Command line (afx)

afx is the command line that ships with the Python SDK. It covers the one-off jobs you do not want to write code for: parse a file to markdown, extract a few fields, run an existing workflow, and list or delete workflows.

Install

afx is the anyformat package’s console script. The 1.0 line is a release candidate, so pip needs --pre.

pip install --pre anyformat
afx --version

Run afx with no arguments for the banner, or afx --help for the command list.

Auth

Every command reads the API key from ANYFORMAT_API_KEY, or from --api-key. A missing key exits with Error: API key is required. Set --api-key or ANYFORMAT_API_KEY.

export ANYFORMAT_API_KEY=af_...

Every command also takes --base-url (default https://api.anyformat.ai) for a non-production deployment.

Commands

Commands in the order afx --help lists them. Progress lines go to stderr; results go to stdout, so you can pipe them.

extract

Creates a workflow with one Parse node and one Extract node, uploads the file, runs it, and prints the fields. Give the fields inline with --field, or as a JSON file with --schema. At least one is required.

Option	Default	What it does
`FILE` (argument)	required	Path to the file to process.
`--field name:description`		A string field. Repeatable.
`--schema PATH`		JSON file with the full schema. Supports every scalar type and one level of `object` nesting.
`--name`	`anyformat-cli/extract <timestamp>`	Workflow name.
`--parse-mode`	`standard`	Parse tier: `standard`, `agentic`, `lite` or `flash`.
`--on-conflict`	server default (`error`)	`error` rejects a filename that already exists in the workflow with `409`; `rename` auto-renames it.
`--timeout`	`300`	Seconds to wait for the run.
`--json` / `--table`	`--table`	Output format.
`--output PATH`, `-o`	stdout	Write the results to a file.

afx extract invoice.pdf \
  --field "invoice_number:The unique invoice identifier" \
  --field "total_amount:Total invoice amount" \
  --parse-mode agentic --json

The --schema file is a JSON array. Each entry has name, type and description; an object entry adds fields. Supported types: string, integer, float, boolean, date, datetime, object. enum and multi_select are not supported on the command line.

[
  { "name": "vendor", "type": "string", "description": "Vendor name on the invoice." },
  { "name": "total",  "type": "float",  "description": "Grand total." },
  { "name": "line_items", "type": "object", "description": "One row per line item.", "fields": [
    { "name": "sku",    "type": "string", "description": "Stock keeping unit." },
    { "name": "amount", "type": "float",  "description": "Line amount." }
  ]}
]

The table view prints scalar fields with their confidence and summarises object fields as row counts; use --json to see the rows.

run

Runs an existing workflow, built in Studio or with an SDK, against a file and prints the fields.

Option	Default	What it does
`FILE` (argument)	required	Path to the file to process.
`--workflow-id`, `-w`	required	The workflow to run.
`--on-conflict`	server default (`error`)	`error` or `rename`, as for `extract`.
`--timeout`	`300`	Seconds to wait for the run.
`--json` / `--table`	`--json`	Output format.
`--output PATH`, `-o`	stdout	Write the results to a file.

afx run invoice.pdf -w 0686bb97-8c30-70f0-8000-97669e000eb8 > result.json

parse

Parses a file with the atomic parse operation (a fast, lite parse) and prints the markdown. No workflow is created.

Option	Default	What it does
`FILE` (argument)	required	Path to the file to parse.
`--timeout`	`300`	Seconds to wait.
`--poll-interval`	`3.0`	Seconds between status polls.
`--json` / `--table`	`--table`	`--table` prints the markdown (rendered on a terminal); `--json` prints `{ "markdown": ... }`.
`--output PATH`, `-o`	stdout	Write the result to a file.

afx parse contract.pdf -o contract.md

update-workflow

Replaces an existing workflow’s graph with a new Parse + Extract pair built from --field and --schema, the same way extract builds one. Fields are matched to the previous version by name, or by persistent_id when the schema file carries one.

Option	Default	What it does
`--workflow-id`	required	The workflow to update.
`--field name:description`		A string field. Repeatable.
`--schema PATH`		JSON schema file, as for `extract`. May carry `persistent_id` per field.
`--name`	`anyformat-cli/update-workflow <timestamp>`	New workflow name.
`--parse-mode`	`standard`	Parse tier.

afx update-workflow --workflow-id 0686bb97-8c30-70f0-8000-97669e000eb8 --schema fields.json

list

Lists your organization’s workflows, newest first, as a table of id, name and creation time.

Option	Default	What it does
`--limit`	`20`	Rows to show, 1 to 100. A note on stderr says when more exist.

afx list --limit 50

get

Prints a workflow’s typed definition as JSON: the same { name, description, nodes, edges } shape the create endpoint accepts.

afx get 0686bb97-8c30-70f0-8000-97669e000eb8 > workflow.json

delete

Deletes a workflow, with its document packets and runs. Asks for confirmation unless --yes is given.

Option	Default	What it does
`--yes`, `-y`	off	Skip the confirmation prompt.

afx delete 0686bb97-8c30-70f0-8000-97669e000eb8 -y

runs

Lists a workflow’s runs, newest first: run id, document packet id, status and creation time.

Option	Default	What it does
`--limit`	`20`	Rows to show, 1 to 100.

afx runs 0686bb97-8c30-70f0-8000-97669e000eb8

What a CLI workflow is

afx extract and afx update-workflow build the same typed graph the SDKs and Studio use: a parse node with the chosen mode, one extract node with your fields, and one edge between them. afx get shows it. You can open a CLI-created workflow in Studio, run it with afx run or either SDK, and edit it with afx update-workflow or PATCH /v3/workflows/{id}/. The field ids are stable across those edits when you keep persistent_id in the schema file.

Exit status

afx exits 1 with an Error: line on stderr when the key is missing, the input is invalid, the API rejects a request (with the status and error_code), the run ends in error or cancelled, or the wait times out.

Overview

Workflows

Upload

Document packets

Runs

Parse

Knowledge

Evals

SDKs and tools

API v2 (deprecated)

Command line (afx)

Install

Auth

Commands

extract

run

parse

update-workflow

list

get

delete

runs

What a CLI workflow is

Exit status

​Install

​Auth

​Commands

​extract

​run

​parse

​update-workflow

​list

​get

​delete

​runs

​What a CLI workflow is

​Exit status

Install

Auth

Commands

extract

run

parse

update-workflow

list

get

delete

runs

What a CLI workflow is

Exit status