Skip to content

Drush and CLI Reuse

When to Use

When you need to perform operations via command line (cron, batch processing, deployments) and want to reuse the same business logic that exists in web controllers/forms.

Decision

If you need... Use... Why
CLI version of web feature Drush command that calls same service Reuse business logic, avoid duplication
Batch processing Drush command + Batch API service CLI for triggering, service for logic
Cron tasks Service called by both hook_cron and Drush Testable, reusable between web and CLI
Web-only operation Keep in controller Don't create CLI version until needed

Pattern

// Service with business logic (shared between web and CLI)
namespace Drupal\mymodule;

class DataProcessor {

  public function processItems(array $items): array {
    $results = [];
    foreach ($items as $item) {
      // Business logic here
      $results[] = $this->processItem($item);
    }
    return $results;
  }

  protected function processItem($item) {
    // Actual processing logic
    return $item;
  }
}

// Web controller uses service
namespace Drupal\mymodule\Controller;

class ProcessController extends ControllerBase {

  public function __construct(
    protected DataProcessor $processor,
  ) {}

  public function process() {
    $items = $this->getItems();
    $results = $this->processor->processItems($items);
    return ['#markup' => 'Processed ' . count($results) . ' items'];
  }
}

// Drush command uses SAME service
namespace Drupal\mymodule\Commands;

use Drush\Commands\DrushCommands;

class MyModuleCommands extends DrushCommands {

  public function __construct(
    protected DataProcessor $processor,
  ) {
    parent::__construct();
  }

  #[CLI\Command(name: 'mymodule:process')]
  public function process() {
    $items = $this->getItems();
    $results = $this->processor->processItems($items);
    $this->output()->writeln('Processed ' . count($results) . ' items');
  }
}

Reference: core/lib/Drupal/Core/Command/, Drush documentation for custom commands

Common Mistakes

  • Duplicating logic between web and CLI — Extract to service, inject into both controller and Drush command
  • Business logic in Drush command class — Keep commands thin, delegate to services
  • Not considering memory limits in CLI — Batch processing should be in service, callable from both web (Batch API) and CLI
  • Hardcoding CLI-specific assumptions in services — Services should work in any context (web, CLI, queue worker)

See Also