whatalo deploy

Syntax

whatalo deploy [options]

Options

Flag	Type	Description
`--force`	boolean	Skip the confirmation prompt (required in CI/CD)
`--no-build`	boolean	Skip the build step
`--message <msg>`	string	Changelog entry or release note for this version
`--set-version <ver>`	string	Override the version (default: reads from `package.json`)
`--json`	boolean	Output results as JSON
`--portal-url <url>`	string	Developer Portal URL

Deployment Flow

Auth check — Verifies your session. Unlike whatalo dev, there is no auto-login; run whatalo login if your session has expired.
Read config — Loads whatalo.app.toml from the current directory.
Build — Runs the command defined in build.build_command in your config. Timeout: 120 seconds. The CLI verifies the output_dir exists after the build completes.
Determine version — Uses --set-version if provided, otherwise reads the version field from package.json.
Confirm — Shows a summary and asks for confirmation (skipped with --force or --json).
Deploy — Sends POST /api/plugins/{plugin_id}/deploy with the version, manifest, and message.

Version Rules

Must be a valid semver string (e.g., 1.0.0, 1.2.0-beta.1)
Cannot be lower than the current deployed version

Status After Deployment

Deployment does not automatically publish your plugin. The status transition depends on the current state:

Current status	Status after deploy
`draft`	`draft` (submit via dashboard when ready)
`approved`	`pending_review` (changes trigger re-review)
`rejected`	`pending_review`

CI/CD Usage

In non-interactive environments (GitHub Actions, Railway, etc.), always use --force:

whatalo deploy --force --message "Fix order sync bug"

Without --force, the CLI will hang waiting for confirmation input that never comes in a CI environment.

Example GitHub Actions step

- name: Deploy plugin
  run: whatalo deploy --force --message "${{ github.event.head_commit.message }}"
  env:
    WHATALO_DEVELOPER_PORTAL_URL: ${{ secrets.PORTAL_URL }}

Examples

Deploy with a message and skip build (already built):

whatalo deploy --no-build --message "Add bulk order export"

Deploy a specific version:

whatalo deploy --set-version 2.0.0 --message "Major rewrite — new UI"

Deploy with JSON output for scripting:

whatalo deploy --force --json

whatalo validate — Validate before deploying
whatalo dev — Test locally before deploying

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