CLI Reference

Overview

The Wails CLI (wails3) is the command-line entry point for creating, developing, building, signing, packaging, and inspecting Wails 3 applications. Most build orchestration is delegated to per-project Taskfiles (under build/ in your project) — many wails3 commands are thin wrappers that invoke a specific task.

For the most up-to-date help on any command, run:

wails3 --help
wails3 <command> --help

Project lifecycle

Command	Description
wails3 init	Create a new project from a template. Flags: -n (project name), -t (template, default vanilla), -p (Go package name, default main), -d (project directory, default .), -q (quiet), -l (list templates), -mod (Go module path), --git (Git repository URL), --skipgomodtidy, -s (skip remote-template warning), --productname/--productdescription/--productversion/--productcompany/--productcopyright/--productcomments/--productidentifier.
wails3 dev	Run the application in development mode with frontend hot reload. Flags: --config (default ./build/config.yml), --port (Vite dev port), -s (enable HTTPS).
wails3 build	Build the project. Thin wrapper around the Taskfile build task. Flags: --tags (forwarded as EXTRA_TAGS=), --obfuscated (build with Garble; see Obfuscated Builds), --garbleargs (extra flags forwarded to garble before the build subcommand).
wails3 package	Run the platform-specific package Taskfile task.
wails3 task [name]	Run any Taskfile task; with no name, --list shows every registered task.
wails3 doctor	Print a diagnostic report of your environment.
wails3 doctor-ng	Newer TUI variant of doctor.
wails3 version	Print the CLI version.
wails3 releasenotes	Print recent release notes.
wails3 docs	Open the docs site in your browser.
wails3 sponsor	Open the sponsor page.

Generation

wails3 generate <subcommand>:

Subcommand	Description
generate bindings	Generate Go-to-frontend bindings. Flags: -d (output dir), -models, -index, -ts, -i (interfaces), -b (bundle), -names (emit Call.ByName), -noevents, -noindex, -dry, -silent, -v, -clean (default true), -f, -obfuscated (generate wails_obfuscated.gen.go with stable binding IDs for Garble builds; see Obfuscated Builds), -obfuscated-output (directory for the generated file; defaults to the main package directory). Accepts package patterns (e.g. ./...); falls back to the current directory if none given.
generate icons	Convert a source PNG into the platform icon formats. Flags: -input, -windowsfilename, -macfilename, -iconcomposerinput, -macassetdir.
generate build-assets	Generate the build/ directory contents (Taskfile snippets, NSIS files, Info.plist, .desktop template, etc.) from build/config.yml.
generate runtime	Regenerate the pre-built /wails/runtime.js shipped to the webview.
generate syso	Generate the Windows .syso resource file (icon + manifest + version info).
generate webview2bootstrapper	Generate a WebView2 bootstrap installer for Windows.
generate constants	Generate JS event-name constants from Go event types.
generate template	Scaffold a new project template.
generate .desktop	Generate a Linux .desktop file (used by AppImage/DEB/RPM).
generate appimage	Generate the AppImage build directory.

Update

wails3 update <subcommand>:

Subcommand	Description
update build-assets	Refresh the build/ directory from build/config.yml (preserves user edits where possible).
update cli	Self-update the wails3 binary.

Code signing & packaging

Command	Description
wails3 setup signing	Interactive wizard that configures signing for the platforms it detects in build/. Flags: --platform (repeatable; defaults to auto-detect from build directory).
wails3 setup entitlements	Interactive wizard for macOS entitlements. Flag: --output (path; default build/darwin/entitlements.plist).
wails3 sign [GOOS=…]	Wrapper that runs the platform-specific *:sign Taskfile task for the current OS (or the one specified via GOOS).
wails3 tool sign	Low-level direct signing entry point. Flags: --input, --output, --verbose, --certificate, --password, --thumbprint, --timestamp, --identity, --entitlements, --hardened-runtime, --notarize, --keychain-profile, --pgp-key, --pgp-password, --role.

There is no wails3 signing subcommand — for keychain credentials use xcrun notarytool store-credentials, and for PGP keys use gpg directly (the wails3 setup signing wizard automates both).

Tools

wails3 tool <subcommand>:

Subcommand	Description
tool checkport	Check whether a TCP port is open (useful for waiting on Vite).
tool watcher	Run a command whenever watched files change.
tool cp	Cross-platform file copy.
tool buildinfo	Print the embedded Go build info from a binary.
tool package	Build a Linux package (deb, rpm, archlinux) from build/linux/nfpm.
tool version	Bump a project’s semantic version.
tool lipo	Combine multiple macOS architecture binaries into a universal binary.
tool capabilities	Probe the system for GTK3/GTK4 / WebKit availability.
tool sign	(See Code signing & packaging.)

Services

wails3 service <subcommand>:

Subcommand	Description
service init	Scaffold a new service package.

iOS

wails3 ios <subcommand>:

Subcommand	Description
ios overlay:gen	Generate the Go overlay for the iOS bridge shim.
ios xcode:gen	Generate an Xcode project in the output directory.

Build output paths

• Native binaries land in bin/<APP_NAME> (or bin/<APP_NAME>.exe on Windows). There is no build/bin/.
• Packaged outputs (.app, .dmg, NSIS installer, MSIX, DEB/RPM/AppImage) likewise land in bin/ (or under platform-specific subdirectories created by the relevant Taskfile task).

Global flags

Flag	Applies to	Description
--no-colour	All commands	Disable ANSI colour in CLI output.

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Questions? Ask in Discord or check the examples.