Getting Started

The Castle CLI (Command Line Interface) is a tool that helps you work with Castle decks on your computer. It allows you to:

• Download decks to your computer
• Edit your decks in a text editor
• Test changes to your decks in a web browser
• Upload your changes back to Castle

Here's a few reasons why you might want to use the Castle CLI:

• You can use tools such as Cursor or GitHub Copilot along with the Castle CLI to help you write scripts for your decks
• You can work on decks together with other people by uploading your decks to GitHub
• You want to backup and restore specific versions of your decks

Prerequisites

Before you can install the Castle CLI, you'll need to install Node.js:

• Go to nodejs.org
• Download the LTS (Long Term Support) version
• Run the installer
• To check the installation, open Terminal (Mac) or Command Prompt (Windows) and run:

  node --version
  npm --version
  You should see version numbers displayed for both commands

Installing the Castle CLI

• Open Terminal (Mac) or Command Prompt (Windows)
• Install the Castle CLI using npm:

  npm install -g castle-cli
• Check the installation by running:

  castle help
  You should see a message explaining the commands available in the Castle CLI. If you don't see that, make sure that Node.js is installed correctly and then try installing the Castle CLI again

Logging In

Before you can use the Castle CLI, you need to log in to your Castle account:

• Open Terminal (Mac) or Command Prompt (Windows)
• Run:

  castle login
• Your web browser will open automatically
• Log in to your Castle account in the browser
• Return to the Terminal / Command Prompt
• You should see a message confirming your successful login

Downloading a Deck

To download a deck to your computer:

• Get a link to the deck you want to download. From the Castle app, click the share button and then copy the link. The link should look like https://s.castle.xyz/... or https://castle.xyz/d/...
• Run:

  castle clone <deck-link>
  Replace <deck-link> with the link to your deck
• The deck will be downloaded to a new folder on your computer
• Run this command to move into the new folder that was created:

  cd <new-directory>
  Replace <new-directory> with the directory that castle clone created. castle clone will display the name of the new directory once it completes

Making Changes

After downloading a deck, you can:

• Edit the files in a text editor (see the next section for examples)
• Test your changes locally using:

  castle serve
  This will open your web browser automatically with a preview of your deck, including any changes you've made in the text editor. When you make changes and save a file in the text editor, the web page will reload automatically to show those new changes. You can leave castle serve running in the background while you work on your deck

note

Make sure you are in the correct directory before running castle serve. Remember to run cd <new-directory> from the last step of Downloading a Deck.

Saving Your Changes

When you're happy with your changes you can run:

castle push

To upload your changes back to Castle.

Downloading Changes

If you made changes to your deck in the Castle app you can update the version on your computer by running:

castle pull

Be careful, this will overwrite any changes you've made on your computer if your local changes aren't compatible with the new version of the deck.