camel-lite-cli

Command-line runtime for camel-lite. Load a route definition and run it — inject a single message, receive messages from a URI, or keep the context alive in daemon mode.

Install

npm install -g @alt-javascript/camel-lite-cli

Quick Start

# Run a route file silently
camel-lite -r route.yaml

# Inject a JSON body and print any reply
camel-lite -r route.yaml -i '{"name":"world"}'

# Keep a timer route running until Ctrl-C
camel-lite -r timer-route.yaml -d

# Consume messages from a URI and print each body to stdout
camel-lite -r route.yaml -c seda:orders

# Show framework logs while debugging a route
camel-lite --debug -r route.yaml -i '{"name":"world"}'

Usage

camel-lite -r <file|-> [options]

Required

| Flag | Description | |------|-------------| | -r, --routes <file\|-> | Route definition file (.yaml, .yml, .json) or - to read from stdin |

Input / Output

| Flag | Description | Default | |------|-------------|---------| | -i, --input <body\|-> | Message body to inject into the first from: endpoint. Accepts a JSON string, a plain string, or - to read from stdin | (none — no message sent) | | -p, --producer-uri <uri> | Override the target endpoint URI for -i. Requires -i. Default: the first route's from: URI | (first route from: URI) | | --exchange-pattern <pattern> | InOnly or i — fire-and-forget (exit after send). InOut or io — request-reply (prints reply body to stdout). Case-insensitive. | InOnly | | -c, --consumer-uri <uri> | Poll a consumer URI in a daemon loop, printing each message body to stdout. Implies daemon mode. Mutually exclusive with -i and -p | (none) |

Runtime Behaviour

| Flag | Description | Default | |------|-------------|---------| | -d, --daemon | Keep the context alive until SIGINT/SIGTERM. Use for timer, cron, and seda-driven routes | false | | -l, --log-mode <text\|json> | Log output format: text (human-readable) or json (structured JSON objects) | text |

Logging

By default, all camel-lite and boot framework log output is suppressed — the CLI is pipe-friendly and produces zero stderr output unless a flag is set.

| Flag | Description | |------|-------------| | --verbose | Enable info-level framework logging on stderr | | --debug | Enable debug-level framework logging on stderr. Takes precedence over --verbose |

Other

| Flag | Description | |------|-------------| | -v, --version | Print the CLI version and exit | | -h, --help | Print help and exit |

Flag Constraints

• -r - and -i - are mutually exclusive: only one argument can read from stdin.
• -p requires -i. Specifying a producer URI without a body to send is an error.
• -c is mutually exclusive with -i and -p. Consumer mode and producer mode are separate operations.
• --exchange-pattern accepts InOnly, i, InOut, or io (case-insensitive). Any other value is an error.

Examples

Fire-and-forget message

camel-lite -r route.yaml -i '{"order":"ABC-1","qty":5}'

Sends the JSON body to the first route's from: URI. Exits after the route completes. No output unless the route writes to stdout.

Request-reply (InOut)

camel-lite -r transform-route.yaml -i 'hello' --exchange-pattern InOut

Sends hello, waits for the reply, and prints the reply body to stdout.

Send to a specific endpoint

camel-lite -r route.yaml -i '{"event":"login"}' -p seda:audit

Sends the body to seda:audit instead of the route's default from: URI.

Read route and body from stdin

# Route from stdin, body as argument
cat route.yaml | camel-lite -r - -i '{"name":"world"}'

# Route as argument, body from stdin
echo '{"name":"world"}' | camel-lite -r route.yaml -i -

Daemon mode

camel-lite -r cron-route.yaml -d

Keeps the context running. Press Ctrl-C or send SIGTERM to stop.

Consumer daemon

camel-lite -r route.yaml -c timer:tick?period=1000

Polls timer:tick in a loop. Each message body is printed to stdout on a new line. Runs until SIGINT or SIGTERM.

camel-lite -r route.yaml -c seda:results | tee results.log

Pipe consumer output to another tool — the CLI writes one body per line to stdout.

Logging

# Show info-level framework logs (route registration, context start/stop)
camel-lite --verbose -r route.yaml -i body

# Show debug-level logs (per-message dispatch, timer fires, lock renewal)
camel-lite --debug -r route.yaml -i body

# --debug wins when both are present
camel-lite --debug --verbose -r route.yaml -i body

# JSON-structured log lines (combine with --verbose or --debug)
camel-lite --verbose -l json -r route.yaml -i body

Missing home config directory

If ~/.camel-lite/ does not exist, the CLI starts silently with no user config. No error is thrown.

User Configuration

The CLI loads application.yaml (or application.json) from ~/.camel-lite/ on every invocation. Place component connection strings, default log levels, or any boot.camel-lite.* properties there.

~/.camel-lite/
  application.yaml

Example ~/.camel-lite/application.yaml:

boot:
  camel-lite:
    amqp:
      url: amqp://localhost:5672
      username: guest
      password: guest

Values in ~/.camel-lite/application.yaml are overridden by the CLI's own EphemeralConfig overlay (logging level, banner suppression), and can themselves be overridden by environment variables loaded through the same config chain.

Exit Codes

| Code | Meaning | |------|---------| | 0 | Success | | 1 | Validation error (bad flags), route error, or unhandled exception |

Error messages are written to stderr in the format camel-lite: error: <message>.

Troubleshooting

No output in silent mode is expected. All framework log lines are suppressed by default. Use --verbose or --debug to see what the route is doing.

camel-lite: error: -r / --routes is required — The -r flag is mandatory. Every invocation must specify a route definition file.

camel-lite: error: -p / --producer-uri requires -i / --input — You specified a target URI with -p but did not provide a body to send. Add -i <body>.

camel-lite: error: -c / --consumer-uri is mutually exclusive with -i / --input — Consumer mode (-c) and producer mode (-i) cannot be combined. Choose one.

camel-lite: fatal: <message> — An unhandled exception occurred during CDI boot or route execution. Run with --debug to see the full log trace leading up to the error.

Route exits immediately without processing — Without -d or -c, the context stops as soon as the initial message (if any) completes. Add -d for timer, cron, or seda-driven routes that need to stay alive.

Runtime Architecture

The CLI uses a full CDI boot stack for every invocation:

1. EphemeralConfig overlay is constructed with the computed log level and banner suppression.
2. User config is loaded synchronously from ~/.camel-lite/ via ProfileConfigLoader.
3. A PropertySourceChain is composed: overlay (highest priority) → user config.
4. Boot.boot({ config }) initialises the CDI container with the chained config.
5. camelLiteExtrasStarter registers all 12 component schemes into the CDI context.
6. CdiCamelRuntime loads the route definition and starts the CamelContext.
7. ProducerTemplate or ConsumerTemplate performs the requested operation.
8. The context is stopped (unless -d or -c keeps it alive).

All 12 camel-lite component schemes are pre-loaded. Components whose external broker or service is unavailable at startup fail gracefully — the route starts with the available components.

See Also

• camel-lite root README
• camel-lite-core — CamelContext, RouteBuilder, ProducerTemplate, ConsumerTemplate
• boot-camel-lite-starter — CDI auto-configuration for core + 8 components
• boot-camel-lite-extras-starter — CDI auto-configuration for amqp/sql/nosql/master