Data and Deploy Commands

Database workflows

ldev db sync

Download and import a database backup from Liferay Cloud in one step.

ldev db sync --environment production --project my-lcp-project --force
ldev db sync --backup-id 20230901-123456 --force
ldev db sync --force --skip-post-import

--force replaces the current local postgres-data before importing. --skip-post-import skips the docker/sql/post-import.d/*.sql scripts after the import.

ldev db download

Download a backup from Liferay Cloud into docker/backups without importing it.

ldev db download --environment prd --project my-lcp-project
ldev db download --backup-id 20230901-123456

ldev db import

Import a local SQL backup into local PostgreSQL.

ldev db import --force
ldev db import --file /path/to/backup.sql.gz --force
ldev db import --force --skip-post-import

If --file is omitted, ldev autodetects the newest .gz, .sql, or .dump under docker/backups.

ldev db query

Execute SQL directly against the local PostgreSQL container.

ldev db query "SELECT count(*) FROM journalarticle"
ldev db query --file scripts/check-articles.sql

Document Library workflows

ldev db files-download

Download Document Library content from Liferay Cloud.

ldev db files-download --environment production --project my-lcp-project \
  --doclib-dest docker/doclib/production
ldev db files-download --environment production --project my-lcp-project --background

ldev db files-mount

Mount or recreate the Docker volume for the Document Library.

ldev db files-mount --path docker/doclib/production

Use this when the doclib path is local or was copied manually from outside Liferay Cloud.

ldev db files-detect

Detect a document_library directory and persist the discovered path to docker/.env.

ldev db files-detect
ldev db files-detect --base-dir /some/start/dir

Content sanitation

ldev portal content prune

Reduce oversized Journal content in a local portal after importing a large database. Uses Liferay APIs only, not raw SQL.

ldev portal content prune --group-id 2710030 --root-folder 15588732 --keep 100 --dry-run
ldev portal content prune --site /guest --root-folder 12345 --structure FITXA --keep 3 --keep-scope structure --dry-run
ldev portal content prune --site /estudis --root-folder 12345 --keep 0

Rules:

• Exactly one of --site or --group-id is required.
• --root-folder is repeatable and required.
• --structure <key> (repeatable) filters articles in scope.
• --keep N retains the N most recent items; --keep-scope structure applies it per structure across all selected folders; default is folder.
• Without --keep, all in-scope articles are deleted.
• Folders are only removed when they end up empty.

Always run with --dry-run first and only apply the plan once the counts match the expected cleanup scope.

ldev portal inventory sites --with-content

Inspect Journal content volume before deciding what to prune.

ldev portal inventory sites --with-content --sort-by content
ldev portal inventory sites --with-content --group-id 2710030 --limit 20
ldev portal inventory sites --site /example-site --with-structures --limit 20

Treat --with-content --sort-by content as a fast radar. Use --site/--group-id scoped mode when you need the exact folder and structure counts that drive a prune.

Deploy workflows

ldev deploy prepare

Build artifacts without touching runtime state.

ldev deploy prepare
ldev deploy prepare --allow-running-env

--allow-running-env bypasses the guardrail that blocks prepare while Liferay is running. Use it only when you know why.

ldev deploy module

Rebuild and deploy a single module or theme into build/docker/deploy.

ldev deploy module foo-web

ldev deploy all

Rebuild and deploy every module in the repo.

ldev deploy all

Use deploy module first when the problem is isolated. Reach for deploy all only when a full rebuild is justified.

ldev deploy theme

Rebuild and deploy a theme.

ldev deploy theme
ldev deploy theme --theme my-custom-theme
ldev deploy theme --format json

Default --theme is ub-theme.

In JSON output, ok: true means the theme artifact was prepared and copied. Use runtimeRefreshed to know whether the running portal was hot-deployed. If runtimeActionRequired is set, run that command before treating the browser runtime as updated.

ldev deploy service

Run Service Builder and restore tracked service.properties.

ldev deploy service

ldev deploy watch

Watch modules/themes and redeploy only the touched unit.

ldev deploy watch
ldev deploy watch --module foo-web
ldev deploy watch --interval 1500 --iterations 200

--iterations 0 polls indefinitely; any other value is a hard limit useful for scripted runs.

ldev deploy status

Show observed deploy artifacts and OSGi runtime state. Defaults to JSON.

ldev deploy status

ldev deploy cache-update

Copy build/docker/deploy artifacts into ENV_DATA_ROOT/liferay-deploy-cache.

ldev deploy cache-update
ldev deploy cache-update --clean

--clean deletes cached artifacts before copying.