CLI Reference

The baseforge command is installed with the BaseForge.CodeGen .NET tool:

dotnet tool install -g BaseForge.CodeGen --prerelease
dotnet tool update  -g BaseForge.CodeGen --prerelease

Commands

Command	Description
baseforge new <service>	Open the Designer with an empty spec
baseforge update <service>	Open the Designer with <service>/spec.yaml (and identity/auth.yaml, if present) loaded
baseforge new-service --spec <file.yaml>	Generate the ER diagram, ask for confirmation, then generate the service
baseforge new-identity --spec <auth.yaml>	Generate the config-driven central Identity service
baseforge er --spec <file.yaml>	Generate only a draw.io ER diagram from a spec

Options

Option	Applies to	Description
--spec <file>	new-service, new-identity, er	The YAML spec file (required)
--output <folder>	new-service, new-identity, er	Output folder (er: ., new-service: ./<service>)
--yes	new-service	Continue without asking for confirmation
--port <n>	new, update	Designer port (default 3500)
--no-browser	new, update	Don't open the browser automatically (remote/headless machines)

Workspace layout

Run the CLI from a workspace folder. Each service is generated into its own sub-folder, and a shared services.json registry at the root keeps track of ports and the Identity address so services can find each other:

my-platform/
├── services.json        ← shared registry (ports, authority)
├── observability/       ← Loki + Grafana, created on first generation
├── identity/
│   ├── auth.yaml
│   └── …
├── products/
│   ├── spec.yaml
│   └── …
└── orders/
    ├── spec.yaml
    └── …

Specs that reference each other (externalRefs, subscribes) are resolved by looking for sibling specs in the same workspace.

ER diagrams from an EF Core model

Besides baseforge er (spec → draw.io), the BaseForge.Tools package turns any EF Core model into DBML you can paste into dbdiagram.io:

using BaseForge.Tools;

// Only the model is read — no database connection is needed.
string dbml = DbmlGenerator.Generate(dbContext);
File.WriteAllText("docs/er.dbml", dbml);

Real table/column names, provider-specific column types (e.g. PostgreSQL uuid / timestamptz), primary keys and foreign-key relations are reflected.