Ironbee Backend Devtools CLI

IronBee Backend DevTools CLI

Command-line interface for the backend platform of IronBee DevTools. Talks to backend services over their wire protocols (HTTP, gRPC, GraphQL, WebSocket), captures logs from file / Docker / Kubernetes sources, and verifies state against Postgres / MySQL / SQLite databases. Runtime- and language-agnostic — it binds to protocols, not frameworks.

For browser automation use ironbee-browser-devtools-cli. For Node.js inspector-based debugging use ironbee-node-devtools-cli.

Installation

# Install this skill (skills.sh)
npx skills add ironbee-ai/ironbee-devtools-skills

# Install the CLI binary (same package as the rest of IronBee DevTools)
npm install -g @ironbee-ai/devtools

Requires Node.js >= 22.16.0 (engines.node in the package): the backend db domain's SQLite engine and the FTS5 scenario-search strategy run on Node's built-in node:sqlite, which replaced the last native dependency.

Port note

All IronBee DevTools CLIs default to daemon port 2020. If you run more than one daemon at a time, give the backend daemon its own port (browser 2020, node 2021, backend 2022, android 2023, terminal 2024, python 2025 by convention):

PLATFORM=backend ironbee-backend-devtools-cli daemon start --port 2022
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli --port 2022 request http --url "https://api.example.com/health"

Quick Start

# 1. Start daemon (if not running)
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli daemon start

# 2. Call an HTTP endpoint
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli --json request http --url "https://api.example.com/health"

# 3. Capture logs around a request (file source)
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli log register-source --name app --type file --path /var/log/app.log
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli --json log read --source app --tail 100 --level ERROR

# 4. Verify a database row changed after the operation
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli db connect --name main --type postgres --connection-string-env DATABASE_URL
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli --json db query --connection main --sql "SELECT id, status FROM orders WHERE id = $1" --params '["abc-123"]'

Global Options

AI Agent Recommended:

ironbee-backend-devtools-cli --json --quiet --session-id "verify-session" <command>

Tool Domains

Jira / Linear are platform-agnostic shared issue-tracker domains (like scenario/execute) — registered on every platform CLI, but only when credentials are configured: jira needs JIRA_BASE_URL plus JIRA_EMAIL + JIRA_API_TOKEN (Cloud) or JIRA_PAT (Server/DC); linear needs LINEAR_API_KEY. Without creds the jira / linear subcommand group does not exist. Write tools (add-comment, attach-file, create/update-issue, transition-issue / set-state, link-issue, report-verification) additionally require JIRA_WRITE_ENABLED=true / LINEAR_WRITE_ENABLED=true (default off ⇒ read-only intake tools only). Close the loop after a verification run: ironbee-backend-devtools-cli jira report-verification --key PROJ-123 --result pass --report "..." --artifacts ./artifacts/evidence.png (linear: same shape with --state instead of --transition). See jira / linear.

Key concepts

4xx / 5xx and gRPC non-OK status are normal results, not errors. Only transport-level failures (DNS, TLS, timeout, abort, blocked) populate the response error field, whose code is NETWORK / TIMEOUT / DNS / TLS / ABORT / BLOCKED. The agent decides whether a given result counts as a failure for its task.

Egress allowlist. With BACKEND_ALLOWED_DOMAINS set (comma list), every outbound target is checked before a socket opens — subdomains of a listed host match, ports are ignored, and loopback is not implicitly allowed (list localhost explicitly). request http / graphql / replay check per redirect hop and report error.code: "BLOCKED" without consuming retries; request grpc reports the same on its host:port target; request websocket-open and db connect throw instead (sqlite is exempt — it is a local file). Log sources are not covered.

Cookie jar is shared across HTTP requests within a session (RFC 6265 host/path scoping). Login flows work transparently — call request set-cookies to seed, request list-cookies to inspect, request clear-cookies to drop.

Host-scoped default headers / target-scoped gRPC metadata are set once per session and merge into every matching call: request set-default-headers, request set-default-metadata. Auth tokens stay scoped to the host/target you pinned them to.

W3C trace propagation auto-injects traceparent on every request_* call. Pin a session trace id once with o11y new-trace-id (or o11y set-trace-context) and every subsequent request uses it as the correlation root. Per-call --trace-id overrides the pin; _metadata.traceId from the MCP client outranks the pin too.

SQLite needs no driver — it runs on Node's built-in node:sqlite (hence engines.node >= 22.16.0); Postgres (pg) and MySQL (mysql2) remain optional peer deps loaded on first use.

Readonly database access by default. db query and db snapshot only accept SELECT-like statements (parser + server-side READ ONLY). To write, open the connection with --allow-writes and use db transaction-begin --writable + db seed / db run-script + db transaction-rollback (or commit). Column-name redaction (password, token, api_key, …) is applied to every result path; nested JSON values are walked too.

