---
title: "The CLI publish command"
slug: "the-cli-publish-command"
abstract: "Reference of the DevEx CLI publish command that publishes Sitecore Items."
---
# The CLI publish command

The [Sitecore publishing plugin](https://doc.sitecore.com/sai/en/developers/sitecoreai/sitecore-command-line-interface/plugins/publishing-plugin.html "Publishing plugin") includes a `publish` command. This command publishes Sitecore Items.

To install the publishing plugin, run the following code:

```bash
dotnet sitecore plugin add -n Sitecore.DevEx.Extensibility.Publishing
```

## Usage

You can use the command as follows:

```bash
dotnet sitecore publish [options]
```

> [!tip]
> Some Sitecore CLI command examples wrap items names and other strings containing spaces in single quotes for correct interpretation by PowerShell. If you use a different command-line shell, you might have to change single quotes to double quotes.

## Options

You can use the following options with the `publish` command:

| Option | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| -n, --environment-name | No | The Sitecore environment to use. Default: default. |
| -c, --config | No | Path to root sitecore.config directory (default: cwd). |
| -l, --languages | No | Comma-separated list of languages to publish. If unspecified, all languages are published. |
| -p, --path | No | Deprecated.Sitecore item path or GUID to smart publish. If unspecified, then the entire database is published. |
| -r, --republish | No | Use republish. If unspecified, then smart-publish is used instead. |
| -pt, --targets | No | List of target databases to publish. If unspecified, it publishes to the default publishing target (the first one in the list). |
| -v, --verbose | No | Report additional diagnostic and performance data. |
| -t, --trace | No | Report additional diagnostic and performance data. |
| -?, -h, --help | No | Help for the command. |

## Examples

The following are examples of the `publish` command use:

| Command | Result |
| --- | --- |
| Attempt to publish from the samples folder:dotnet sitecore publish | Does not publish Sitecore items and returns the message: error: Couldn't resolve a root configuration file (sitecore.json) in the current or any parent directory. Looks like the command may have been executed outside a Sitecore project?. |
| Attempt to publish from the samples folder:dotnet sitecore publish -c Prototype/ | Publishes the Sitecore items from the folder samples. |
| sitecore publish -n testEnv | Publishes Sitecore items to the environment with the name testEnv. |
| dotnet sitecore publish -l en-US,en-CA | Publishes Sitecore items for only the specified languages (en-US,en-CA). |
| dotnet sitecore publish -p '/sitecore/content/Home/Test Item' | Deprecated. See the item subcommand.Publishes only the item with path /sitecore/content/Home/Test Item. |
| dotnet sitecore publish -pt CustomTarget1 CustomTarget2 | Publishes items to the CustomTarget1 and CustomTarget2 database targets. |
| dotnet sitecore publish -v | Creates additional diagnostic and performance data, such as root config path or count of nodes with performance, for example, 73ms (8.1ms/node). |
| dotnet sitecore publish -t | Creates additional diagnostic and performance data, such as FSIndex: Loaded filesystem indexes in, for example, 70ms (9 metadatas) or created package of 1 trees in, for example, 1983ms (9 items; 220.3ms/node). |

## Subcommands

The `publish` command has the following subcommands:

- `list-targets` - displays all the publishing targets defined for an environment.
- `item` - publishes a single item.

### The list-targets subcommand

The `list-targets` subcommand reads and lists all publishing targets defined for a Sitecore environment. The `list-targets` subcommand requires elevated permissions.

You can run the command as follows:

```bash
dotnet sitecore publish list-targets [options]
```

You can use the following options with the `list-targets` subcommand:

| Option | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| -c, --config | No | Path to root sitecore.config directory.Default: current working directory. |
| -n, --environment-name | No | Named Sitecore environment to use.Default: 'default'. |
| -v, --verbose | No | Write additional diagnostic and performance data. |
| -t, --trace | No | Write additional diagnostic and performance data. |
| -?, -h, --help | No | -?, -h, --help |

### The item subcommand

The `item` subcommand publishes a single item. The `item` subcommand requires elevated permissions.

You can run the command as follows:

```bash
dotnet sitecore publish item [options]
```

You can use the following options with the `item` subcommand:

| Option | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| -n, --environment-name | No | The Sitecore environment to use.Default: default. |
| -c, --config | No | Path to root sitecore.config directory.Default: cwd. |
| -l, --languages | No | Comma-separated list of languages to publish. If unspecified, all languages are published. |
| -p, --path | No | Sitecore item path or GUID to smart publish. |
| -r, --republish | No | Use republish. If unspecified, then smart-publish is used instead. |
| -pt, --targets | No | List of target databases to publish. If unspecified, it publishes to the default publishing target (the first one in the list). |
| -sub, --subitems | No | Publish subitems.Default: false. |
| -rel, --related | No | Publish related items.Default: false. |
| -v, --verbose | No | Report additional diagnostic and performance data. |
| -t, --trace | No | Report additional diagnostic and performance data. |
| -?, -h, --help | No | Help for the command. |

For example, to publish a single item, including its subitems and related items, you run the following command:

```bash
dotnet sitecore publish item --path /sitecore/content/Home -sub -rel
```