How to manage Magento Connect extensions from the command line

This article describes how to use the mage script to manage Magento Connect extensions from the command line.

About the mage script

Magento includes the mage script to help you manage Magento Connect extensions. Because it is a command-line application, the mage script can be used in cron jobs and other automation tools.

Configuring the mage script

The mage script is included with Magento by default, but it is not configured to run. To configure the mage script, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your account using SSH.
2. At the command prompt, type the following commands:

   cd ~/public_html
   chmod 700 mage

   If you installed Magento in a subdirectory beneath the public_html directory, change to that directory instead before running the chmod command.

3. To see a list of available commands for the mage script, type the following command:
   

   ./mage

Listing Magento extensions

To view the extensions currently installed for your Magento site, type the following command:

./mage list-installed

To view a list of all of the extensions available in the default community channel, type the following command:

./mage list-available

This command generates a very long list. To filter the results, you can use the grep command. For example, to list all Magento extensions related to search, type the following command:

./mage list-available | grep -i search

./mage channel-add channel

Download and install Magento extensions

To download and install an extension in one step, type the following command, replacing name with the name of the extension you want to install:

./mage install community name

To download an extension without installing it, type the following command, replacing name with the name of the extension you want to download:

./mage download community name

To install an extension you have already downloaded, type the following command, replacing filename with the path and name of the file that you want to install:

./mage install-file filename

Upgrading extensions

To determine if there are any upgrades available for your installed extensions, type the following command:

./mage list-upgrades

You can upgrade a specific extension, or you can upgrade all extensions at once. To upgrade all extensions at once, type the following comand:

./mage upgrade-all

To upgrade a specific extension, type the following command, replacing name with the name of the extension that you want to upgrade:

./mage upgrade community name

Uninstall Magento extensions

To uninstall an extension, type the following command, replacing name with the name of the extension you want to remove:

./mage uninstall community name

Using cron to automate extension management

You can easily use the mage script in cron jobs to automate administration tasks for your extensions. For example, the following cron configuration upgrades all extensions every Sunday at 2:00 AM:

0 2 * * Sun     cd /home/username/public_html && ./mage upgrade-all

For more information about how to run PHP scripts from cron jobs, please see this article.