CLI Management Commands

Daemon

ironbee-backend-devtools-cli daemon status
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli daemon start
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli daemon stop
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli daemon restart
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli daemon info

Session

ironbee-backend-devtools-cli session list
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli session info <session-id>
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli session delete <session-id>

Tools

ironbee-backend-devtools-cli tools list
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli tools search <query>
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli tools info <tool-name>

Config & Updates

ironbee-backend-devtools-cli config
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli update --check

Examples

Simple HTTP call with JSON body

ironbee-backend-devtools-cli --json request http \
  --url "https://api.example.com/orders" \
  --method POST \
  --body '{"kind":"json","value":{"sku":"ABC","qty":2}}' \
  --headers '{"Authorization":"Bearer $TOKEN"}'

Login flow with shared cookie jar

SESSION="--session-id login-flow"

# Log in — server sets cookies, jar captures them
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli $SESSION request http \
  --url "https://api.example.com/login" \
  --method POST \
  --body '{"kind":"form","fields":{"email":"u@example.com","password":"pw"}}'

# Subsequent calls re-use the jar automatically (useCookieJar defaults to true)
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli $SESSION --json request http --url "https://api.example.com/me"

gRPC unary call (via .proto file)

ironbee-backend-devtools-cli --json request grpc \
  --target "api.example.com:443" \
  --service "orders.v1.OrderService" \
  --method "GetOrder" \
  --proto-source '{"kind":"protoFile","path":"./protos/orders.proto"}' \
  --request '{"orderId":"abc-123"}' \
  --metadata '{"authorization":"Bearer $TOKEN"}'

GraphQL query

ironbee-backend-devtools-cli --json request graphql \
  --url "https://api.example.com/graphql" \
  --query 'query($id: ID!) { order(id: $id) { id status } }' \
  --variables '{"id":"abc-123"}' \
  --operation-name "OrderById"

WebSocket session

SESSION="--session-id ws-test"

# Open connection — returns connectionId
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli $SESSION --json request websocket-open \
  --url "wss://api.example.com/stream" \
  --subprotocols '["v1.events"]'

# Send a frame
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli $SESSION request websocket-send \
  --connection-id "<id>" \
  --data '{"kind":"json","value":{"subscribe":"orders"}}'

# Drain buffered messages (wait up to 5s, max 50)
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli $SESSION --json request websocket-receive \
  --connection-id "<id>" --max-count 50 --timeout-ms 5000

# Close
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli $SESSION request websocket-close --connection-id "<id>"

Replay a captured curl command

ironbee-backend-devtools-cli --json request replay \
  --source '{"kind":"curl","value":"curl -X POST https://api.example.com/orders -d ..."}' \
  --new-trace-id

Log capture around a request (correlated by trace id)

SESSION="--session-id correlated-flow"

# Pin a fresh trace id on the session
TRACE=$(ironbee-backend-devtools-cli $SESSION --json o11y new-trace-id | jq -r .traceId)

# Register the app log file and start following BEFORE the request
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli $SESSION log register-source --name app --type file --path /var/log/app.log
FOLLOW=$(ironbee-backend-devtools-cli $SESSION --json log follow --source app --max-buffer-lines 1000 | jq -r .followId)

# Trigger the operation
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli $SESSION request http --url "https://api.example.com/orders" --method POST --body '{"kind":"json","value":{}}'

# Drain just the lines tagged with our trace id
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli $SESSION --json log get-followed \
  --follow-id "$FOLLOW" --drain --pattern "$TRACE" --parse-json --select '["timestamp","level","msg"]'

ironbee-backend-devtools-cli $SESSION log stop-follow --follow-id "$FOLLOW"

Database verification via snapshot + diff

SESSION="--session-id db-verify"

# Connect with creds in env (preferred — never enters agent context)
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli $SESSION db connect --name main --type postgres --connection-string-env DATABASE_URL

# Snapshot the affected rows BEFORE the request
BEFORE=$(ironbee-backend-devtools-cli $SESSION --json db snapshot \
  --connection main --table orders --where "customer_id = $1" --params '["cust-1"]' | jq -r .snapshotId)

# Trigger
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli $SESSION request http --url "https://api.example.com/orders" --method POST --body '{"kind":"json","value":{"customer_id":"cust-1"}}'

# Snapshot AFTER
AFTER=$(ironbee-backend-devtools-cli $SESSION --json db snapshot \
  --connection main --table orders --where "customer_id = $1" --params '["cust-1"]' | jq -r .snapshotId)

# Diff — added / removed / changed rows keyed by PK
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli $SESSION --json db diff --from "$BEFORE" --to "$AFTER"

Writable transaction (test fixtures, always rollback)

SESSION="--session-id fixtures"

ironbee-backend-devtools-cli $SESSION db connect --name main --type postgres --connection-string-env TEST_DATABASE_URL --allow-writes

ironbee-backend-devtools-cli $SESSION db transaction-begin --connection main --writable
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli $SESSION db seed --connection main --table users \
  --rows '[{"id":"u1","email":"a@example.com"},{"id":"u2","email":"b@example.com"}]'
# ... run requests / verifications ...
ironbee-backend-devtools-cli $SESSION db transaction-rollback --connection main

Interactive Mode

ironbee-backend-devtools-cli interactive

Shell Completions

eval "$(ironbee-backend-devtools-cli completion bash)"
eval "$(ironbee-backend-devtools-cli completion zsh)"