# Command summary

## Command summary

<table><thead><tr><th width="196.49071125607543">Command</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><code>dcover create</code></td><td><strong>Create Tests</strong> - write tests for a project, package, method or class. See <a data-mention href="#create-tests">#create-tests</a>.</td></tr><tr><td><code>dcover create</code><br><code>--preflight</code></td><td><strong>Run Preflight Checks</strong> - verifies whether the local environment and the project are in the best condition possible for <code>dcover</code> to create tests, without actually creating the tests. See <a data-mention href="/pages/sv4K7V9vpMCckYsuwW2O">/pages/sv4K7V9vpMCckYsuwW2O</a> for full details.</td></tr><tr><td><code>dcover help create</code></td><td><strong>Help</strong> - display inline help for the dcover create command (syntax, available arguments, and short descriptions).</td></tr><tr><td><code>dcover version</code></td><td><strong>Check Version</strong> - display your Cover CLI version.</td></tr></tbody></table>

## Create tests

**Usage:** `dcover create [@<argumentFile>...] [<entryPoint>...] [--<argument>...]`

**Example:** `dcover create @argfile.txt io.corebanking.Account --maven`

**Inline help:** `dcover help create`

**Description:** The `dcover create` command writes tests for your projects, packages, classes, and methods.

* By default, `dcover create` automatically writes tests for the entire project. If required, you can specify what packages, classes, or methods you want to write tests for, on the command line (using `[<entryPoint>...]`) - see [Packages, classes, and methods](/features/cover-cli/commands-and-arguments/packages-classes-and-methods.md).
* You can use one or more optional arguments on the command line to specify additional Diffblue Cover options such as running preflight checks, excluding methods, or uploading reports bundles (using `[--<argument>...]`) - see the [Commands & Arguments](/features/cover-cli/commands-and-arguments.md#optional-arguments-dcover-create) topic.
* Command lines can become very long when multiple options are specified. To keep your command lines short and avoid any potential issues with terminals that don't support very long command lines, you can make use of argument files to define your optional arguments (using `[@<argumentFile>...]`) - see [Argument files](/features/cover-cli/commands-and-arguments/argument-files.md) for details.

## Output Codes

Cover CLI performs a number of checks before, during, and after creating unit tests. Cover can generate a range of output codes during these checks to provide general information and highlight any issues. Details for all output codes are provided in the main [Output Codes](/features/output-codes.md) topic. Note that as and when these output codes are displayed within Cover CLI, additional specifics may also be provided, if relevant. Also, some common issues can be resolved automatically using `dcover refactor` - see [Cover Refactor](/features/cover-refactor.md).


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