What is it?
ZCLI is a new, open source, extensible CLI tool for developers and the developer-curious. It allows developers to interact with their Zendesk account and build out their capabilities from the comfort of their own client.
Currently, ZCLI is in an open beta.
Who should use it?
At the moment, we're looking for existing Zendesk app developers of all levels to participate in the beta of this tool. The focus will be primarily on apps for now, but we're looking to build out functionality for other Zendesk products in the future.
This is an open beta available to anyone and everyone.
How do I set it up?
$ npm install @zendesk/zcli -g
You can check out the ZCLI repo on Github for detailed instructions on usage and the full list of commands and documentation.
Requires Node v12 and later.
How is this different to ZAT (Zendesk Apps Tools)?
Built on NodeJS
ZCLI is built on NodeJS, a familiar ecosystem to app and theme developers as they already will be using JavaScript, NodeJS, and NPM in some capacity to build their products and offerings. It can be installed via NPM.
This also means that ZCLI will be able to be easily kept up-to-date with new Node versions into the future.
In contrast, ZAT is built on Ruby, which can be very painful for developers to set up their environment correctly. ZAT also targets an outdated Ruby version for compatibility reasons.
Multiple apps tested at once
ZCLI allows app developers to now run and test multiple apps at once from the same command. No more switching directories or cancelling and restarting local servers.
ZAT only allows developers to run and test one app locally at any given time.
Native Windows compatibility
ZCLI is fully compatible with Windows out of the box and doesn’t require any special software or environments for a Windows user to get it up and running.
Conversely, ZAT is not supported on Windows and users have to install Linux on their machines in order to get it working.
Open source
ZCLI, like ZAT, will be open source. However, it will not depend on proprietary libraries or services like ZAT does. ZCLI will work standalone and will welcome contributions from the community to build a fully extensible tool for the Zendesk developers of the future.
What about ZAT?
For the moment, ZAT is staying where it is. It's still fully supported if you'd prefer to stay on it. However, we will be looking to build out the features of ZCLI into the future and winding down any new developments on ZAT.
We'd encourage every app developer to switch to ZCLI, but if not let us know what you need to make the switch.
How can I give feedback or report an issue?
You can create an issue on Github, report the issue in the Zendesk Developers Slack group, or for other problems, contact Zendesk Customer Support.