Weaviate Weaviate CLI Weaviate CLI

Contributing to weaviate-cli

Guide for developing, testing, and maintaining the weaviate-cli codebase.

Development Setup

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
make install-dev          # pip install -r requirements-dev.txt + pre-commit install

Key development commands:

make format               # Black formatter on cli.py, weaviate_cli/, test/
make lint                 # Black --check (CI-equivalent)
make test                 # pytest test/unittests
make build-all            # python -m build + twine check
make all                  # format + lint + test + build-all

Repository Architecture

weaviate-cli/
  cli.py                        # Entry point: Click group, global options, command registration
  weaviate_cli/
    __init__.py                 # Package version
    defaults.py                 # Dataclass defaults for all commands
    utils.py                    # Shared helpers: get_client, pp_objects, parse_permission
    commands/                   # Click command definitions (one file per group)
      create.py                 # create collection, tenants, data, backup, role, user, alias, replication
      get.py                    # get collection, tenants, shards, backup, role, user, nodes, alias, replication
      update.py                 # update collection, tenants, shards, data, user, alias
      delete.py                 # delete collection, tenants, data, role, user, alias, replication
      query.py                  # query data, replications, sharding-state
      restore.py                # restore backup
      cancel.py                 # cancel backup, replication
      assign.py                 # assign role, permission
      revoke.py                 # revoke role, permission
      benchmark.py              # benchmark qps
    managers/                   # Business logic (one file per domain)
      config_manager.py         # ConfigManager: config loading, client creation
      collection_manager.py     # CollectionManager: CRUD collections
      tenant_manager.py         # TenantManager: CRUD tenants
      data_manager.py           # DataManager: ingest/update/delete data
      backup_manager.py         # BackupManager: backup/restore operations
      role_manager.py           # RoleManager: RBAC role operations
      user_manager.py           # UserManager: RBAC user operations
      node_manager.py           # NodeManager: node information
      shard_manager.py          # ShardManager: shard operations
      cluster_manager.py        # ClusterManager: replication operations
      alias_manager.py          # AliasManager: alias operations
      benchmark_manager.py      # BenchmarkManager: QPS benchmarks
    completion/                 # Shell completion helpers
    datasets/                   # Built-in datasets (Movies)
    types/                      # Type definitions
  test/
    unittests/
      conftest.py               # Fixtures: mock_client, mock_config, mock_click_context
      test_cli.py               # CliRunner tests for CLI entry point
      test_defaults.py          # Defaults dataclass tests
      test_utils.py             # Utility function tests
      test_managers/             # Manager unit tests (one per manager)
    integration/
      test_integration.py       # Integration tests (requires running cluster)
      test_auth_integration.py  # RBAC integration tests (requires cluster + RBAC)
      test_data_integration.py  # Data integration tests

See references/architecture.md for detailed class hierarchy and patterns.

Architecture Pattern: Commands -> Managers

Every CLI operation follows this pattern:

1. cli.py: Top-level Click group registers command groups
2. commands/<group>.py: Click decorators define options, validate input, get client from context, call manager
3. managers/<domain>_manager.py: Business logic, Weaviate client calls, output formatting
4. defaults.py: Dataclass with default values for each command

cli.py (main group)
  -> commands/create.py (create group)
    -> @create.command("collection") (Click decorators + options)
      -> CollectionManager(client).create_collection(...) (business logic)
        -> defaults.py::CreateCollectionDefaults (default values)

The ConfigManager is stored in the Click context (ctx.obj["config"]). Commands extract the client via get_client_from_context(ctx) from utils.py.

Defaults System

All command defaults live in weaviate_cli/defaults.py as dataclasses:

@dataclass
class CreateCollectionDefaults:
    collection: str = "Movies"
    replication_factor: int = 3
    vector_index: str = "hnsw"
    multitenant: bool = False
    # ... etc

Click options reference these: default=CreateCollectionDefaults.collection. This keeps defaults centralized and testable.

When adding a new command, always create a corresponding defaults dataclass.

Issue Tracking

By default, every non-trivial task (new feature, bug fix, improvement) should follow the GitHub Issue workflow defined in references/issue-workflow.md (including any documented exceptions, such as documentation-only or agent/Claude-specific changes). This provides:

• A record of what was added in each release
• A link between issues and PRs for code review
• Visibility into work in progress

Default workflow for non-trivial changes:

1. Create issue with draft label via gh issue create --repo weaviate/weaviate-cli
2. Plan and implement the change
3. Create a PR with Closes #N in the body
4. Remove draft label when PR is ready for review

See references/issue-workflow.md for full details, templates, examples, and the authoritative list of exceptions. If this section ever conflicts with that reference, defer to references/issue-workflow.md.

