Evidence CLI

When to use

Invoke when the user asks to:

• Run Evidence.dev commands ("run sources", "build the project", "start dev server", "deploy")
• Configure npm scripts or project setup
• Understand CLI flags or deployment options

Evidence CLI & Deployment

Level 1 — The Three Commands You Need Every Day

Create a new project

npx degit evidence-dev/template my-project
cd my-project
npm install
npm run sources
npm run dev

Start the dev server (existing project)

npm run dev

Opens at http://localhost:3000. Hot reloading is on by default — save a .md file to see changes instantly.

Build for production

npm run build

Outputs a static site to the build/ directory. All pages and queries are pre-rendered at build time.

Level 2 — All CLI Commands and Project Structure

Full Command Reference

Pass flags with an extra -- separator:

npm run dev -- --port 4000
npm run dev -- --host 0.0.0.0   # useful inside containers
npm run dev -- --open /my-page  # open a specific page on startup

npm run sources Flags

npm run dev Flags

dev and build use Vite under the hood and support Vite's CLI options. preview uses npx serve and supports Serve's options.

Project Structure

my-project/
├── pages/                  # Markdown pages (.md files)
│   ├── index.md            # Home page
│   └── +layout.svelte      # Custom layout (optional override)
├── sources/                # Data source definitions
│   └── my_source/
│       ├── connection.yaml         # Non-secret connection config
│       ├── connection.options.yaml # Secret credentials (base64)
│       └── my_query.sql            # Source queries
├── static/                 # Static assets (images, favicon)
├── evidence.config.yaml    # Evidence configuration
└── package.json

Pages are .md files in pages/. Add a file to add a route — pages/sales/overview.md becomes /sales/overview.

Source Queries vs Markdown Queries

• Source queries (.sql files in sources/) run directly against your data source in the source's SQL dialect. Run with npm run sources. Populate the data cache.
• Markdown queries (code blocks in .md files) use DuckDB dialect, run against the data cache on every page load. Results are directly available to components.

Reference cached data in a markdown query as source_name.query_name:

```orders_summary
select * from my_source.my_query
```

<DataTable data={orders_summary} />

Custom Layout

Copy the default layout to override it:

cp .evidence/template/src/pages/+layout.svelte pages

Key EvidenceDefaultLayout props:

Level 3 — Deployment, Rendering Modes, Environments, Base Paths

Deployment Overview

Evidence is a static site generator by default. npm run build pre-renders every page and query into HTML. The output in build/ can be served from any static host.

Build process:

1. All source queries run once at build time
2. All pages (including all parameterized page permutations) are generated
3. If a query fails during build:strict, the build stops — the old deployed version keeps serving

Schedule or trigger regular builds to keep data fresh.

npm run build:strict fails if:

• Any SQL query fails (a query returning zero rows is not a failure)
• Any component renders an error state (a component receiving a valid but empty result set will fail — wrap with {#if} to avoid this)

Self-Hosting Platforms

Evidence static output can be deployed to:

• AWS Amplify
• Azure Static Apps
• Cloudflare Pages
• Firebase Hosting
• GitHub Pages
• GitLab Pages
• Hugging Face Spaces
• Netlify
• Vercel
• Windows IIS
• Any static file server

Storing Credentials for Production

In production, credentials must be supplied as environment variables. They are never read from connection.options.yaml at build time on the server.

To find the exact variable names for your sources:

1. Run npm run dev
2. Go to http://localhost:3000/settings
3. Open the deployment panel and select your target platform

Credential variable format:

EVIDENCE_SOURCE__<source_name>__<variable_name>

Variable names are case sensitive — preserve the casing shown on the settings page.

Environment Variables Reference

Using EVIDENCE_VAR__ in a source query:

select * from orders
where customer_name = '${customer_name}'

Using VITE_ in a page:

<script>
  const tier = import.meta.env.VITE_tier;
</script>

{#if tier === 'premium'}
Premium content
{/if}

Evidence reads a .env file at the project root for local development.

Environments (Dev vs Prod)

Configure dev credentials via the settings page at localhost:3000/settings.

Configure prod credentials as environment variables on your deployment platform.

Common data environment patterns:

• Separate databases — same schema/tables, different database per environment
• Separate schemas — same database, different schema per environment (Postgres supports an optional schema credential parameter)
• Separate accounts — fully isolated accounts per environment

Rendering Modes

Static Site Generation (default)

• All pages pre-rendered to HTML at build time
• Fast page loads, rich SEO
• Build time grows with page count
• Best for most apps

Single Page App (SPA)

• Only one HTML file generated; pages rendered client-side via JavaScript
• Fast builds, slower page loads, generic SEO
• Use when: >1,000 pages, very frequent data updates, or large data sources

Enabling SPA mode:

1. Update package.json scripts:

"build": "VITE_EVIDENCE_SPA=true evidence build",
"preview": "VITE_EVIDENCE_SPA=true evidence preview"

2. Install the adapter:

npm install --save-dev @sveltejs/adapter-static

3. Create svelte.config.js at the project root:

import adapter from '@sveltejs/adapter-static';

export default {
    kit: {
        adapter: adapter({
            fallback: 'index.html'
        })
    },
};

4. When self-hosting an SPA, redirect all URLs to index.html. NGINX example:

root /path/to/your/project/build/;

location / {
    try_files $uri $uri/ $uri.html /index.html;
}

Base Paths (Subdirectory Hosting)

Serve Evidence from a subdirectory, e.g. https://acme.com/analytics.

evidence.config.yaml:

deployment:
  basePath: /my-base-path

Rules:

• Must start with /
• Must not end with /
• Must be a valid URL path

All markdown links are automatically adjusted to include the base path.

Adjust the build output directory (required for npm run preview to work correctly):

"build": "EVIDENCE_BUILD_DIR=./build/my-base-path evidence build"

Custom Svelte components do not have links auto-adjusted. Use addBasePath:

<script>
  export let link;
  import { addBasePath } from '@evidence-dev/sdk/utils/svelte';
</script>

<a href={addBasePath(link)}>My Link</a>

dbt Monorepo Setup

Install Evidence inside a dbt project:

cd path/to/your/dbt/project
npx degit evidence-dev/template reports
npm --prefix ./reports install
npm --prefix ./reports run sources
npm --prefix ./reports run dev

This co-locates modelling changes (/models) and reporting changes (/reports) in the same commits.

Parallelisation

Caution — npm run dev and npm run sources write to shared cache/output directories. Do not run alongside other Evidence CLI agents on the same project.