ColdFusion Package Manager

Last update:

May 18, 2026

Overview

Modularization reduces the complexity of a system. More formally, we can define modularization as dividing any system into independent functional units to allow replacement and/or removal of these units.

ColdFusion in all its versions installed all components, such as, datasource, language, pdf, Solr, etc., by default. You did not have an option to pick and choose the component or package that you’d want, or to remove the package. This meant that a lot of packages were left unused if they are not related to your application(s), leading to unnecessary consumption of system resources.

In Adobe ColdFusion (2021 release), you can install ColdFusion features as packages for a specific purpose. For example, you want to execute oracle database operations, you can install the oracle package. You can also uninstall the package if it is not required in future. This means that you have a lightweight base version of ColdFusion and depending on your use, you can add or remove the packages. You need not restart ColdFusion for the changes to take effect.

Benefits

The size of the installer now stands at 146 MB for core ColdFusion services, which also includes JRE. The size will decrease further in future releases.
The size on disk is now reduced by ~300% and the runtime memory (for core packages) is now reduced by ~350%. The disk size may increase once you install the other packages.
The startup time has decreased by ~400%.

Get started

You can install, remove, or update packages using these three ways:

ColdFusion Admin interface to install/uninstall packages

In the ColdFusion Administrator, click Package Manager , and you can see the options to manage the packages.

Packages

The Packages page contains the following sections.

CORE SERVER

Check for updates to the core packages. Click the button Check for Updates and see a list of available updates.

INSTALLED PACKAGES

The Installed Packages section lists all packages that are already installed. Select a package and uninstall the package. You can also uninstall all the installed packages and check if any packge needs an update.

AVAILABLE PACKAGES

The Available Packages section lists packages that are not yet installed. Click Install All to install the packages simultaneously.

Settings

The Settings page contains the following options to specify update preferences such as update notifications or if to automatically check for updates.

If you have set up a local update site, you can also specify URL of that site to get updates.

Auto-Check

Click Auto-Check to see if any package updates are available for installation. You will receive a notification when a new update is available for download.

Notification

Provides options to specify update preferences such as update notifications or automatically check for updates.

Update Site

If you have set up a local update site, specify the URL of that site to get updates.

Packages Site

If you have set up a local site for packages, specify the URL to receive the updates.

Proxy Settings

If you host the packages on a server that is behind a proxy server, then provide these details:

Proxy host
Proxy port
Proxy username
Proxy password

ColdFusion Package Manager Interactive Mode

Using the ColdFusion Package Manager (cfpm), you can install, uninstall, list all the packages that are currently installed and get the list of available ColdFusion packages, and much more.

Navigate to CFHOME/cfusion/bin and enter cfpm.bat

You are now in the cfpm prompt.

Commands

Command	Description
install PACKAGENAME[:VERSION]	Installs a new package. If VERSION is not specified, then the latest version of the package will be installed. You can also specify comma-separated packages to install multiple packages.
install ALL	Installs all the packages available in the repo.
update ALL	Updates the server hotfix and all the installed packages to the latest version.
update packages	Updates all installed packages to the latest versions.
uninstall ALL	Uninstalls all packages that were installed.
uninstall PACKAGENAME	Uninstalls a package from the system. You can specify comma-separated packages to uninstall the packages.
list	Lists all installed packages.
listall	Lists all available packages in the repo.
info PACKAGENAME	Prints the package-related information on the console.
help	Prints the usage of all commands on the console.
scan CODEBASEPATH	Scans code at the given PATH and finds all packages to be installed.
scanandinstall CODEBASEPATH	Scans code at the given PATH and installs all required packages.
downloadrepo DOWNLOAD_PATH	Clones the repository of the packages to the specified path.
q or quit	Exits the cfpm console.
cls or clear	Clears the cfpm console.
purgecache	Purges the Felix cache. Felix stores all installed bundles into a bundle cache directory. By default, Felix creates a cache directory, called felix-cache, in your current working directory. For more information, see Apache Felix framework . Run this command to clear the bundle cache. You must stop ColdFusion server, run purgecache , and then restart ColdFusion.
export EXPORT_FILEPATH	Exports all the installed packages to a file.
import IMPORT_FILEPATH	Imports all the specified packages in the file into the server.