Adding a New Command

Step-by-step guide: see references/adding-commands.md.

Summary:

1. Create a GitHub Issue to track the work (see Issue Tracking above)
2. Add a defaults dataclass in defaults.py
3. Add Click command in the appropriate commands/<group>.py
4. Add manager method in managers/<domain>_manager.py
5. Add --json flag (mandatory for all commands)
6. Add unit test in test/unittests/test_managers/
7. Update the operating skill documentation
8. Create a PR linked to the issue

JSON Output Convention

Every command must support --json:

In the Click command:

@click.option("--json", "json_output", is_flag=True, default=False, help="Output in JSON format.")

Note: The parameter is named json_output (not json) to avoid shadowing Python's json module.

In the manager, use print_json_or_text() from utils.py:

from weaviate_cli.utils import print_json_or_text

print_json_or_text(
    data={"collections": collection_list, "total": len(collection_list)},
    json_output=json_output,
    text_fn=lambda: click.echo(formatted_text),
)

Success JSON shape:

{"status": "success", "message": "..."}

or structured data with domain-specific fields.

Error output: Always click.echo(f"Error: {e}") + sys.exit(1).

Testing

Unit Tests

Use CliRunner for CLI-level tests and MagicMock for manager tests:

# CLI test (test/unittests/test_cli.py)
from click.testing import CliRunner
from cli import main

def test_create_collection(cli_runner):
    result = cli_runner.invoke(main, ["create", "collection", "--json"])
    assert result.exit_code == 0

# Manager test (test/unittests/test_managers/test_collection_manager.py)
def test_create_collection(mock_client):
    mock_client.collections.exists.side_effect = [False, True]
    manager = CollectionManager(mock_client)
    manager.create_collection(collection="Test", replication_factor=3)
    mock_client.collections.create.assert_called_once()

Fixtures in conftest.py (shared across all unit tests):

• mock_client -- MagicMock(spec=weaviate.WeaviateClient)
• mock_config -- MagicMock(spec=ConfigManager)
• mock_click_context -- context with mock config in ctx.obj

Note: cli_runner is defined locally in test/unittests/test_cli.py, not in conftest.py.

Integration Tests

Require a running Weaviate cluster (typically via weaviate-local-k8s):

pytest test/integration/test_integration.py
pytest test/integration/test_auth_integration.py  # Requires RBAC-enabled cluster

See references/testing.md for full patterns.

CI Pipeline

lint-and-format (Black + build check)
  -> unit-tests (Python 3.9-3.13, matrix)
    -> integration-tests (latest Weaviate, weaviate-local-k8s, Python 3.9-3.13)
    -> integration-auth-tests (RBAC-enabled cluster, Python 3.9-3.13)

• Linting must pass before unit tests run
• Unit tests must pass before integration tests run
• Integration tests use weaviate/weaviate-local-k8s@v2 GitHub Action
• Auth integration tests create a config with admin-key API key

Code Review Checklist

1. GitHub Issue exists and is linked to the PR (Closes #N)
2. New command has --json support
3. Defaults dataclass added/updated in defaults.py
4. Unit test covers happy path and error cases
5. Black formatting passes (make lint)
6. No hardcoded paths or credentials
7. Error messages follow Error: <description> pattern
8. Client is properly closed in finally block
9. Manager method handles both JSON and text output

See references/code-review.md for detailed checklist.

Maintaining Skills

When adding new commands or options to weaviate-cli, update the agent skills:

1. Operating skill (.claude/skills/operating-weaviate-cli/):

   • Add the new command to the Command Reference section in SKILL.md
   • Update or create the relevant reference file in references/
   • Update the Command Groups table if a new group is added
   • Update Workflow Dependencies if the command introduces new dependencies

2. Contributing skill (.claude/skills/contributing-to-weaviate-cli/):

   • Update references/architecture.md if new files/modules are added
   • Update references/adding-commands.md if patterns change
   • Update references/testing.md if test infrastructure changes

3. CLAUDE.md: Update if development commands or conventions change

References

• references/architecture.md -- File-by-file breakdown, class hierarchy, utils helpers
• references/adding-commands.md -- Complete worked example for new commands
• references/testing.md -- Test fixtures, patterns, CI details
• references/code-review.md -- PR checklist, common pitfalls, conventions
• references/issue-workflow.md -- GitHub Issue creation, tracking, and PR linking

Source: weaviate/weaviate-cli — distributed by TomeVault.