To create a brand-new site NOT tied to a git remote, and auto-link it to the current directory: netlify sites:create --name my-new-project --account-slug my-team
Confirm creation and link: netlify status
For a git-connected project needing continuous deployment (build hooks tied to a git remote), use instead: netlify init (configures CI hooks for a new or existing project; add --force to reinitialize CI hooks on an already-linked project)
To link the current directory to an existing (already-created) site rather than making a new one: netlify link --name my-existing-site-name (or netlify link --id <site-id>, or netlify link --git-remote-url https://github.com/org/repo.git)
For monorepos, target a specific app with --filter <app-name> on any of the above commands
Official docs: https://cli.netlify.com/commands/sites ; https://cli.netlify.com/commands/link ; https://cli.netlify.com/commands/init
Known gotchas
netlify sites:create makes a blank project that isn't associated with any git remote — it will NOT set up continuous deployment; use netlify init for that
sites:create automatically links the new site to your current working directory unless you pass --disable-linking
netlify link only links to a site that already exists — it does not create one; you must run sites:create or init first if no site exists yet
netlify init with an already-linked/CI-configured project silently no-ops unless you pass --force to reinitialize CI hooks
All three commands accept --auth <token> for fully non-interactive/CI use, and --filter for monorepo subdirectories
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