Help

In the prompt, type help and enter. You can see the following options:

Package information

To see the information about a package, enter the following command:

info <moulename>

For example, if you view the information about the package pdf and its dependencies, enter

info pdf

Install package — Figure: View package information

If a package is not installed, the information about it will be colored yellow. In this example, cfmongodb isn't installed, so the information shows up in yellow color.

List all installed packages

In the prompt, to see the list of all packages that are installed, enter list .

You can see the list of packages, as shown below:

List all available packages

In the prompt, to see the list of available packages in the package repository, enter listall .

The packages that are installed are in green.

Install a package

To install a package, enter the name of the package after install, for example,

install <package_name>

For example, to install Azure Blob, enter the command below:

install azureblob

You can also specify a comma-separated list of packages after install, for example,

install <package1>,<package2>,<package3>,…

If the package being installed has any other dependent packages, it automatically installs them as well.

You can also specify the version of the package while installing the package.

cfpm>install package:version

Changes in ColdFusion (2023 release) Update 5 and ColdFusion (2021 release) Update 11

Install a package

After you run cfpm>install all, the core server gets updated for a few packages. You also view a confirmation message for the installation.

Possible scenarios

Let the version of the core server be 5. Here are the possible installation scenarios:

Package version	Minimum core server version	Command	Action	Existing or new behavior
Version 6	Version 5	install <package name>	ColdFusion installs version 6 of the package without any confirmation.	Existing
Version 6	Version 6	install <package name>	ColdFusion installs the latest package compatible with the current core server version.	Existing
Version 6	Version 5	install <package name>	ColdFusion installs version 6 of the package without updating the core server.	Existing
Version 6	Version 6	install <package name>: <version>	ColdFusion asks you if you want to install both core server and package to version 6.	New

Install all packages

Here are the possible scenarios.

Package version	Minimum core server version	Command	Action	Existing or new behavior
Version 6	Version 6	install all	ColdFusion asks you if you want to install both the core server and package to version 6.	New

Downgrade a package

Here are the possible scenarios.

Package version	Minimum core server version	Command	Action	Existing or new behavior
Version 5	Version 5	install <package name>: <version>	ColdFusion asks you if you want to downgrade both the core server and the packages to their base versions.	New

Upgrade a package

Here are the possible scenarios.

Package version	Minimum core server version	Command	Action	Existing or new behavior
Version 6	Version 5	update all	ColdFusion installs both the core server and packages to version 6.	Existing
Version 6	Version 6	update all	ColdFusion asks you if you want to install both the core server and packages to version 6.	New

Uninstall a package

To uninstall a package, enter the name of the package after uninstall, for example,

uninstall <package_name>

Uninstalling a package does not uninstall its dependent packages. You must uninstall the dependent packages manually.

You can uninstall packages in their order of dependent packages.

For example, to uninstall Azure Blob, enter the command below:

uninstall azureblob

Code scanner

ColdFusion is modularized and only contains the core by default. Identifying the list of packages that must be installed to run the application successfully can be difficult.

The code scanner comes to the rescue, automatically scans through the specified code base, and returns the list of required packages to be installed.

Enter the following command:

scan <path_to_your_code_base>

In addition, you can scan the code base and install the recommended packages in one go as well. Enter the following command:

scanandinstall<path_to_your_code_base>

For example, scanandinstall <code_base/wwwroot/cfm>

Configure local repository

It may happen that you may be behind a firewall or do not have an active internet connection, which results in packages not getting installed.

In this release, we’ve introduced the command downloadrepo , using which you can download the complete repo (all packages) to a specified location and host it on any web server locally.

Enter the command:

downloadrepo <path_to_repo>

For example, downloadrepo C:\packagerepo .

Once the repository is downloaded and hosted on the web server. It can be used by ColdFusion server to act as the online repository. You can switch the repository location using the ColdFusion administrator.

Steps to use the local repository:

Download the repository and host it on a web server as mentioned above.
Log in to ColdFusion administrator.
Navigate to Package Manager > Settings
Update the Package Site to http://<LOCAL_WEB_SERVER>/packagerepo/bundlesdependency.json
Submit changes
Restart ColdFusion server.

Export packages

Export the current state of a server. It can be imported to another instance of another ColdFusion instance or server.

