absuite-cli

name: absuite-cli description: > General-purpose usage of the absuite CLI for interacting with the Alliance Business Suite (ABS) API. Covers service discovery, command discovery, calling API functions, passing parameters and JSON bodies, reading help and output schemas, OData queries, tenant scoping, and interpreting responses. Use for any ABS domain operation (tenants, invoices, contacts, catalog, CRM, etc.) after authentication. Do NOT use for login/authentication — use the absuite-login skill instead.

Alliance Business Suite — CLI Usage Skill

Purpose

Use this skill for any domain-specific ABS operation via the absuite CLI. This covers querying data, creating records, updating entities, and any other ABS API interaction.

For authentication (login, token management, identity verification), use the absuite-login-cli skill instead. For the same operations over raw HTTP instead of the CLI, see the absuite-rest skill. For tenant onboarding (joining a tenant, initializing a portal), see absuite-onboarding-cli.

Prerequisites

1. CLI installed system-wide — absuite must be on PATH. Verify with absuite --version.
2. Authenticated session — Run absuite login first (see absuite-login-cli skill). The CLI caches the token in ~/.absuite/config.json and uses it automatically for all subsequent calls.
3. Tenant context — Most operations are tenant-scoped. Either set a default tenant (absuite config set --tenant-id <guid>) or pass --TenantId <guid> on each call.

CLI Structure

absuite <service> <verb> <entity> [--param value ...]
absuite <service> <FunctionName> [--param value ...]

The CLI supports two addressing styles:

Both styles are interchangeable. Aliases are derived automatically from function names.

Service Discovery

List All Services

absuite services

Available Services

Command Discovery

List All Commands for a Service

absuite <service> list-commands

Example:

absuite crm list-commands

Output shows each command with its alias and description:

  list contacts               List contacts for a tenant
  count contacts              Count contacts for a tenant
  get contact                 Get a contact by ID
  create contact              Create a new contact
  update contact              Update an existing contact
  delete contact              Delete a contact
  ...

Get Detailed Help for a Command

absuite <service> <command> --help

Example:

absuite crm list contacts --help

The --help output includes:

• Usage — both alias and canonical function name
• Description — what the command does
• Parameters — all parameters with types and whether they are required
• Object schemas — for any parameter that accepts a complex DTO (shows all properties with types)
• Returns — the output envelope type and its properties, plus the inner DTO schema if applicable
• Common options — --ReturnType and --WithHttpInfo

Calling API Functions

Basic Syntax

absuite <service> <verb> <entity> --ParamName value

Passing Simple Parameters

absuite crm get contact --TenantId my-tenant-guid --ContactId abc-123

Passing JSON Object Parameters

For parameters that accept a DTO (shown as <SomeCreateDto> in help), pass a JSON string:

absuite crm create contact --TenantId my-tenant-guid --ContactCreateDto '{"firstName":"John","lastName":"Doe","email":"john@example.com"}'

Using the Canonical Function Name

absuite crm Get-ContactsAsync --TenantId my-tenant-guid

Tenant Scoping

Most ABS operations are tenant-scoped. There are two ways to provide the tenant context:

Option 1: Default Tenant (Recommended for Agents)

Set once, used for all subsequent calls:

absuite config set --tenant-id <tenant-guid>

Then call without --TenantId:

absuite crm list contacts

Option 2: Per-Call Tenant

Pass explicitly on each call:

absuite crm list contacts --TenantId <tenant-guid>

Discovering Available Tenants

absuite tenants list tenants

Understanding Responses

Envelope Pattern

All ABS API responses follow the envelope pattern:

{
  "isSuccess": true,
  "errorMessage": null,
  "correlationId": "<guid>",
  "timestamp": "2026-04-18T12:00:00Z",
  "activityId": "<guid>",
  "result": <actual-data>
}

• isSuccess — whether the operation succeeded
• errorMessage — error details if isSuccess is false
• result — the actual payload (a single object, an array, a count, or null)

List Responses

For list operations, result is an array:

{
  "isSuccess": true,
  "result": [
    { "id": "...", "firstName": "John", ... },
    { "id": "...", "firstName": "Jane", ... }
  ]
}

Count Responses

For count operations, result is an integer:

{
  "isSuccess": true,
  "result": 42
}

Error Responses

{
  "isSuccess": false,
  "errorMessage": "The requested resource was not found.",
  "result": null
}

Common Verb Patterns

The CLI uses consistent verb patterns across all services:

No patch verb. The absuite CLI does not support PATCH (atomic JSON Patch) operations. For partial updates either fetch the entity, modify it, and update (full PUT), or use the REST API directly — see the absuite-rest skill (PATCH is REST-only).

