Build and deploy from your terminal

The appbricxcommand lets you, a script, or any coding agent with a shell do everything the web app and MCP server do: create a project, check and apply your app's contract, test it as each user, look at the data, deploy, and operate the running app (SQL, rows, schema, snapshots, rollbacks, workflow runs, logs, secrets). It needs Node.js 20 or newer and has no dependencies.

When you would use it

• In CI. Check and verify on every pull request, and deploy only when verify passes. Exit codes tell your pipeline what happened.
• With your app in git. Keep the contract as appbricx.json next to your code, review changes like any other file, and apply them from the terminal.
• With an agent that has a shell but no MCP support.

Each command is one call to the developer HTTP API, so the CLI gives the same answers as MCP and HTTP.

Install from the repo

git clone https://github.com/Naveenbhargav-m/appbricx-examples
node appbricx-examples/cli/bin/appbricx.mjs help

To get an appbricx command on your PATH:

cd appbricx-examples/cli
npm link
appbricx version

The examples below assume appbricx is on your PATH.

Sign in

With your browser (the default):

appbricx login
# self-hosted: appbricx login --api https://your-host/api

• The CLI opens Appbricx in your browser. Sign in, pick the workspace, click Authorize, and come back to the terminal.
• It stores a one-hour access token and a 90-day refresh token in ~/.config/appbricx/config.json (file mode 0600) and refreshes them by itself. The refresh token changes on every use.
• The CLI shows up under Authorized agents in Workspace settings, Coding agents. Revoke it there, or run appbricx logout.
• No browser on this machine? appbricx login --no-browser prints the URL instead. The sign-in finishes on a http://127.0.0.1 port on the machine running the CLI.

With a token (CI, headless machines)

Create a token in Workspace settings, Coding agents, then:

appbricx login --token apx_pat_...
# or skip login: export APPBRICX_API=https://appbricx.com/api APPBRICX_TOKEN=apx_pat_...

Or with your email and password, which mints a token for you:

appbricx login --email you@example.com --password '...'
# optional: --workspace <workspace-id>  (default: your first workspace)

• A password login mints a token named cli YYYY-MM-DD with read, apply and deploy scopes. Revoke it like any other token.
• Accounts with multi-factor sign-in can't use the password login. Use the browser sign-in or --token.

Commands

The CLI has no screenshot or component-check command. Use the MCP tools or the HTTP API for those.

The operate commands (schema through secrets) take --env dev (the default) or --env prod. Every prod write takes a database snapshot first and prints its id, so appbricx snapshots restore <id> undoes it. Indexes, views, functions, triggers and extra tables or columns you add with sql are kept by apply and deploy; schema marks them as hand-made.

A typical session

mkdir field-desk && cd field-desk
appbricx create "Field Desk"     # links ./.appbricx/project.json
appbricx docs > GUIDE.md         # the contract reference
# write ./appbricx.json
appbricx check
appbricx apply                   # prints the demo sign-ins
appbricx verify
appbricx query job --where status=open --limit 10
appbricx deploy
appbricx tail errors --env prod --since 1h
appbricx sql "CREATE INDEX job_due ON job (due)" --env prod   # snapshot first
appbricx schema --env prod

Files

Environment variables

These override the files. Use them in CI and agent sessions.

export APPBRICX_API=https://appbricx.com/api
export APPBRICX_TOKEN=apx_pat_...
export APPBRICX_PROJECT=3f2c9a10-...
appbricx verify

Global flags

• --json: print the server's raw JSON instead of the human summary. On an error, the error body is printed to stdout.
• --project <id>: use this project instead of the link or APPBRICX_PROJECT.
• --help: usage.

Exit codes

mcp-config

Prints an MCP server entry for Claude Code's .mcp.json, pinned to the linked project (or --project). It has no token: the agent signs in with the browser the first time it connects. Add --token-header for CI, which adds "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${APPBRICX_TOKEN}" } (the token itself stays out of the file):

$ appbricx mcp-config
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "appbricx": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://appbricx.com/api/mcp?project=3f2c9a10-..."
    }
  }
}

With --token-header, export APPBRICX_TOKEN in the shell that starts your agent. Cursor uses ${env:APPBRICX_TOKEN} instead; see the coding agents quickstart.

Next

• Developer HTTP API
• App contract
• Access tokens