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. A field keeps its identity only when the schema file carries its persistent_id. Nothing matches by name. A field without one is new, and loses the quality metrics, ground truth and analytics attached to the old field. Fetch the current ids with afx get <workflow-id> before updating.

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. 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 stay stable across those edits as long as the schema file keeps persistent_id.

Exit status

afx exits 1 and prints an Error: line on stderr in five cases: the key is missing, the input is invalid, the API rejects the request, the run ends in error or cancelled, or the wait times out. A rejected request also prints the status and the error_code.

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