Skills

Skill 28 of 38

Encore Link App

Link a local Encore.ts or Encore.go app to Encore Cloud, so it can deploy, set secrets, and use the Encore Cloud MCP server.

2 minutes · 542 words · 9 sections

Install

$ npx skills add encoredev/skills --skill encore-link-app

$ npx skills add encoredev/skills

» /plugin marketplace add encoredev/skills

The first command installs just this skill, by the name in its SKILL.md; the second installs the whole repository.

Linking an App to Encore Cloud

A linked app has its Encore Cloud app ID in encore.app, and deploys from the encore git remote or from a GitHub repository linked in the Cloud Dashboard. The same steps work for Encore.ts and Encore.go.

Instructions

Do the steps in order, from the app’s root directory.

1. Log in

encore auth whoami must print logged in as <email>. If it doesn’t, see encore-login. An auth key login (logged in as app <app-id>) can only link to that key’s app (step 3), not register a new app (step 4).

2. Check whether the app is linked

grep '"id"' encore.app
git remote get-url encore

"id" has a value, and the remote prints encore://<app-id>: linked. Nothing to do.
"id" has a value, but there’s no encore remote: go to step 5. Skip this if the app deploys from GitHub (the app’s Settings > GitHub in the Cloud Dashboard). If you can’t tell, ask the user.
"id" is empty, or there’s no encore.app file: not linked. If the user already has an app on Encore Cloud for this code, go to step 3. Otherwise go to step 4. If you can’t tell, ask.

3. Link to an existing Encore Cloud app

Use this when the app already exists on Encore Cloud, for example one the user created in the Cloud Dashboard. Its ID is in the dashboard URL, app.encore.dev/<app-id>.

encore app link <app-id>

Successfully linked app!: it wrote the ID to encore.app. It also adds the encore remote, but only when the repository has no remotes at all. Check with git remote get-url encore, and go to step 5 if it’s missing.
Error: that app does not exist, or you don't have access to it.: check the ID. If it’s right, the user needs to be invited to the app, or, with an auth key, the key belongs to a different app.
the app is already linked.: encore.app has a different app’s ID. Only add --force if the user confirms the code should move to the other app.
no app id given.: pass the ID as the argument.

Then go to step 6.

4. Register the code as a new Encore Cloud app

Use this for an app created logged out or with --platform=false, Encore code that has no encore.app file, or a copy of someone else’s app that the user wants to deploy separately.

encore app init refuses to run while encore.app exists (an encore.app file already exists). If there is one, move it out of the repository, and note any settings other than id and lang, such as global_cors or build:
```
mv encore.app /tmp/encore.app.bak
```
Register it. Always pass --lang, or the app is treated as Go. The name follows the same rules as encore app create: lowercase letters, digits, and single dashes.
```
encore app init my-app --lang ts   # --lang go for Encore.go
```
- Successfully initialized application on Encore Cloud! with - App ID: <app-id>: done. It wrote a new encore.app and added the encore remote, creating a git repository first if there wasn’t one.
- The app is not currently linked to the encore.dev platform.: nobody was logged in, so it only wrote a local encore.app. Log in (step 1), move the new encore.app away again, and rerun.
- specify an app name: pass the name as the first argument.
- --org=<id-or-slug>: add it to create the app in an org instead of the user’s personal account.
Copy any other settings from /tmp/encore.app.bak into the new encore.app.

5. Add a missing `encore` remote

git remote add encore encore://<app-id>

6. Check and commit

grep '"id"' encore.app            # "id": "<app-id>"
git remote get-url encore         # encore://<app-id>

The app is linked. Its Cloud Dashboard is https://app.encore.dev/<app-id>. Commit the changed encore.app with the next commit. Linking doesn’t deploy anything: to deploy, commit and push (see encore-deploy).

Guidelines

Don’t run encore app create to link existing code. It creates a new app in a new directory.
Don’t use encore app link --force without the user’s OK. It points the code at a different app.
To get an app that’s on Encore Cloud but not on this machine, clone it instead: encore app clone <app-id> (see encore-create-app).
Docs: https://encore.dev/docs/platform/deploy/deploying (opens in a new tab)

About this skill

Trigger

Link a local Encore.ts or Encore.go app to Encore Cloud, so it can deploy, set secrets, and use the Encore Cloud MCP server. Covers checking whether an app is linked, registering local code as a new Encore Cloud app with `encore app init`, linking to an existing one with `encore app link`, and adding a missing `encore` git remote.

The verbatim description from this skill’s front matter — the string an agent matches on to decide whether to load it.

Colophon for this issue

Colophon

How this issue was made

Source

github.com/encoredev/skills, branch main, last pushed 26 October 2026.

