Guides

CLI

The novem CLI is a simple command line utility to integrate novem with your existing shell scripts and workflows.

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Note: this is a highly technical subject, familiarity with the command line and coding is advised. If you want to try something easier check out our app or excel interface.

The novem command line interface, or cli, is distributed using the python Python Package Index, and you can install it using your preferred python command installation procedure. The source code is also available on GitHub if you want to manually download or install the cli.

To avoid contaminating the global namespace we recommend installing novem in a separate environment, ideally using a tool such as pipx. For the rest of these examples we'll use pipx for installation.

To install the novem cli please run the following in a terminal window with pipx available: pipx install novem.

# example of install workflow
username@computer:~/$ pipx install novem
username@computer:~/$ _

Once novem is installed you need to generate and store an api key to get access. This can be done with the following commands: novem --init

username@computer:~/$ novem --init
 • novem.io username: <your_username>
 • novem.io password: <your_password>
 ✓ authenticated
 ✓ token created
 ✓ new token "novem-cli-computer-rj8chk2j" saved to ~/.config/novem/novem.conf
username@computer:~/$ _

Congratulations, your novem cli is now installed, configured and authenticated.

The novem cli stores a configuration file in novem/novem.conf under the default config folder location. On Windows it uses LOCALAPPDATA or APPDATA, whilst on Linux and Mac it tries to use XDG_CONFIG_HOME but defaults to ~/.config/ if not present.

The novem config files are very similar to windows ini style files as supported by python's config parser. By default you should not need to make any manual changes to the novem config file, but it can be helpful to know how it works.

In short a configuration file consists of sections, each led by a [section] header, followed by key/value entries separated by an equals sign (=). Section names are case sensitive but keys are not. Leading and trailing whitespace is removed from keys and values.

The novem config file consists of three types of sections that is shared among all novem applications, including fuse, the python library or this cli. These sections are general, application and profile specific.

The [general] section allows you to set options that is true for all applications using the file. Here you can control things such as the API url, logging, default profile etc.

The currently supported global options are:

  • profile - the default profile to use
  • api_root - the api url to use for the cli
[general]
profile = novem_demo
api_root = https://api.novem.io/v1/

The application specific sections start with the string app followed by a colon :, after the colon follows the name of the novem application. Currently only fuse, cli and pylib are supported.

The different app sections allows you to override the [general] values as well as supply app specific options.

[app:cli]
profile = novem_research        # change user for the cli

The final section type is the profile sections. Profile sections start with the string profile: followed by a profile name. This is the value referred to in the [general] and [app] sections above.

As an example, the profile section for two users, novem_research and novem_demo could look as follows.

[profile:novem_demo]
username = novem_demo
token_name = novem-python-computer-as123ajs
token = <REMOVED>

[profile:novem_research]
username = novem_research
token_name = novem-python-computer-vgjaa1tb
token = <REMOVED>

Whilst the username and profile name can be the same, this is not mandatory.

For the full list of commands and flags available in the cli version you have installed, run novem -h (or novem --help).

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