Advanced Options

Return Type Override

Force a specific MIME type for the response:

absuite crm list contacts --TenantId <guid> --ReturnType application/xml

Full HTTP Response

Get the full response including status code and headers:

absuite crm list contacts --TenantId <guid> --WithHttpInfo

Workflow Example: Full CRUD Cycle

# 1. Discover commands
absuite crm list-commands

# 2. Check parameter schema
absuite crm create contact --help

# 3. Create a contact
absuite crm create contact --TenantId $TENANT_ID --ContactCreateDto '{"firstName":"Alice","lastName":"Smith","email":"alice@example.com"}'

# 4. List contacts to find the new one
absuite crm list contacts --TenantId $TENANT_ID

# 5. Get a specific contact
absuite crm get contact --TenantId $TENANT_ID --ContactId <contact-guid>

# 6. Update the contact
absuite crm update contact --TenantId $TENANT_ID --ContactId <contact-guid> --ContactUpdateDto '{"firstName":"Alice","lastName":"Johnson"}'

# 7. Delete the contact
absuite crm delete contact --TenantId $TENANT_ID --ContactId <contact-guid>

REST API Alternative

Everything the CLI does can also be accomplished via direct REST API calls. The CLI is a convenience wrapper around the same HTTP API. For a full REST reference (envelope, tenant scoping, OData, JSON Patch), see the absuite-rest skill; per-domain REST skills are absuite-<domain> (this CLI skill's per-domain counterparts are absuite-<domain>-cli).

Authentication

To call the API directly via REST instead of the CLI:

1. Obtain a bearer token:

curl -X POST "$ABSUITE_HOST_URL/login" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email": "'$ABSUITE_USER_EMAIL'", "password": "'$ABSUITE_USER_PASSWORD'"}'

Extract the accessToken from the JSON response.

2. Use the token in all subsequent requests:

-H "Authorization: Bearer $ABSUITE_ACCESS_TOKEN"

URL Pattern

All REST endpoints follow the pattern:

$ABSUITE_HOST_URL/api/v2/{ServiceName}/{Resource}

For example:

• List contacts: GET $ABSUITE_HOST_URL/api/v2/CrmService/Contacts
• Create invoice: POST $ABSUITE_HOST_URL/api/v2/InvoicingService/Invoices

Response Envelope

The response envelope pattern is identical for both CLI and REST:

{
  "isSuccess": true,
  "errorMessage": null,
  "correlationId": "<guid>",
  "timestamp": "2026-04-18T12:00:00Z",
  "activityId": "<guid>",
  "result": <actual-data>
}

CLI Verb → HTTP Method Mapping

CLI Service → REST Service Name Mapping

Example: CLI vs REST

CLI:

absuite crm create contact --TenantId $TENANT_ID --ContactCreateDto '{"firstName":"Alice","lastName":"Smith"}'

REST equivalent:

curl -X POST "$ABSUITE_HOST_URL/api/v2/CrmService/Contacts" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ABSUITE_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"firstName":"Alice","lastName":"Smith"}'

Both return the same envelope response. The CLI handles token management automatically; with REST you manage the bearer token yourself.

Critical Rules

• Always authenticate first. Use the absuite-login skill if no valid session exists.
• Always check --help before calling unfamiliar commands. It shows exact parameter names, types, required fields, and the output schema.
• Use list-commands for discovery. Don't guess command names — discover them.
• Respect tenant scoping. Most operations require --TenantId or a configured default tenant.
• Parse the envelope. The actual data is inside the result field. Always check isSuccess before using result.
• Parameter names are case-sensitive. Use the exact casing shown in --help (e.g., --TenantId, not --tenantid).
• JSON string parameters must be valid JSON. For DTO parameters, ensure the JSON matches the schema shown in --help.
• The CLI handles authentication automatically. Tokens are cached — you do not need to pass bearer tokens or auth headers.