From Resource to Command-Line Tool - Automatically

Firestone generates Python CLIs using the Click framework (docs). But here's what matters: you don't write any Click code.

Define your resource, and firestone creates a fully functional command-line tool with CRUD operations, argument parsing, help text, and validation - all automatically.

What Gets Generated

From this simple resource:

kind: book
schema:
  type: array
  key:
    name: book_id
  items:
    type: object
    properties:
      title:
        type: string
      author:
        type: string
      isbn:
        type: string

Firestone generates these commands:

# List all books
python cli.py books list

# Create a new book
python cli.py books create --title "The Great Gatsby" --author "F. Scott Fitzgerald" --isbn "978-0743273565"

# Get a specific book
python cli.py books get book-123

# Update a book
python cli.py books update book-123 --title "Updated Title"

# Delete a book
python cli.py books delete book-123

Each command includes:

• Proper argument parsing (strings, numbers, booleans, enums)
• Validation from your JSON Schema
• Help text from your descriptions
• Error handling and formatting

How It Works

Firestone analyzes your resource and generates:

CRUD Operations

• list - GET all resources (with pagination options)
• create - POST a new resource
• get - GET a specific resource by ID
• update - PUT/PATCH to modify a resource
• delete - DELETE a resource

Smart Arguments

• Required fields become required options: --title (required)
• Optional fields become optional: --isbn (optional)
• Enums become choices: --status [active|inactive|archived]
• Nested objects accept JSON: --address '{"city": "NYC"}'

Built-in Features

• --host to point to different API servers
• --format [json|yaml|table] for output formatting
• --limit and --offset for pagination
• Help text: python cli.py books --help

💡 One Definition, Four Outputs This same resource definition also generates OpenAPI (REST specs), AsyncAPI (WebSocket specs), and Streamlit UI (web dashboards).

Why This Matters

Instant Testing Generate your OpenAPI spec and CLI together. Test your API design without writing a server:

firestone generate --resources book.yaml openapi > spec.yaml
firestone generate --resources book.yaml cli > cli.py
# Now test with: python cli.py books create --title "Test"

Scripting & Automation CLIs are perfect for:

• CI/CD pipelines
• Cron jobs
• Admin tasks
• Bulk operations

Consistency Guaranteed The CLI uses your OpenAPI spec. If the spec validates correctly, the CLI works correctly. Change your resource, regenerate both - they stay in sync.

Multi-Resource CLIs

Define multiple resources, get one CLI with all of them:

firestone generate \
    --resources book.yaml,author.yaml,publisher.yaml \
    cli > cli.py

# Now you have:
python cli.py books list
python cli.py authors list
python cli.py publishers list

All following the same command structure, all with proper validation, all from your resource definitions.

Next Steps

Ready to generate your first CLI?

• Next: Learn the commands in Generating CLIs.