For example,

cfpm>export C:\packages.txt

The contents of the file are shown below:

# 

#Thu Sep 17 13:41:19 GMT+05:30 2020 

server_hotfix_updatelevel=0 

packages=awssqs\:2021.0.0.322293,awssns\:2021.0.0.322293,azureservicebus\:2021.0.0.322293,awsdynamodb\:2021.0.0.322293,pdf\:2021.0.0.322293,felixclassloader\:2021.0.0.322293,report\:2021.0.0.322293,awss3\:2021.0.0.322293,document\:2021.0.0.322293,image\:2021.0.0.322293,chart\:2021.0.0.322293,spreadsheet\:2021.0.0.322293,presentation\:2021.0.0.322293,adminapi\:2021.0.0.322293,administrator\:2021.0.0.322293

Import packages

Import the state of server from a file to install all packages that are mentioned in the file being imported.

For example,

cfpm>import C:\packages-to-import.txt

Update packages

In this section, we shall discuss a few package update workflows where you will upgrade or downgrade core verion or packages. Here are some instances when you'll update or downgrade a package.

You have installed ColdFusion core package and want to update or downgrade the package.
You have installed ColdFusion core package and a second package, for example, chart. Now a new version is available for chart, which is compatible with the already installed core package. Your intent is to update the chart package.
You have installed ColdFusion core package and a second package, for example, chart. Now a new version is available for chart, which is not compatible with the already installed core package. Your intent is to update the core package along with the chart package.
You want to downgrade the chart package to the previous version, which means that you must first downgrade the core package.

Example workflows

For example,

You've intalled the ColdFusion core package and 10 different packages. If there are updates available for five packages, of which three packages are compatible with the installed core package, then you must update the core package along with all the five packages.
You've installed the ColdFusion core package and 10 different packages. If there is a package that is not compatible with the core package, then you must update the package to its latest version.

Note: When you install ColdFusion using the GUI installer, the by default, all packages are installed, which are updated to the latest version of ColdFusion.

Supported commands

Action	ColdFusion Package Manager	ColdFusion Administrator
Update a single package	install <package>.This command will uninstall the older version (if installed) and install the latest version of the package. install <package>:<version>. This command will install the package to the specified version.	In the section Installed Packages , select a package, and in the Available Versions drop-down, choose the version that you want to update to.
Update multiple packages	install <package1>:<version>, install <package1>:<version>	NOT SUPPORTED
Update all packages	update all: Updates the server hotfix and all the installed packages to the latest version. update packages: Updates all the installed packages to the latest server update.	NOT SUPPORTED

Example

For updating or downgrading the core server or packages, use the command,

install <package name>:<lower package version>

For example, you have installed the package chart v2021.0.0.323100, which depends on the latest core package. Now you want to downgrade the package to v2021.0.0.323099, which depends on the previous version of the core package.

Then, use the command- install chart:2021.0.0.323099

The command will

Uninstall the core update.
Uninstall the latest version of the chart package.
Install the latest version of the chart package.

ColdFusion Package Manager Non-interactive Mode

It is easier to automate the process of package installation or uninstallation using the CFPM non-interactive mode.

Open the command prompt, navigate to the coldFusion/cfusion/bin folder, and enter:

cfpm COMMAND ARGUMENTS

For example: C:\ColdFusion\cfusion\bin>cfpm install <package_name>

Docker

The docker image accepts two environment variables:

installModules=<Comma delimited list of packages to be installed by CF Package Manager,accepts 'all' for installing all the available packages>
importModules=<A text file containing packages to be imported. Must be present in the webroot, /app>"

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ColdFusion Package Manager

Overview

Benefits

Get started

ColdFusion Admin interface to install/uninstall packages

Packages

Settings

ColdFusion Package Manager Interactive Mode

Commands

Help

Package information

List all installed packages

List all available packages

Install a package

Changes in ColdFusion (2023 release) Update 5 and ColdFusion (2021 release) Update 11

Install a package

Install all packages

Downgrade a package

Upgrade a package

Uninstall a package

Code scanner

Configure local repository

Export packages

Import packages

Update packages

Example workflows

Supported commands

Example

ColdFusion Package Manager Non-interactive Mode

Docker

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