hana-cli Agent Instructions

Portable AI coding agent instructions that teach any coding assistant how to use hana-cli for SAP HANA development.

Think of it as the knowledge of the hana-cli MCP Server — without needing MCP. Just files your coding agent reads.

What's Inside

| File | Purpose | | ---- | ------- | | HANA_CLI_REFERENCE.md | Complete command reference (170+ commands, parameters, categories) | | HANA_CLI_QUICKSTART.md | Quick start guide (install, connect, top 10 commands) | | HANA_CLI_EXAMPLES.md | Real-world usage scenarios with concrete parameters | | HANA_CLI_WORKFLOWS.md | Multi-step workflows (data quality, migration, security audit, etc.) | | categories/*.md | Per-category deep dives (16 categories) | | llms.txt | Compact machine-readable reference (llms.txt convention) | | copilot/ | GitHub Copilot format (instructions + prompts) | | cursor/ | Cursor .cursorrules format | | claude/ | Claude Code CLAUDE.md format | | windsurf/ | Windsurf .windsurfrules format | | cline/ | Cline .clinerules format | | generic/ | Universal AGENT_INSTRUCTIONS.md for any agent |

Quick Install

Option 1: npx (recommended)

# Auto-detect your coding agent and install
npx hana-cli-agent-instructions

# Choose a specific format
npx hana-cli-agent-instructions --format copilot
npx hana-cli-agent-instructions --format cursor
npx hana-cli-agent-instructions --format claude
npx hana-cli-agent-instructions --format all

# Install to a specific project
npx hana-cli-agent-instructions --format copilot --target ./my-sap-project

Option 2: npm package

npm install --save-dev hana-cli-agent-instructions

Option 3: Manual download

Download the files you need from GitHub and place them in your project.

Option 4: curl one-liners

# Download quickstart + reference for any agent
curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SAP-samples/hana-developer-cli-tool-example/main/agent-instructions/HANA_CLI_QUICKSTART.md -o HANA_CLI_QUICKSTART.md
curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SAP-samples/hana-developer-cli-tool-example/main/agent-instructions/HANA_CLI_REFERENCE.md -o HANA_CLI_REFERENCE.md

# Download Cursor rules
curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SAP-samples/hana-developer-cli-tool-example/main/agent-instructions/cursor/.cursorrules -o .cursorrules

# Download Claude Code instructions
curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SAP-samples/hana-developer-cli-tool-example/main/agent-instructions/claude/CLAUDE.md -o CLAUDE.md

Agent Instructions vs MCP Server

| Feature | Agent Instructions | MCP Server | | ------- | ----------------- | ---------- | | What it provides | Static knowledge (markdown files) | Dynamic tool execution (JSON-RPC) | | Setup | Copy files to project | Configure MCP client, run server | | Agent support | Any LLM-based agent | MCP-capable clients only | | Can execute commands | No (agent runs them via terminal) | Yes (server executes directly) | | Always up-to-date | Snapshot (re-download for updates) | Live (reads current metadata) | | Dependencies | None (just markdown) | Node.js, hana-cli installed | | Best for | Quick setup, any agent, offline use | Deep integration, automated workflows |

Use both together: Instructions for general knowledge, MCP Server for execution.

Per-Agent Setup

GitHub Copilot

The installer places files in .github/:

• .github/copilot-instructions.md — workspace-level context
• .github/instructions/hana-cli-usage.instructions.md — auto-activates for HANA file types (.hdbcds, .cds, mta.yaml, etc.)
• .github/prompts/hana-cli-help.prompt.md — custom prompt for hana-cli questions

Cursor

Places .cursorrules in your project root. Cursor reads this automatically.

Claude Code

Places CLAUDE.md in your project root. Claude Code reads this automatically.

Windsurf

Places .windsurfrules in your project root. Windsurf reads this automatically.

Cline

Places .clinerules in your project root. Cline reads this automatically.

Generic / Other Agents

Places AGENT_INSTRUCTIONS.md in your project root. Point your agent to read this file.

What Your Agent Learns

After installing, your coding assistant will know how to:

• Explore SAP HANA schemas — suggest hana-cli tables, inspectTable, views
• Import/export data — recommend dry-run patterns, batch sizes, error handling
• Run queries — use hana-cli querySimple --query "SQL" (with correct --query flag)
• Check system health — suggest healthCheck, expensiveStatements, memoryAnalysis
• Manage connections — guide through connect, connectViaServiceKey, copy2DefaultEnv
• Profile data quality — recommend dataProfile → dataValidator → duplicateDetection workflows
• Compare environments — suggest compareSchema, compareData for dev-vs-prod analysis
• Administer security — recommend securityScan, privilegeAnalysis, auditLog
• Work with HANA Cloud — guide through hanaCloudInstances, hanaCloudStart/Stop
• Manage HDI containers — suggest containers, adminHDI, createContainer

Regenerating

These files are auto-generated from hana-cli's metadata. To regenerate:

cd hana-developer-cli-tool-example
npm run build --prefix mcp-server    # Build MCP server first
node generate-agent-instructions.js --force

Version

Generated from hana-cli v4.202603.2 on 2026-03-17.