Whether you're building a new Drupal website, maintaining dozens of client projects, or debugging a production issue, Drush is one of the most valuable tools in a Drupal developer's toolkit.

Drush is the command-line interface for Drupal. It lets you perform common administrative tasks far more quickly than using the Drupal admin UI.

This guide covers the Drush commands that Drupal developers actually use every day. All commands are compatible with Drush 13 and modern Drupal 10 and Drupal 11 projects.

Tip: If you're using DDEV, prefix each command with ddev. For example:

ddev drush cr

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Check your Drupal installation

Display site information

ddev drush status

Alias

ddev drush st

Displays useful information including:

• Drupal version
• PHP version
• Database
• Drush version
• Drupal root
• Site URI

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Check your Drush version

ddev drush version

Useful when confirming compatibility with a project.

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Cache management

Rebuild all caches

ddev drush cache:rebuild

Alias

ddev drush cr

This is by far the most frequently used Drush command.

Use it after:

• enabling modules
• changing services
• editing routing
• changing Twig templates
• modifying plugins
• changing permissions

---

Clear a specific cache bin

ddev drush cache:clear render

Useful when debugging caching issues without rebuilding everything.

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Module management

Enable modules

ddev drush pm:enable pathauto

Alias

ddev drush en pathauto

Enable one or more installed modules.

Example:

ddev drush en token pathauto metatag

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Uninstall modules

ddev drush pm:uninstall pathauto

Alias

ddev drush pmu pathauto

Removes the module and its configuration.

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List installed modules

ddev drush pm:list

Displays all enabled and disabled modules.

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Configuration management

Export configuration

ddev drush config:export

Alias

ddev drush cex

Exports the active configuration to your sync directory.

Run this before committing configuration changes.

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Import configuration

ddev drush config:import

Alias

ddev drush cim

Imports configuration into the active site.

One of the most common deployment commands.

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View configuration differences

ddev drush config:status

Shows configuration waiting to be exported or imported.

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Get a configuration value

ddev drush config:get system.site

Useful for inspecting configuration without opening YAML files.

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Edit configuration

ddev drush config:edit system.site

Opens configuration directly in your default editor.

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Database commands

Update database

ddev drush updatedb

Alias

ddev drush updb

Runs pending database updates after updating code.

Typical deployment sequence:

ddev drush updb
ddev drush cim
ddev drush cr

---

Open a database shell

ddev drush sql:cli

Alias

ddev drush sqlc

Launches a MySQL or PostgreSQL shell.

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Dump the database

ddev drush sql:dump > database.sql

Creates a SQL backup.

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Drop all database tables

ddev drush sql:drop

Useful when rebuilding a local environment.

Use with caution.

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User management

Log in as user 1

ddev drush uli

Generates a one-time login link.

One of the biggest time-savers in Drupal.

---

Generate a login link for another user

ddev drush uli username

Example:

ddev drush uli admin

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Reset a password

ddev drush user:password admin

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Create a user

ddev drush user:create alice

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Add a role

ddev drush user:role:add administrator alice

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Cron

Run cron

ddev drush cron

Runs scheduled tasks immediately.

Useful for testing feeds, queues and scheduled jobs.

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Maintenance mode

Enable maintenance mode

ddev drush state:set system.maintenance_mode 1

---

Disable maintenance mode

ddev drush state:set system.maintenance_mode 0

Always rebuild caches afterwards.

ddev drush cr

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Development

Execute PHP

ddev drush php:eval

Example:

ddev drush php:eval "echo \Drupal::VERSION;"

Excellent for quick debugging.

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Open an interactive PHP shell

ddev drush php

Allows experimentation with Drupal services.

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Watchdog logs

ddev drush watchdog:show

Alias

ddev drush ws

Displays recent log messages.

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Tail log messages

ddev drush ws --tail

Useful while debugging.

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Site administration

Browse the site

ddev drush browse

Opens the site in your default browser.

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Display available commands

ddev drush list

Useful when exploring Drush functionality.

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Get help for a command

ddev drush help config:export

Displays all options and examples.

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Deployment workflow

A typical deployment sequence for many Drupal projects looks like this:

ddev drush updb
ddev drush cim
ddev drush cr

If you're deploying new content entities or cache-sensitive changes, you may also run:

ddev drush cron

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Drush aliases worth remembering

Alias	Full command
cr	cache:rebuild
cex	config:export
cim	config:import
st	status
uli	user:login
updb	updatedb
ws	watchdog:show
sqlc	sql:cli
en	pm:enable
pmu	pm:uninstall

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Final thoughts

Learning Drush is one of the quickest ways to become a more productive Drupal developer. Most experienced developers use these commands dozens of times a day, and mastering them can save hours over the course of a project.

If you manage multiple Drupal websites, keeping track of environments, updates, documentation, and server information becomes just as important as running the right Drush commands. That's exactly the kind of operational workflow Fleetview is designed to simplify.