Language:DeutschEnglish Last updated: 2026-10-01

Console commands

Anton's commands are Laravel commands and are called via artisan.

This page describes the commands most important in operation, with context. A complete, automatically generated list of all commands is at the end under Complete reference.

Basics

Most commands expect an environment to be specified, that is, a customer slug:

php artisan anton:command --env=besenval

Anton commands only output something on stdout when the verbosity is increased: -v shows info messages, -vv additionally debug messages. Without a flag they run silently. Errors and warnings always go to stderr (ottosmops/consoleoutput).

For a cron job this means: no output and exit code 0 is the normal case, not a run that did not happen. If you need evidence in the log, call the command with -v.

Back up before writing commands

Commands that write to the database — repairs, merges, reset — should never run unsecured on a production archive. First anton:backup, then act.

Installation and updating

Command	Purpose
anton:install --env=<slug>	Set up a new installation from a .env file
anton:customdir	Create the customer directory including subfolders (see installation)
anton:update --env=<slug>	Update to the latest stable version — runs migrations and seeders without overwriting labels
anton:setting / anton:home	Read or set a setting or a home page entry
matomo --env=<slug>	Register the tenant with Matomo: site, a user with view access to it, and a token, and write the two settings analytics_id and analytics_auth_token (see installation)

Backup and restoration

anton:backup creates a database dump. Without --target-dir it ends up in the customer directory (db_backup). For rotating backups, --hourly, --weekly, --monthly, --yearly prepare the file names (e.g. 00_backup_besenval-daily-19.sql.gz); --file specifies a name of your own.

php artisan anton:backup --env=besenval

The database only

anton:backup does not back up media files. A complete backup concept is covered by backup and restoration; what each backup contains is shown by the export matrix.

anton:restore restores the most recent backup by default. anton:reset resets an installation (database and assets) to a defined state — the basis of the test archive that is reset daily.

Media and integrity

media:check checks the consistency between the Anton database, the local file system, Inge and DIMAG. Six check levels, individually or combined:

php artisan media:check --levels=1,5,6 --env=besenval -vv

    --levels=               Check levels (1-6), comma-separated
    --sip=                  Only media of a particular SIP (AntonObject ID)
    --fix-cloud-status      Repairs cloud_status in the DB (level 5)
    --delete-local-masters  Deletes local masters after cloud verification (level 5)
    --delete-from-system    Deletes file system entries without a DB counterpart (level 3)
    --delete-from-inge      Deletes orphans from Inge/DIMAG (level 6)

Level 4 verifies the checksum of every file against the database (SHA-512 where available, MD5 otherwise) — the actual fixity check, with the same logic as media:snapshot --verify. On DIMAG installations it is skipped (the masters are held there). For details see Inge and DIMAG and long-term preservation.

media:snapshot combines two jobs in one pass:

• Lists of the reference checksums of all media from the database, without reading a file: <date>.sha512 and <date>.md5, checkable with sha512sum -c or md5sum -c. With --git they go into a local Git repository; its history shows when a reference changed. A switch from MD5 to SHA-512 appears as UPGRADED, not CHANGED.
• Checking the files against their reference, like media:check --levels=4: all with --verify, or with --oldest=N the N checked longest ago — so a nightly run walks through the whole holding over time. Every check is an event media:repair builds on; findings go to logs/findings_<date>.txt, and the command then exits with 1.

php artisan media:snapshot --env=besenval --oldest=2000 --git

Every run leaves a line in logs/runs.log, even when nothing changed. A medium without a reference checksum is reported, not given one from today's file. Anton does not run the command by itself; it is set up per installation as a cron job.

media:checksum computes SHA-512 for media that have none yet (uploaded before version 0.98). Every file is read once and first checked against its stored MD5: if it deviates, that is an integrity finding and no SHA-512 is stored from the file. Local masters only; an interrupted run carries on at the next call. --dry-run only compares, --limit and --ids narrow it down.

media:repair brings media whose integrity check failed back from the local backup: the first version whose checksum matches the reference replaces the file; the damaged version goes to quarantine.

php artisan media:repair --env=besenval --dry-run

    --from=     Backup root (default: MEDIA_REPAIR_BACKUP_ROOT)
    --dry-run   Only report
    --max=      Repair nothing if there are more findings (default 10)
    --ids=      Only these media

Exit 0: nothing to do or all repaired; 1: not repairable or threshold exceeded (then nothing was repaired); 2: backup missing, empty or writable. Setup see Installation, procedure see long-term preservation.

