Extend core salesforce cli commands

sf-extend provides a lightweight means of extending the capabilities of core salesforce cli commands. Configure extensions to run before or after any command. Installable to both the sf and sfdx cli applications.

Installation

Add sf-extend to your cli as you would any sfdx or sf plugin:

# sfdx
sfdx plugins:install sf-extend
# sf
sf plugins install sf-extend

Usage

Extending an sfdx or sf (hereafter, "sf", collectively) command is a simple process. You can define which commands to extend (explicit extension) or you can rely on the extension itself to define the commands (implicit extension, see Configuration below). In the latter case you will be prompted to allow/disallow each command the extension is requesting to extend.

# syntax - explicit extension
sfdx <command> --extend <localPathOrNpmPackage> [-g, --global]
# example
sfdx force:source:deploy --extend sf-extend-my-awesome-extension

# syntax - implicit extension
sf extend add <localPathOrNpmPackage> [-g, --global]
# example 
sf extend add sf-extend-my-awesome-extension

where...

• command is any sf command
• localPathOrNpmPackage is a relative path to your extension module or the name of a package published to the default npm registry
• -g, --global declares that the extension will be executed every time the command is run; when this flag is omitted the scope will default to project-level extension

Scope

As shown above, the -g, --global flag adds a global configuration so that the extension will run every time the command(s) are executed. The config file resides in your machine's default XDG config directory (e.g. ~/.config/) as provided by the oclif framework.

When the global option is not provided sf-extend will attempt to locate a package.json file in the current working directory and append the config to it. If the directory is not a valid sfdx project structure, either becuase it has no sfdx-project.json or no package.json file, an error will be thrown.

Building Extensions

An extension is any local module or npm package whose default export is a class extending the SfExtension base class, as such:

// <projectRoot>/generators/app/index.js
const SfExtension = require('sf-extension');
class MyExtension extends SfExtension{
    // your code...
}
module.exports = SfExtension;

Package.json:

"main": "generators/app/index.js"

To get you started quickly, sf-extend includes a generator command that which will scaffold a new extension for you. Run the following from the directory where you want to begin building:

sfdx extend:generate
# or
sf extend generate

The command will ask you a few questions (similar to running force:project:create) to get you started, including which commands and lifecycles (if any) you'd like to configured your extension to attach to.

Extension Architecture

Under the hood sf-extend utilizes the popular Yeomanjs scaffolding library. Salesforce utilizes this as well when you run commands such as sfdx force:project:create and sfdx plugins:generate.

The extension classes you'll create extend the SfExtension class which itself extends the Yeoman Generator class, so all of the outstanding functionality available to you therein is accessible in your class by default.

Make sure to peruse the Yeoman authoring documentation as you begin building your first extension.

Configuration

Extensions can define the commands they wish to extend and whether they should run before or after. Users installing these extensions will be prompted to approve each command requested and the extension will only be configured within the scope provided by the user, i.e. "global" or "project" (default).

The configuration will be append to the user's global config file or project package.json file as such:

{
    //...
    "sf-extend": {
        "before": [ "command:id:0", "...", "command:id:n" ],
        "after": [ "command:id:0", "...", "command:id:n" ]
    }//...
}

Sharing and Finding Extensions

If you'd like to share your awesome creations with the rest of the world simply publish your package to npm using the format sf-extend-<yourExtensionName>.

FAQ

How is an extension different than a plugin?
An sfdx plugin adds additional commands to the base cli that a user must call manually. An sf-extend extension, on the other hand, allows you to automatically execute logic before/after core commands without the need for manual user invocation.

Can I extend custom plugin commands? Absolutely, though the prompts offered by extend:generate command will only list the core and plugin commands of the cli instance on the machine where it is run.