skuid CLI¶

macOS and Linux¶

If you have curl, grep and awk in your environment, you can quickly install the application via the command line:

# macOS:
curl -Lo skuid https://github.com/skuid/skuid-cli/releases/latest/download/skuid_darwin_amd64
# Linux:
curl -Lo skuid https://github.com/skuid/skuid-cli/releases/latest/download/skuid_linux_amd64

# Give the skuid application the permissions it needs to run
chmod +x skuid

# Move the skuid application to a folder where it can be used easily, 
# for example, a directory in your $PATH.
# Enter your computer account password if prompted
sudo mv skuid /usr/local/bin/skuid

To manually install the application, follow these steps:

1. Download the latest release of the skuid application binary.

2. Navigate to the directory containing the skuid binary file in a terminal application.

   cd /path/to/the/downloaded/binary
   

3. Rename the downloaded application binary file to skuid:

   # macOS:
   mv skuid_darwin_amd64 skuid
   # Linux:
   # mv skuid_linux_amd64 skuid
   

4. Give the application executable permissions:

   chmod +x skuid
   

5. Ensure the binary is accessible in your $PATH variable. This can be done one of two ways:

   • Move the application to a folder that’s already in your $PATH variable, like /usr/local/bin

     mv skuid /usr/local/bin/skuid
     

   • Add the application’s folder to the PATH variable:

     # This method doesn't require moving the `skuid` binary, which may be not be possible depending on user permissions.
     # The location of the `skuid` binary isn't important in this use case, but try to store it in a folder it's unlikely to move from.
     
     # This example assumes the `skuid` binary is located in ~/Documents/Skuid
     export PATH=$PATH:~/Documents/Skuid
     

   Note

   If you choose to update your shell profile you’ll need to source your shell profile or restart your session for those changes to take effect.

6. Verify that you can run the application:

   skuid --version
   

Windows¶

1. Download the latest Windows executable release in your web browser.

2. (Optional) Move the executable to a more permanent location, such as C:\Program Files\Skuid\.

3. (Optional) Set an alias to easily access the executable.

   In Windows Powershell, use Set-Alias. For information about saving aliases in Powershell, see Microsoft documentation

   Set-Alias skuid C:\Path\To\skuid_windows_amd64.exe
   

   In the Windows Command Prompt, use doskey. For information about saving doskey aliases for future sessions, see Microsoft documentation.

   doskey skuid=C:\Path\To\skuid_windows_amd64.exe
   

4. Invoke the executable by typing its name or alias and pressing enter: skuid --help.

Using go¶

Use the the Go programming language? If so, you can also install skuid by running go get github.com/skuid/skuid-cli.

Upgrading skuid CLI¶

To upgrade skuid, first remove the previous version’s binary:

# Use the rm command with the appropriate path to the skuid binary
# For example, if the binary is installed in /usr/local/bin:
rm /usr/local/bin/skuid

After removing the previous version, repeat the installation steps listed above.

macOS and Linux¶

Enter the appropriate information in the format listed below, listing your own username, password, etc., immediately following the = equals sign. You can drop these in your ~/.bash_profile, ~/.zshrc, or into a .env file in the project directory.

export SKUID_UN='username'
export SKUID_PW='password'
export SKUID_HOST='https://example.skuidsite.com'

Windows¶

How you set your environment variables differs depending on your command line program of choice:

Powershell

Set-Item Env:SKUID_UN 'username'
Set-Item Env:SKUID_PW 'password'
Set-Item Env:SKUID_HOST 'https://example.skuidsite.com'

Command Prompt

Set SKUID_UN=username
Set SKUID_PW=password
Set SKUID_HOST=https://example.skuidsite.com

Commands¶

• retrieve retrieves metadata from a Skuid NLX site.
• deploy sends metadata to a Skuid NLX site.
• watch listens for changes to local metadata files and sends changes to a Skuid NLX site.
• help displays short documentation about the CLI’s features, and it can be used in combination with other commands, e.g. skuid help deploy displays information about the deploy command

Command Flags¶

Deployment with Skuid Database¶

There are special constraints for working with Skuid Database in skuid CLI:

• skuid CLI won’t redeploy existing databases to avoid overwriting schema
• skuid CLI won’t deploy more databases than a site’s allotted limit

skuid CLI will also fail deployments that trip these safeguards—displaying an error describing the duplicate database or database limit. The CLI fails these deployments to prevent updates relying on certain database/database schema from being deployed when the necessary database updates are not.

To acknowledge these constraints and proceed with the deployment by ignoring any error-causing Skuid Database metadata, use the --ignore-skuid-db flag or set the SKUID_IGNORE_SKUIDDB environment variable to true.

To transfer metadata/schema updates from site-to-site, you must manually make these updates in the Database Console user interface.

skuid deploy --ignore-skuid-db

Examples¶

• Retrieve all Skuid metadata from a Skuid NLX site and store in the current directory:

  skuid retrieve
  

• Retrieve all Skuid metadata from a Skuid NLX site and store in a specified directory:

  skuid retrieve -d sites/humboldt-us-trial
  

• Only retrieve Skuid NLX metadata for an app named “Example app”

  skuid retrieve --app "Example app"
  

• Deploy all metadata in the current directory to a Skuid NLX site:

  skuid deploy
  

• Deploy all metadata in a different directory to a Skuid NLX site:

  skuid deploy -d path/to/directory
  

• Deploy metadata from a different directory, but only for an app named “Example app,” to a Skuid NLX site:

  skuid deploy -d path/to/directory --app "Example app"
  

• Listen for changes to Skuid metadata in the current directory and deploy changed files to a Skuid NLX site:

  skuid watch
  

• Listen for changes to Skuid metadata in a different directory, and deploy changed files to a Skuid NLX site:

  skuid watch -d path/to/directory
  

What Is Not Retrieved by skuid¶

• Created by and Modified by metadata for pages
  • When deploying Skuid pages to a site, the created/modified by user and date matches the identity of whoever is running the deployment, as well as the time and date of the deployment.
• Authentication provider credentials
  • You must re-enter any client ID and client secret pairs on all Skuid authentication providers in the target site, even if those authentication providers already existed.
• Users and user data for Skuid NLX
  • While user profiles are transferred, individual user accounts and their information are not. Users must be manually re-created—or provisioned through single sign-on—for at least the first deployment.

Version control¶

Retrieving Skuid data objects for local storage allows for the use of version control systems, such as git.

For example, you could create a directory for your Skuid site and initiate a git repository:

mkdir my-skuid-site
cd my-skuid-site
git init

After exporting the proper Skuid authentication credentials, you could retrieve and commit Skuid data within that git repo:

skuid retrieve
git add -A
git commit -m 'Initial commit of Skuid site'

With a workflow like this, it’s easier to capture snapshots of Skuid sites at certain points in time, allowing for both easy rollbacks (should issues arise) as well as developer collaboration on these Skuid objects.

Sandboxes¶

skuid is particularly useful for moving Skuid data from a sandbox—or testing space—to production for end-users.

The -u, -p and --host flags can be used to temporarily set different authentication and platform settings.

For example, consider a workflow like below:

# Set the authentication credentials for the sandbox site, assuming they are not set already
export SKUID_UN='{sandbox-username}'
export SKUID_PW='{sandbox-password}'
export SKUID_HOST='{https://example-sandbox.skuidsite.com}'
# Retrieve sandbox data
skuid retrieve
# Deploy sandbox data to production by temporarily using different credentials
skuid deploy -u production-username -p production-password  --host https://production-sandbox.skuidsite.com}

Consider automating this process using shell scripts. Experiment to find the workflow that best suits your lifecycle management processes.