media:identify determines the file format (Siegfried/Fido → PRONOM ID) and derives the NARA risk assessment from it. With new uploads this runs automatically; the command serves to supply the data retrospectively for existing holdings. Without --force, only media without identification data. For the evaluation see preservation planning.

media:extract-av-metadata fills the av_* columns (duration, codec, bitrate, resolution …) via ffprobe — likewise a backfill command, since new uploads do this automatically. --dry-run only shows what would change; --force also overwrites values that are already filled.

media:add attaches a medium to a record from the command line — useful when a file is too large for the browser upload:

php artisan media:add file.jpg --env=besenval --id=123

storage:audit checks local master files and SIP directories; --clean-sips and --clean-masters tidy up.

Search (Typesense)

The instant search maintains its own index. In case of problems or after larger data changes, it is rebuilt:

Command	Purpose
typesense:status	Show the state of the collections
typesense:reindex	Rebuild all collections of an archive (setup + objects + full text + gallery)
typesense:reindex-all-tenants	The same across all installations
typesense:flush	Remove all documents from the collection

Import and export

Command	Purpose
anton:import	Excel import; the defaults are deliberately defensive (see data import)
anton:import-native / anton:export-native	Lossless round trip of a subtree (backup, re-importable)
anton:export	EAD/EAD3 export
anton:export-rdf	RDF export in three profiles (see below)
resources:sync	Authority data synchronisation with GND, Wikidata, Metagrid
anton:sips-prune	Clear away unpacked SIPs no import needs any more; mark hung checks as broken off; delete uploads abandoned in limbo/ after --limbo-days (2) (as a cron; --dry-run first)

anton:export-rdf exports a fonds — or the whole tenant if --root= is missing — as RDF:

php artisan anton:export-rdf --env=kr --root=42 --profile=a-plus --format=turtle > fonds.ttl

• --profile=a-plus (default) — CIDOC CRM + RiC-O; turtle, jsonld, rdfxml, ntriples
• --profile=ric — pure RiC-O 1.1, default jsonld
• --profile=memobase — Memobase JSON-LD

Details under RDF export. The output goes to stdout.

Maintenance and repair

These commands restore the consistency of derived fields. Why they exist — materialised fields in a closure table — is explained by concurrency.

Command	Purpose
anton:repair-closure-table	Check and repair the consistency of the hierarchy table
anton:reorder-positions	Reorder the position field of siblings; anton:restore-positions undoes it from a snapshot
anton:update-fulltext	Rebuild the full-text index (necessary after language changes, for example)
anton:update-dates / anton:update-all-dates	Recalculate the aggregated dating
anton:update-release-year	Materialise the effective release year
anton:merge <type> <target_id>	Merge actors, places or keywords
anton:repair-content-locale --from=<language>	Move titles and text fields an import filed under the wrong language into the archive's content language
anton:audit-orphans	Report rows whose record no longer exists, and remove them on request

anton:repair-content-locale concerns archives that imported before 15 August 2026: until then an import wrote the application's default language rather than the archive's. A title filed under a language the archive does not keep shows on the detail page but leaves an empty cell in every list.

Without --write the command only reports what it would move. --from is required, --to defaults to the archive's first configured language. Records that already carry the target language are listed rather than overwritten. A --from that is one of the archive's own configured languages is refused unless --force — content in a configured language is not misfiled.

anton:audit-orphans looks for rows pointing at a record that is no longer there. Anton keeps text fields, external identifiers, comments, term values, upload tokens and relations in polymorphic tables; when the owner goes, nothing takes them with it. None of it is visible — nothing renders a row whose owner is missing — which is exactly why it has to be looked for.

Without --write it only reports. --only= narrows it to one place, and every finding comes with the first few ids so you can look before deciding. Media is reported and never removed: a media row is the registration of a file on disk, and dropping the row loses the trail to the file rather than the file.

Diagnosis

anton:doctor checks an installation for consistency — the same checks as the interface under Anton Doctor, only scriptable:

php artisan anton:doctor --env=besenval --all -vv

    --all           check everything
    --binaries      external programs
    --closure       closure table (repair with --repair)
    --database      position collisions
    --disk          storage space
    --environment   environment variables, settings
    --jobs          is the supervisor running?
    --media         problematic media

Further diagnostic commands: anton:check-disk-space (identical to anton:doctor --disk; warns from 80 % of the quota stored in maximum_storage), anton:db-info (active driver and version), sip:reconcile (SIP status across Anton, Inge and DIMAG), inge:check-infrastructure (connection to Inge/DIMAG). The anton:audit-* commands report duplicates in reference codes and positions without changing anything.

