CLI reference

The ow command-line tool scaffolds, develops, builds, and packages Owear apps.

ow <command> [options]
ow --help

ow create

ow create <dir>              # scaffold an app
ow create installer [dir]    # scaffold the installer
ow create uninstaller [dir]  # scaffold the uninstaller (inside ./installer)

Copies a template into dir and replaces __APP_NAME__ / __PKG_NAME__ placeholders. Fails if dir exists and is not empty.

ow dev

ow dev

Runs the development loop: Vite on port 5173, compiles native modules, compiles app/main.ts and workers with esbuild, then launches the kernel. See Dev and build.

ow build [target]

ow build                 # frontend + main.js + workers + modules → dist/
ow build app [--format …]  # distributable artifact → release/
ow build installer         # installer binary → release/
ow build uninstaller       # uninstaller binary → release/

ow build app formats: binary (default), deb, appimage, msi.

Signing flags (app/installer/uninstaller):

--sign-key <pem>            # detached Ed25519 signature → <file>.sig
--pfx <p12>                 # Authenticode (needs osslsigncode/signtool)
--pfx-password-env <ENV>    # defaults to OW_SIGN_PFX_PASSWORD
--timestamp <url>           # Authenticode timestamping
--require-sign              # fail the build if signing is not performed

Installer mode:

ow build installer --mode minimal   # single-binary payload
ow build installer --mode layout    # directory-tree payload

ow api

Only available inside the Owear repository.

ow api list          # list APIs and their manifests
ow api new <name>    # scaffold api/<name>/ + manifest, then regenerate discovery

ow update

Publishes an auto-update (block delta + signed YAML manifest).

ow update --gen-key owear-signing
ow update --file release/MyApp-1.4.0 --version 1.4.0 \
  --channel latest --url https://up.example.com \
  --key owear-signing.pem --notes @CHANGELOG.md --out-dir release

Flags: --file, --version, --channel, --url, --notes, --block-size, --mandatory, --key, --out-dir.

Helpful environment variables

See the full list in Environment variables.

owear-build-native

A companion binary that compiles native/*.cpp into .owm modules. Used by the Vite plugin and by ow dev/ow build; you normally do not call it directly. OW_MODULES_OUT sets the output directory, OW_INCLUDE_DIR the framework headers.