diff --git a/packages/contract-cli/extra.js b/packages/contract-cli/extra.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..0e0d1fd8c902ca21f98c98874e66693546a638a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/contract-cli/extra.js
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+// ported from jsonql-koa for testing
+// this need to get call from the beginning
+// so make this available in different places
+const fsx = require('fs-extra')
+const { join } = require('path')
+const contractApi = require('./index')
+const {
+  DEFAULT_CONTRACT_FILE_NAME,
+  PUBLIC_CONTRACT_FILE_NAME
+} = require('jsonql-constants')
+
+const debug = require('debug')('jsonql-contract:contract-generator')
+/**
+ * @param {string} contractDir where the contract is
+ * @param {boolean} pub system of public
+ * @return {mixed} false on not found
+ */
+const readContract = function(contractDir, pub) {
+  const file = join(contractDir, pub ?  PUBLIC_CONTRACT_FILE_NAME : DEFAULT_CONTRACT_FILE_NAME)
+  if (fsx.existsSync(file)) {
+    debug('Serving up the existing one from ', file)
+    return fsx.readJsonSync(file)
+  }
+  return false;
+}
+
+/**
+ * contract create handler
+ * @param {object} opts options
+ * @param {boolean} pub where to serve this
+ * @param {boolean} start is this the first call
+ * @return {object} promise to resolve contract json
+ */
+const contractGenerator = function(opts, pub = false, start = false) {
+  return new Promise((resolver, rejecter) => {
+    if (opts.buildContractOnStart === false && start === false) {
+      const contract = readContract(opts.contractDir, pub)
+      if (contract !== false) {
+        return resolver(contract)
+      }
+    }
+    contractApi(Object.assign({}, opts, { public: pub }))
+      .then(resolver)
+      .catch(rejecter)
+  })
+}
+
+// export
+module.exports = {
+  contractGenerator,
+  readContract
+}
diff --git a/packages/contract-cli/package.json b/packages/contract-cli/package.json
index 1ac575fdfa917dedfdcc282281687baffbf4a96c..f0a3946d5bb2576fb20894a08cf975763fe864ab 100755
--- a/packages/contract-cli/package.json
+++ b/packages/contract-cli/package.json
@@ -1,17 +1,18 @@
 {
   "name": "jsonql-contract",
-  "version": "1.7.13",
+  "version": "1.7.14",
   "description": "JS API / command line tool to generate the contract.json for jsonql",
   "main": "index.js",
   "files": [
     "src",
     "cli.js",
-    "index.js"
+    "index.js",
+    "extra.js"
   ],
   "scripts": {
     "dev": "DEBUG=jsonql-contract:* node ./test.js",
     "coverage": "nyc ava --verbose",
-    "prepare": "npm run test",
+    "prepare": "ava --verbose",
     "cli": "DEBUG=jsonql-contract* node ./cli.js",
     "cli:watch": "DEBUG=jsonql-contract* node ./watch.js",
     "test:cli": "npm run cli configFile ./tests/fixtures/cmd-config-test.js",
diff --git a/packages/contract-cli/src/options.js b/packages/contract-cli/src/options.js
index 9b2316231c20d5ee2c526dc0354eb002da3cca4f..fb894415fbc5764526d3293cbe805bc5cc166d9a 100644
--- a/packages/contract-cli/src/options.js
+++ b/packages/contract-cli/src/options.js
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ const defaultOptions = {
   resolverDir: createConfig(resolve(join(BASE_DIR, DEFAULT_RESOLVER_DIR)) , STRING_TYPE, {[ALIAS_KEY]: 'inDir'}),
   contractDir: createConfig(resolve(join(BASE_DIR, DEFAULT_CONTRACT_DIR)), STRING_TYPE, {[ALIAS_KEY]: 'outDir'}),
   // show or hide the description field in the public contract
-  // contractWithDesc: createConfig(false, [BOOLEAN_TYPE]), @1.7.6 move to Koa 
+  // contractWithDesc: createConfig(false, [BOOLEAN_TYPE]), @1.7.6 move to Koa
   // remove the old one and always create a new one - useful during development
   alwaysNew: createConfig(false, [BOOLEAN_TYPE]),
   // where to put the public method
@@ -68,7 +68,9 @@ const defaultOptions = {
   configFile: createConfig(false, [STRING_TYPE], {[OPTIONAL_KEY]: true, [ALIAS_KEY]: 'c'}),
   announceUrl: createConfig(false, [STRING_TYPE], {[OPTIONAL_KEY]: true, [ALIAS_KEY]: 'a'}),
   logDirectory: constructConfig(false, [STRING_TYPE], true),
-  tmpDir: createConfig(join(BASE_DIR, 'tmp'), [STRING_TYPE])
+  tmpDir: createConfig(join(BASE_DIR, 'tmp'), [STRING_TYPE]),
+  // ported from jsonql-koa
+  buildContractOnStart: constructConfig(false, [BOOLEAN_TYPE], true)
 }
 // export it
 module.exports = config => checkConfigAsync(config, defaultOptions, constProps)
diff --git a/packages/contract-cli/tests/koa-debug.test.js b/packages/contract-cli/tests/koa-debug.test.js
index de0885fe54a59fb7974b31f9bff0a3e84eca9ca7..81305157a526ad82f9dc6c3ff2d4bdfdce48cd31 100644
--- a/packages/contract-cli/tests/koa-debug.test.js
+++ b/packages/contract-cli/tests/koa-debug.test.js
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 // this resolvers cause an error with the updateMsService resolver when call from within jsonql-koa
 const test = require('ava')
 const { join } = require('path')
+const { inspect } = require('util')
 const fsx = require('fs-extra')
 const debug = require('debug')('jsonql-contract:koa-debugging')
 
-const generator = require('../index')
+const { contractGenerator } = require('../extra')
 
 const resolverDir = join(__dirname, 'fixtures', 'koa-resolvers')
 const contractDir = join(__dirname, 'tmp', 'koa-debug')
@@ -14,13 +15,13 @@ test.after(t => {
 })
 
 test(`It should able to generate a contract without error`, async t => {
-  const result = await generator({
+  const result = await contractGenerator({
     resolverDir,
     contractDir,
     returnAs: 'json'
   })
 
-  debug('%O', result)
+  debug(inspect(result, false, null))
 
   t.truthy(result.query)
 })