Notifications

notification:send creates a system notification in one or all installations:

php artisan notification:send --title="Wartung" --body="Details." --env=besenval
php artisan notification:send --title="Update" --all --audience=editors

--title (mandatory) and --body accept a string or JSON for several languages; --audience restricts to editors or admins.

Complete reference

The following table lists all admin-relevant commands with the description from their own --help output. It is generated from php artisan list and kept up to date with every change to the commands.

Automatically generated

This section is generated; the descriptions are in the language of the code (English). Not included are internal developer commands (boost:, debugbar:, ide-helper: …) and customer-specific namespaces (gf:, gosteli:, ballyana:).

anton: (60)

Command	Description
anton:add-user	Add or update a user; a new one without --password gets an invitation to set its own password.…
anton:audit-duplicate-users	Konten melden, die sich einen Benutzernamen oder eine Adresse teilen (#572).
anton:audit-identifiers	Report duplicate values in objects.identifier. Empty/NULL identifiers (e.g. on Lod=class) are …
anton:audit-note-name-collisions	Detect (name, type) collisions that would block the unify-note migration on this tenant.
anton:audit-orphans	Report (and optionally remove) rows pointing at a record that no longer exists (#512).
anton:audit-positions	Report position collisions: records sharing the same (parent_id, position) value.
anton:backup	Create a Database dump and save it to local storage.
anton:check-customer-fields	Check the current database for legacy antonfields with id > 4999
anton:check-terms	Check Term.
anton:condense-history	Reduce the entries in object.history field
anton:count	Count rows in a db-table.
anton:create-accession-archive	Create a AntonObject for accessions (eg SIP)
anton:customdir	Manage customers directory.
anton:db-info	Print the active database driver, version, and resolved geo-axis order.
anton:doctor	Check an installation. You have to use the --env=slug option. What is checked: 1) check slug 2…
anton:export	Export metadata to a XML-File (EAD or EAD3)
anton:export-antonfields	Export per-formset field labels, form order and controlled-vocabulary labels as antonfields.js…
anton:export-dip	Export metadata to a XML-File (EAD or EAD3)
anton:export-native	Export an Anton subtree as a lossless native round-trip package (anton-import-format + media).
anton:export-rdf	Export Anton tenant data as RDF (CIDOC CRM + RiC-O A+ profile, Memobase, or a self-contained A…
anton:home	Get or set a home entry. If you set a value, you should also choose a locale
anton:i18n-check	Find user-visible strings that are missing a translation (JSON + PHP keys)
anton:import	Import an Excel File. The default options are as defensive as possible.
anton:import-actors	Import an Excel-File to actors-table
anton:import-descriptors	Import an Excel-File of descriptors
anton:import-directory	Scan a directory and list all contents in a flat array with parent information
anton:import-native	Restore an Anton subtree from a native round-trip package (anton-import-format + media).
anton:import-pages	Import an excel file with metadata for pages
anton:install	Install Anton for a .env file with --env
anton:mail	Send a circular (or a downtime notice) to this tenant's editors and admins
anton:measure-disk-usage	Measure and cache storage disk usage in the background (feeds anton:doctor CheckDiskSpace, #293)
anton:merge	Merge multiple records into one (actors, places, or keywords)
anton:migrate-import-audit	Move import sidecars from the archive into the import audit log.
anton:move-objects	Move objects into a parent
anton:moveMediaToCloud	Move media files to an cloud-storage (s3 or inge), but keep the conversions.
anton:protection-baseline	Snapshot or diff the current per-object protection-period release decision (read-only, #256).
anton:prune-cache	Delete expired rows from the database cache table (#389)
anton:reencrypt-secrets	Re-encrypt two-factor secrets and passkeys onto the current APP_KEY (#479).
anton:reorder-positions	Reorder AntonObjects position field (deterministic tie-break + automatic pre-snapshot for roll…
anton:repair-closure-table	Check and repair the object_closure table consistency
anton:repair-content-locale	Move objects.title and notes from a wrongly written language into the archive's own (#506).
anton:repair-edit-metadata	Restore updated_at/updated_by from the history column on records a mass run restamped (#421).
anton:reset	Reset a Anton Installation (DB and assets)
anton:restore	Restore Database from the last Backup (by default)
anton:restore-positions	Restore object positions from an anton:reorder-positions snapshot TSV.
anton:save-searchqueries	Exports and deletes data based on the given year and saves it to a file.
anton:setting	Get or set a setting. Admin users can edit "editable" settings, superusers can edit all settin…
anton:setup-import-audit	Migrate this tenant from accessions_archives_id (legacy) to import_audit_archives_id (new) — s…
anton:shrink-to-public	Create a public anton from a production anton.
anton:sips-prune	Remove SIP extractions no import needs any more, mark hung checks as failed, clear abandoned u…
anton:sitemap	Generate sitemap.xml for this tenant (#383)
anton:update	Update Anton to the last stable Version.
anton:update-all-dates	Fast update all dates in the objects table.
anton:update-dates	Update the dates in the objects table.
anton:update-fulltext	Refresh or update the full_text column in the objects table.
anton:update-has_children	Update has_children attribute in objects table.
anton:update-loans	Refresh or update the loans (users_objects table) for descendants
anton:update-path	Fill path attribute of objects.table
anton:update-release-year	Materialize release_year_calculated (the single effective release year) for all objects (#256).
anton:upwd	Set the password of an account; without the password argument it is asked for hidden.

