Neon CLI command: config

The config command manages a branch declaratively with a neon.ts policy file: scaffold a starter config, inspect the branch's live state, preview what an apply would change, and apply the policy. For the neon.ts file format, see the neon.ts reference.

Subcommands: add, apply, init, plan, status

The top-level neon deploy command is an alias for config apply, and neon status is an alias for config status.

Scaffolds a starter neon.ts policy file in the current project and installs the @neon/config and @neon/env packages, so you can start managing a branch declaratively. The generated file uses the standard named defineConfig import from @neon/config/v1 and exports the result as the module default, for example:

import { defineConfig } from "@neon/config/v1";

export default defineConfig({
  // Declare your Neon services here
  auth: false,
  // Branch policy: per-branch tuning
  branch: (branch) => {
    if (branch.isDefault) {
      // Default branch: no overrides, uses project defaults
      return {};
    }
    if (!branch.exists) {
      // New non-default branches: auto-expire
      // Run `neon checkout <name>` to create a new branch with these settings
      return { ttl: "7d" };
    }
    // Existing branch: no changes
    return {};
  },
});

If a neon.ts, neon.mts, neon.js, or neon.mjs file already exists, config init is idempotent: it leaves that file untouched instead of overwriting hand-written policy.

config init runs entirely locally and does not call the Neon API. It detects your package manager (npm, pnpm, yarn, or bun) from how the command was invoked. Before installing, it makes sure node_modules/ is listed in your .gitignore, appending it if it's missing. Pass --no-install to skip installation and just print the command to run.

neon config init [options]

neon config init

Pass --services to declare services in the file it scaffolds, for example neon config init --services auth,functions. This applies only when creating a new neon.ts; to add services to a file that already exists, use config add.

For non-interactive setup, run it with package installation disabled, then install the printed dependencies yourself (or add them to your lockfile in a separate step):

neon config init --no-install
npm install @neon/config @neon/env

Use config init when you want a trusted starter artifact and package list. Hand-write neon.ts instead when you need a different filename/module format or want to avoid modifying files in the current directory.

Declares a service, function, or bucket in your neon.ts, creating the file if there isn't one. Where config init scaffolds a starter policy and leaves an existing file alone, config add edits an existing policy for you, including creating and registering a handler for a function. To declare services while first scaffolding the file, use config init --services instead.

neon config add <sub-command> [options]

Subcommands: ai-gateway, auth, bucket, data-api, function

config add runs entirely locally: it edits files, and never authenticates or resolves a project. Provisioning stays a separate neon config apply step.

It finds your config by walking up from the current directory, stopping at a .git directory or your home directory. When it finds none, it creates neon.ts in the current directory and installs the @neon/config and @neon/env packages; pass --no-install to print the install command instead. Editing an existing file never installs packages. Pass --config <path> to target a specific file; a path that doesn't exist is an error.

It edits the file in place, keeping your comments and formatting. It refuses edits it can't make safely, such as a service declared under the deprecated preview block, and prints the lines to add by hand instead. Re-adding an already-enabled service exits 0 with "nothing to change"; a duplicate function slug or bucket name exits 1; a bare neon config add exits 1 and lists what you can add.

Enables Neon Auth by setting auth: true.

neon config add auth [options]

neon config add auth

Enables the Data API by setting dataApi: true, and enables Neon Auth, which the default provider requires (it flips auth: false to true). An existing external auth provider is left unchanged.

neon config add data-api [options]

neon config add data-api

Enables the AI Gateway by setting aiGateway: true.

neon config add ai-gateway [options]

neon config add ai-gateway

Declares a Neon Function and creates its handler file. The handler defaults to functions/<slug>.ts (.js for a JavaScript config). A slug is 1 to 20 lowercase letters and digits, with no hyphens. Pass --name to set a display name (it defaults to the slug), or --source to register an existing handler relative to neon.ts without overwriting it.

neon config add function <slug> [options]

Adding a function to a directory with no neon.ts creates both the config and the handler:

neon config add function sendemail

INFO: Created functions/sendemail.ts.
INFO: Created neon.ts: added functions.sendemail.
INFO: Install the Neon config packages to use neon.ts: npm install @neon/config @neon/env
INFO: Next: `neon dev` to run it locally, `neon config apply` to deploy.

Declares a Neon Object Storage bucket. Pass --access public_read to allow anonymous reads; the default is private.

neon config add bucket <name> [options]

neon config add bucket assets --access public_read

Shows the branch's live Neon state.

neon config status [options]

neon config status

The top-level neon status command is an alias for config status and accepts the same options.

Pass --current-branch to print only the branch pinned in the local .neon file. This variant makes no network request and requires no login or analytics, so it is cheap enough to drive a shell prompt.

It prints the branch name to stdout and exits 0. When no branch is pinned, it prints nothing to stdout, writes a neon checkout <branch> hint to stderr, and exits with a non-zero status, so a prompt can guard on the command directly.

neon status --current-branch

For example, add your current Neon branch to a starship prompt. Append this [custom.neon] module to ~/.config/starship.toml. The command prints the pinned branch, and when hides the segment (exits non-zero) whenever you are not in a Neon project:

# ~/.config/starship.toml
[custom.neon]
description = "Current Neon branch"
command = "neon status --current-branch"   # prints the branch pinned in .neon (no network)
when = "neon status --current-branch"       # exits non-zero when no branch -> segment is hidden
symbol = "🌿 "
style = "bold green"
format = "[$symbol$output]($style) "

For a full copy-paste (and agent-ready) walkthrough, including prerequisites and troubleshooting, see this Starship + Neon branch setup gist.

Shows what config apply would change, as a dry run. Nothing is modified.

neon config plan [options]

neon config plan --config ./neon.ts --env .env.local

Applies a neon.ts policy to the branch.

neon config apply [options]

For non-interactive use (scripts, CI, agents), pass --update-existing and --allow-protected to auto-confirm the corresponding prompts.

neon config apply --branch feature/auth --update-existing --allow-protected