AYX Plugin CLI Commands
Explore the AYX Plugin CLI commands and parameters.
sdk-workspace-init
This command initializes a workspace—a directory that contains all of the source code and configuration details for a set of Alteryx SDK plugins. Users create a workspace to house all of their plugin code, and once it's ready, generate a YXI for said code. The command creates an ayx_workspace.json file that defines package details and tools. It also generates a backend/ directory for the plugin code, config/ directory for plugin configurations, ui/ directory for the plugin’s UI components, a README, and a gitignore file.
Note
Most ayx-plugin-cli commands expect an ayx_workspace.json file in the current directory and throw an exception otherwise.
Parameters
Note
If a parameter is not passed in as part of the CLI call, the CLI will wait for standard input for the ignored parameters, even if they’re optional.
--package-name
This parameter becomes the name of the YXI that is generated from the workspace.
Optional or Required: Required
Type: String
Permissible Values: Any alphanumeric string.
--tool-category
This parameter is the Designer tool category tab that the resulting tools are placed in when the YXI is installed. If the category does not exist, one is created when the tool is installed. If left blank, the tools are installed under the Python SDK Examples category.
Optional or Required: Optional
Type: String
Permissible Values: Any
Default: Python SDK Examples
--description
The package description.
Optional or Required: Optional
Type: String
Permissible Values: Any
--author
The plugin author.
Optional or Required: Optional
Type: String
Permissible Values: Any
--company
The company creating the plugin.
Optional or Required: Optional
Type: String
Permissible Values: Any
--backend-language
The programming language that a plugin will use. At present, the CLI only supports Python plugins.
Optional or Required: Required
Type: String
Permissible Values: python
create-ayx-plugin
This command generates the boilerplate code, configs, and UI for a new Alteryx plugin in the workspace.
If this command fails midway through execution, it leaves half-finished files and directories in the workspace. In order to delete these, follow these steps:
Remove config/<Plugin> directory.
Remove backend/ayx_plugins/<plugin>.py.
Force-remove ui/<Plugin>.
Remove the import statement from __init__.py.
Remove the tool from ayx_workspace.json’s “tools” key.
Parameters
Note
If a parameter is not passed in as part of the CLI call, the CLI will wait for standard input for the ignored parameters, even if they’re optional.
--tool-name
This parameter becomes the name of the tool. Spaces are allowed but will be cleaned into underscores and Pascal case. For example, for a Python plugin named “A Test Tool”, the filename is a_test_tool.py, and the class/ui/config name is ATestTool.
Optional or Required: Required
Type: String
Permissible Values: Any alphanumeric string that doesn’t start with a number and doesn’t shadow reserved names.
--tool-type
This parameter is used to determine the scaffold that the tool should generate for a plugin.
Optional or Required: Optional
Type: String
Permissible Values: input, output, multiple-inputs, multiple-outputs, single-input-single-output
Default: single-input-single-output
--description
The plugin description.
Optional or Required: Optional
Type: String
Permissible Values: Any
--version
The plugin version.
Optional or Required: Optional
Type: String
Permissible Values: Any
create-yxi
This command packages a workspace into a YXI that can be installed into Designer. The resulting YXI is located under build/yxi/.
Parameters
This command takes no parameters.
install-yxi
This command takes a YXI (any CLI-built or legacy SDK YXI) and installs it into Designer.
Note
This command can be run from anywhere, not just Alteryx Workspace directories.
Parameters
Note
If a parameter is not passed in as part of the CLI call, the CLI will wait for standard input for the ignored parameters, even if they’re optional.
--yxi-path
The location of the YXI to be installed. Note that this does not work for YXIs built for the original Alteryx Python SDK.
Optional or Required: Required
Type: String
Permissible Values: Any valid path to a YXI.
--install-type
This parameter is used to determine where a plugin should be installed. Note that admin installation requires admin access.
Optional or Required: Required
Type: String
Permissible Values: user, admin
Default: user
designer-install
This command builds the YXI from the current workspace and installs it into Designer.
Parameters
Note
If a parameter is not passed in as part of the CLI call, the CLI will wait for standard input for the ignored parameters, even if they’re optional.
--install-type
This parameter is used to determine where a plugin should be installed. Note that admin installation requires admin access.
Optional or Required: Required
Type: String
Permissible Values: user, admin
Default: user
generate-config-files
This command generates and updates the workspace config XML, individual tool config XMLs, and the tool’s manifest.json file.
Parameters
This command takes no parameters.
Sample ayx_workspace.json
{
"name": "TestTools",
"tool_category": "Test Tools",
"package_icon_path": "configuration\\default_package_icon.png",
"author": "John Doe",
"company": "Alteryx, Inc",
"copyright": "2021",
"description": "A sample Alteryx Workspace",
"ayx_cli_version": "0.1b2.dev0",
"backend_language": "python",
"backend_language_settings": {
"python_version": "3.8",
"requirements_local_path": "tool_backends\\requirements-local.txt",
"requirements_thirdparty_path": "tool_backends\\requirements-thirdparty.txt"
},
"tools": {
"TestTool": {
"backend": {
"tool_module": "ayx_plugins",
"tool_class_name": "TestTool"
},
"ui": {},
"configuration": {
"long_name": "Test Tool",
"description": "",
"version": "10.1",
"search_tags": [],
"icon_path": "configuration\\TestTool\\icon.png",
"input_anchors": {
"Input": {
"label": "",
"allow_multiple": false,
"optional": false
}
},
"output_anchors": {
"Output": {
"label": "",
"allow_multiple": false,
"optional": false
}
}
}
}
},
"tool_version": "1.0"
}