inge: (1)

Command	Description
inge:check-infrastructure	Check connectivity between Anton and Inge (and Dimag via Inge /status). On failure, reports a …

matomo (1)

Command	Description
matomo	Register this tenant with Matomo (site, user, token) and store analytics_id. Needs MATOMO_ADMI…

media: (14)

Command	Description
media:add	Add a media file to an AntonObject
media:check	Check Media. level 1: Mediacount. Count media in Database and Filesystem. level 2: Media from …
media:checksum	Compute SHA-512 for media without one, verifying each file against its stored MD5 (#574)
media:conversions	Create media conversions. The select options are exclusive. If you do not specify a conversion…
media:count-pdf-pages	Count PDF pages per fonds using pdfinfo. Shows page count statistics grouped by fonds (Bestand).
media:delete-master	Delete Masterfiles from local media directory (eg. if the masters are in a repository)
media:extract-av-metadata	Backfill AV technical metadata (av_duration_seconds, av_codec, av_bitrate, av_resolution, av_s…
media:identify	Process media files for format identification and NARA risk assessment
media:rename	Rename media to original name or vice versa
media:repair	Replace media that failed the integrity check with a verified copy from the local backup (#590)
media:set-to-private	Set media to private
media:size	Get the size of media and save it into the media table.
media:snapshot	Reference checksum lists of all media (git), and the integrity check of all or the N least rec…
media:validate-pdfs	Validate PDF media (master + web conversion). Records results in media.custom_properties.event…

notification: (3)

Command	Description
notification:digest	Summarise the quiet release reports into one announcement.
notification:release	Create the quiet release report for a version from its German news file.
notification:send	Create a system notification in one or all tenant databases.

resources: (2)

Command	Description
resources:sync	Anton-specific resources (external links) management
resources:test-resources	Check that every configured resource provider still answers

sip: (5)

Command	Description
sip:check	Some function for debugging the SIP-Ingest / import array. It checks the package (zip) and sho…
sip:check-import	Check the import of a SIP after it was done. Revert it if something failed downstream (INGE, D…
sip:import-agate	Run an agate-driven SIP import for an existing Importevent (issue #190).
sip:load-xml	Transform a metadata.xml to LoadXml which can be fed to Dimag
sip:reconcile	Reconcile SIP state across Anton DB, Inge and Dimag. Shows per-run media counts and flags disc…

storage: (3)

Command	Description
storage:audit	Audit local storage: count master files on disk, list SIP archives vs. unpacked directories.
storage:link	Create the symbolic links configured for the application
storage:unlink	Delete existing symbolic links configured for the application

typesense: (9)

Command	Description
typesense:flush	Delete all documents from the active tenant's Typesense collection (keeps the collection schem…
typesense:gallery-index	Index gallery media into the active tenant's Typesense gallery collection.
typesense:index	Index AntonObjects into the active tenant's Typesense collection.
typesense:index-media-texts	Index MediaText (PDF/OCR) content into the active tenant's Typesense media-texts collection.
typesense:reindex	Reindex all Typesense collections (setup + objects + media-texts + gallery) for the active ten…
typesense:reindex-all-tenants	Run setup + index + index-media-texts + gallery-index across every active tenant.
typesense:setup	Create or update the Typesense collection for the active tenant.
typesense:status	Show the Typesense collections status for the active tenant.
typesense:update-release	Recompute time-dependent release flags (is_released, is_publicly_searchable) on every media-te…