.. _topics:cli: ********************** Command line interface ********************** The command line interface utility for AiiDA is called ``verdi``. This section explains the basic concepts that apply to all ``verdi`` commands. .. tip:: The ``verdi`` command line interface can also be explored as a `text-based user interface `_ (TUI). It requires ``aiida-core`` to be installed with the ``tui`` extra (e.g. ``pip install aiida-core[tui]``). The TUI can then be launched with ``verdi tui``. .. _topics:cli:parameters: Parameters ========== Parameters to ``verdi`` commands come in two flavors: * Arguments: positional parameters, e.g. ``123`` in ``verdi process kill 123`` * Options: announced by a flag (e.g. ``-f`` or ``--flag``), potentially followed by a value. E.g. ``verdi process list --limit 10`` or ``verdi process -h``. .. _topics:cli:multi_value_options: Multi-value options ------------------- Some ``verdi`` commands provide *options* that can take multiple values. This allows to avoid repetition and e.g. write:: verdi archive create -N 10 11 12 -- archive.aiida instead of the more lengthy:: verdi archive create -N 10 -N 11 -N 12 archive.aiida Note the use of the so-called 'endopts' marker ``--`` that is necessary to mark the end of the ``-N`` option and distinguish it from the ``archive.aiida`` argument. .. _topics:cli:help_strings: Help strings ============ Append the ``--help`` option to any verdi (sub-)command to get help on how to use it. For example, ``verdi process kill --help`` shows:: Usage: verdi process kill [OPTIONS] [PROCESSES]... Kill running processes. Options: -t, --timeout FLOAT Time in seconds to wait for a response before timing out. [default: 5.0] --wait / --no-wait Wait for the action to be completed otherwise return as soon as it's scheduled. -h, --help Show this message and exit. All help strings consist of three parts: * A ``Usage:`` line describing how to invoke the command * A description of the command's functionality * A list of the available options The ``Usage:`` line encodes information on the command's parameters, e.g.: * ``[OPTIONS]``: this command takes one (or more) options * ``PROCESSES``: this command *requires* a process as a positional argument * ``[PROCESSES]``: this command takes a process as an *optional* positional argument * ``[PROCESSES]...``: this command takes one or more processes as *optional* positional arguments Multi-value options are followed by ``...`` in the help string and the ``Usage:`` line of the corresponding command will contain the 'endopts' marker. For example:: Usage: verdi archive create [OPTIONS] [--] OUTPUT_FILE Export various entities, such as Codes, Computers, Groups and Nodes, to an archive file for backup or sharing purposes. Options: -X, --codes CODE... one or multiple codes identified by their ID, UUID or label -Y, --computers COMPUTER... one or multiple computers identified by their ID, UUID or label -G, --groups GROUP... one or multiple groups identified by their ID, UUID or name -N, --nodes NODE... one or multiple nodes identified by their ID or UUID ... .. _topics:cli:profile: Profile ======= AiiDA supports multiple profiles per installation, one of which is marked as the default and used unless another profile is requested. Show the current default profile using:: verdi profile list In order to use a different profile, pass the ``-p/--profile`` option to any ``verdi`` command, for example:: verdi -p process list Note that the specified profile will be used for this and *only* this command. Use ``verdi profile setdefault`` in order to permanently change the default profile. .. _topics:cli:verbosity: Verbosity ========= All ``verdi`` commands have the ``-v/--verbosity`` option, which allows to control the verbosity of the output that is printed by the command. The option takes a value that is known as the log level and all messages that are emitted with an inferior log level will be suppressed. The valid values in order of increasing log level are: ``NOTSET``, ``DEBUG``, ``INFO``, ``REPORT``, ``WARNING``, ``ERROR`` and ``CRITICAL``. For example, if the log level is set to ``ERROR``, only messages with the ``ERROR`` and ``CRITICAL`` level will be shown. The choice for these log level values comes directly from `Python's built-in logging module `_. The ``REPORT`` level is a log level that is defined and added by AiiDA that sits between the ``INFO`` and ``WARNING`` level, and is the default log level. The verbosity option is case-insensitive, i.e., ``--verbosity debug`` and ``--verbosity DEBUG`` are identical. The option can be passed at any subcommand level, for example: .. code:: console verdi process list --verbosity debug is identical to .. code:: console verdi --verbosity debug process list When the option is specified multiple times, only the last value will be considered. .. note:: The ``--verbosity`` option only overrides the log level of the ``aiida`` and ``verdi`` loggers. To control the log level of other loggers, please use ``verdi config set`` (see :ref:`this section `). .. _topics:cli:identifiers: Identifiers =========== When working with AiiDA entities, you need a way to *refer* to them on the command line. Any entity in AiiDA can be addressed via three identifiers: * "Primary Key" (PK): An integer, e.g. ``723``, identifying your entity within your database (automatically assigned) * `Universally Unique Identifier `_ (UUID): A string, e.g. ``ce81c420-7751-48f6-af8e-eb7c6a30cec3`` identifying your entity globally (automatically assigned) * Label: A human-readable string, e.g. ``test_calculation`` (manually assigned) .. note:: PKs are easy to type and work as long as you stay within your database. **When sharing data with others, however, always use UUIDs.** Any ``verdi`` command that expects an identifier as a paramter will accept PKs, UUIDs and labels. In almost all cases, this will work out of the box. Since command line parameters are passed as strings, AiiDA needs to deduce the type of identifier from its content, which can fail in edge cases (see :ref:`topics:cli:identifier_resolution` for details). You can take the following precautions in order to avoid such edge cases: * PK: no precautions needed * UUID: no precautions needed for full UUIDs. Partial UUIDs should include at least one non-numeric character or dash * Label: add an exclamation mark ``!`` at the end of the identifier in order to force interpretation as a label .. _topics:cli:identifier_resolution: Implementation of identifier resolution --------------------------------------- The logic for deducing the identifier type is as follows: 1. Try interpreting the identifier as a PK (integer) 2. If this fails, try interpreting the identifier as a UUID (full or partial) 3. If this fails, interpret the identifier as a label The following example illustrates edge cases that can arise in this logic: === ===================================== ======== PK UUID LABEL === ===================================== ======== 10 12dfb104-7b2b-4bca-adc0-1e4fd4ffcc88 group 11 deadbeef-62ba-444f-976d-31d925dac557 10 12 3df34a1e-5215-4e1a-b626-7f75b9586ef5 deadbeef === ===================================== ======== * trying to identify the first entity by its partial UUID ``12`` would match the third entity by its PK instead * trying to identify the second entity by its label ``10`` would match the first entity by its PK instead * trying to identify the third entity by its label ``deadbeef`` would match the second entity on its partial UUID ``deadbeef`` instead The ambiguity between a partial UUID and a PK can always be resolved by including a longer substring of the UUID, eventually rendering the identifier no longer a valid PK. The case of a label being also a valid PK or (partial) UUID requires a different solution. For this case, ``verdi`` reserves a special character, the exclamation mark ``!``, that can be appended to the identifier. Before any type guessing is done, AiiDA checks for the presence of this marker and, if found, will interpret the identifier as a label. I.e. to solve ambiguity examples mentioned above, one would pass ``10!`` and ``deadbeef!``.