01-getting-started.md

Getting Started with mxcli

This tutorial walks you through your first steps with mxcli.

Prerequisites

If you're in a GitHub Codespace, everything is already set up. Otherwise, install mxcli from the releases page.

Step 1: Explore the Project

Start by seeing what's in the project:

mxcli -p App.mpr -c "SHOW STRUCTURE"

This gives you a compact overview of all modules, entities, pages, and microflows.

Step 2: List Modules

mxcli -p App.mpr -c "SHOW MODULES"

You'll see the standard template modules (Administration, Atlas_Core, etc.) plus MyFirstModule where we'll do our work.

Step 3: Describe an Entity

Pick any entity and see its full definition:

mxcli -p App.mpr -c "DESCRIBE ENTITY Administration.Account"

This shows the entity in MDL format -- attributes, types, constraints, and associations.

Step 4: Run an Example Script

Run the explore script to see multiple commands in action:

mxcli exec scripts/01-explore.mdl -p App.mpr

Step 5: Start the REPL

For interactive exploration, start the REPL:

mxcli

Then connect to the project:

CONNECT LOCAL 'App.mpr';
SHOW ENTITIES IN MyFirstModule;

Type HELP to see all available commands. Type exit to quit.

Next Steps

• Domain Modeling -- Create entities and associations
• CRUD Pages -- Build overview and edit pages
• Microflow Logic -- Write business logic