Licence

Apache-2.0 — the text of every skill is reproduced unmodified, frontmatter included, under the upstream licence.

Discovery

38 skills found by walking the repository tree for SKILL.md, not by matching a directory convention. One layout observed: encore/*/SKILL.md.

Issue colours

Resolved from a deterministic hash of the owner name. Two accent tones are generated per issue and each is proven against its own ground before it ships: a single accent that passes AA on both light and dark paper is arithmetically impossible.

Heading repairs

1 repair applied to this skill so the document has one h1 and no skipped levels:

Shifted “9 headings” from h1 to h2 so the skill title is the only h1.

Spec compliance

38 editorial notes across 38 of 38 skills. They are printed in the margin of each skill rather than as errors here.

Encore API — 1 note
Encore Architecture — 1 note
Encore Auth — 1 note
Encore Bucket — 1 note
Encore Cache — 1 note
Encore Code Review — 1 note
Encore Create App — 1 note
Encore Cron — 1 note
Encore Database — 1 note
Encore Deploy — 1 note

and 28 more.

Images

Images inside a skill come from the upstream repository. Where the author gave no alternative text we mark the image decorative rather than inventing a description — a plausible caption we made up is worse than none for the reader who depends on it.

Marketplace

A plugin manifest is published at .claude-plugin/marketplace.json by Encore, declaring 1 plugin. It is read for editorial metadata only — never as the skill index, which is always the repository tree.

Signal

Install counts come from skills.sh. They measure downloads, not quality, and an unranked repository is not an unread one.

Agent surfaces

The whole issue is available as one markdown document at /encoredev/skills.md, and each skill at its own .md URL.

Publication

Set by Skills Docs from the source repository. Body text is Literata at the reader’s chosen size and measure; code is Geist Mono. Nothing on this page was written by us except this paragraph.

Linking an App to Encore Cloud

Do the steps in order, from the app’s root directory.

grep '"id"' encore.app
git remote get-url encore

"id" has a value, and the remote prints encore://<app-id>: linked. Nothing to do.

"id" has a value, but there’s no encore remote: go to step 5. Skip this if the app deploys from GitHub (the app’s Settings > GitHub in the Cloud Dashboard). If you can’t tell, ask the user.

"id" is empty, or there’s no encore.app file: not linked. If the user already has an app on Encore Cloud for this code, go to step 3. Otherwise go to step 4. If you can’t tell, ask.

Use this when the app already exists on Encore Cloud, for example one the user created in the Cloud Dashboard. Its ID is in the dashboard URL, app.encore.dev/<app-id>.

encore app link <app-id>

Successfully linked app!: it wrote the ID to encore.app. It also adds the encore remote, but only when the repository has no remotes at all. Check with git remote get-url encore, and go to step 5 if it’s missing.

Error: that app does not exist, or you don't have access to it.: check the ID. If it’s right, the user needs to be invited to the app, or, with an auth key, the key belongs to a different app.

the app is already linked.: encore.app has a different app’s ID. Only add --force if the user confirms the code should move to the other app.

no app id given.: pass the ID as the argument.

Then go to step 6.

Use this for an app created logged out or with --platform=false, Encore code that has no encore.app file, or a copy of someone else’s app that the user wants to deploy separately.

encore app init refuses to run while encore.app exists (an encore.app file already exists). If there is one, move it out of the repository, and note any settings other than id and lang, such as global_cors or build:

mv encore.app /tmp/encore.app.bak

Register it. Always pass --lang, or the app is treated as Go. The name follows the same rules as encore app create: lowercase letters, digits, and single dashes.

encore app init my-app --lang ts   # --lang go for Encore.go

Successfully initialized application on Encore Cloud! with - App ID: <app-id>: done. It wrote a new encore.app and added the encore remote, creating a git repository first if there wasn’t one.
The app is not currently linked to the encore.dev platform.: nobody was logged in, so it only wrote a local encore.app. Log in (step 1), move the new encore.app away again, and rerun.
specify an app name: pass the name as the first argument.
--org=<id-or-slug>: add it to create the app in an org instead of the user’s personal account.

Copy any other settings from /tmp/encore.app.bak into the new encore.app.

git remote add encore encore://<app-id>

grep '"id"' encore.app            # "id": "<app-id>"
git remote get-url encore         # encore://<app-id>

Don’t run encore app create to link existing code. It creates a new app in a new directory.

Don’t use encore app link --force without the user’s OK. It points the code at a different app.

To get an app that’s on Encore Cloud but not on this machine, clone it instead: encore app clone <app-id> (see encore-create-app).

Docs: https://encore.dev/docs/platform/deploy/deploying