path to the directory containing the MARC XML files to merge

Example

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php harvest/merge-marc \
    $VUFIND_LOCAL_DIR/harvest/MyRepository

Language commands

These commands help manage VuFind’s language translation files.

language/normalize — Language file normalizer

Sorts and standardises a language file or all files in a language directory, ensuring consistent key ordering and formatting.

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php language/normalize <target>

Arguments

Argument	Description
`target`	Path to a single `.ini` language file, or to a directory of language files

Example

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php language/normalize \
    $VUFIND_LOCAL_DIR/languages/de.ini

language/copystring — String copier

Copies a translation string from one language file to another, optionally across all installed language files.

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php language/copystring <source> <target> <key>

Example

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php language/copystring en.ini de.ini my_custom_key

language/delete — Delete string tool

Removes a translation key from a language file or from all language files in a directory.

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php language/delete <target> <key>

Example

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php language/delete \
    $VUFIND_LOCAL_DIR/languages \
    obsolete_key

language/addusingtemplate — Template-based string builder

Adds a new translation string to all language files by deriving a value from an existing string using a substitution template. Useful for creating variants of existing strings.

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php language/addusingtemplate \
    <source-key> <new-key> <template>

Example

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php language/addusingtemplate \
    "Search Results" \
    "Search Results for %%token%%" \
    "Search Results for %%token%%"

Upgrade commands

upgrade/config — Configuration upgrader

Migrates VuFind configuration files from an older version to the current version, merging local settings into the new defaults and reporting conflicts.

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php upgrade/config [options]

Key options

Option	Description
`--from`	VuFind version of the old installation to migrate from
`--to`	Target VuFind version (defaults to installed version)
`--olddir`	Path to the old VuFind configuration directory
`--newdir`	Path to the destination local configuration directory

Example

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php upgrade/config \
    --from 9.0 \
    --olddir /old/vufind/local \
    --newdir $VUFIND_LOCAL_DIR

upgrade/database — Database upgrader

Applies pending database migrations to bring the VuFind database schema up to the current version.

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php upgrade/database [options]

Key options

Option	Description
`--no-interaction`	Run non-interactively; accept all defaults without prompting

Example

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php upgrade/database --no-interaction

Utility commands

util/commit — Solr commit tool

Sends a commit request to Solr, making all indexed documents visible to searches.

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php util/commit [core]

Pass an optional core name argument to commit a specific core rather than the default biblio.

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php util/commit authority

util/optimize — Solr optimize tool

Sends an optimize request to Solr, merging index segments for improved read performance.

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php util/optimize [core]

Optimization is an expensive, long-running operation. On large collections it can take hours and temporarily doubles disk usage. Schedule during low-traffic windows.

util/deletes — Tool for deleting Solr records

Removes a set of records from the Solr index.

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php util/deletes <filename> <format>

Arguments

Argument	Description
`filename`	File containing records or IDs to delete
`format`	`flat` (one ID per line), `marc` (binary MARC, reads 001), or `filename` (SolrMarc delete format)

Example

# Delete by flat ID list
php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php util/deletes /data/deleted-ids.txt flat

# Delete from a MARC file
php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php util/deletes /data/deleted.mrc marc

util/suppressed — Remove ILS-suppressed records from Solr

Queries the ILS for records that have been suppressed and removes them from the Solr biblio index.

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php util/suppressed [options]

Options

Option	Description
`--batchsize`	Number of IDs to process per Solr delete request (default: 1000)

util/index_reserves — Course reserves index builder

Populates the Solr reserves core with course reserve data from the ILS or a CSV file.

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php util/index_reserves [options]

Options

Option	Description
`--csv`	Path to a CSV file to import instead of querying the ILS
`--delimiter`	Field delimiter for CSV input (default: `,`)
`--template`	Path to a CSV template file describing column mappings

util/createHierarchyTrees — Cache populator for hierarchies

Pre-builds hierarchy tree XML for all hierarchical records and stores it in the VuFind cache. Without this, trees are built on demand which can be slow for large collections.

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php util/createHierarchyTrees [record-id]

Pass an optional record ID to rebuild only a single tree:

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php util/createHierarchyTrees my.collection.001

util/sitemap — XML sitemap generator

Generates XML sitemaps from the Solr biblio index for submission to search engines.

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php util/sitemap [options]

Options

Option	Description
`--baseurl`	Override the base URL set in `config.ini`
`--outputdir`	Directory to write sitemap files to

util/lint_marc — MARC record linter

Validates MARC records against MARC21 rules and reports structural or encoding errors without importing them.

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php util/lint_marc <file>

Expiry commands

A family of commands purges expired rows from various database tables. Run them on a schedule to keep the database lean.

Command	Description
`util/expire_access_tokens`	Remove expired OAuth access tokens
`util/expire_auth_hashes`	Remove expired authentication hashes
`util/expire_external_sessions`	Remove expired external session records
`util/expire_login_tokens`	Remove expired “remember me” login tokens
`util/expire_oai_resumption`	Remove expired OAI-PMH resumption tokens
`util/expire_searches`	Remove expired saved searches
`util/expire_sessions`	Remove expired user sessions
`util/expire_audit_events`	Remove old audit event log entries

All expiry commands accept a --lifespan option (in days) to control how old records must be before deletion, and a --batch-size option.

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php util/expire_sessions --lifespan 30

Common workflows

Nightly incremental import

# 1. Harvest new records
php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php harvest/harvest_oai

# 2. Import harvested MARC records
$VUFIND_HOME/harvest/batch-import-marc.sh MyRepository

# 3. Process any deletions
$VUFIND_HOME/harvest/batch-delete.sh MyRepository

# 4. Commit so new records become searchable
php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php util/commit

# 5. Rebuild alphabetic browse
$VUFIND_HOME/index-alphabetic-browse.sh

Purge expired database rows

php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php util/expire_sessions --lifespan 30
php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php util/expire_searches --lifespan 30
php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php util/expire_access_tokens
php $VUFIND_HOME/public/index.php util/expire_login_tokens

Get Started

Configuration

Customization

Administration

Advanced Topics

VuFind CLI Command Reference for Administrators

Import commands

Harvest commands

Language commands

Upgrade commands

Utility commands

Common workflows

Nightly incremental import

Purge expired database rows

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get Started

Configuration

Customization

Administration

Advanced Topics

Documentation Index

​Import commands

​Harvest commands

​Language commands

​Upgrade commands

​Utility commands

​Common workflows

​Nightly incremental import

​Purge expired database rows

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Import commands

Harvest commands

Language commands

Upgrade commands

Utility commands

Common workflows

Nightly incremental import

Purge expired database rows