Kaizen 179: Choosing between ZDK CLI and Web UI : When to Use Each

Kaizen 179: Choosing between ZDK CLI and Web UI : When to Use Each


Hello everyone, 
Welcome back! ZDK CLI uses commands to manipulate with Zoho CRM metadata from a terminal.  While Zoho CRM Web UI remains the primary tool for manipulating Zoho CRM metadata like creating modules, configuring fields/layouts etc., using ZDK CLI has its own advantages.  In this post, we will explore scenarios where each option excels, empowering developers and administrators to make informed decisions as per their requirements. Let's dive in!

Smith, a consultant at TechSolutions Inc. (a Zoho CRM Partner), is enhancing the Deals module for Springfield University, to align it with their admissions workflow. Springfield University is using customized Zoho CRM  for  learning management system (LMS). The Deals module now tracks student enrollment stages ( "Application Received," "Scholarship Review," and "Admission Offer Sent") instead of the sales pipeline. To support this, Smith needs to add a custom field like “Financial Aid Status” to the Deals module. 

Should he use Zoho CRM UI or ZDK CLI?

 For simple changes like adding this field, Smith would use the Zoho CRM UI—it’s faster. But this raises the question-

When does a customization demand use of ZDK CLI?

The answer becomes clear with Smith’s next project: customizing Zoho CRM for Brookside University. He has to create customizations for Student Management, Course Management, Admissions, Finances, etc., which takes days or even weeks. If Smith were to use the Zoho CRM UI , he has to navigate through multiple tabs in the setup and creates them one by one. When his customization is done in the sandbox, he completes testing it and deploys it to the sandbox environment.  Smith designs a Student Dashboard Widget that displays a student’s academic progress, attendance, extracurricular activities, and advisor notes in one place. For creating the widget, he uses the ZET CLI tool in terminal and after development he packages it separately and upload it to Zoho CRM. 

If Smith opts for ZDK CLI to build the customizations, he can create modules, fields, layouts, roles, and profiles directly from the terminal. He can use ZET commands in ZDK CLI project directory for developing the widget and can add the widget to the Zoho CRM through ZDK CLI.

By leveraging ZDK CLI alongside Version Control Systems like Git or Mercurial, Smith along with his team mates ensures every customization is traceable. Git logs resolve disputes like “Who modified the Admissions pipeline?”. Using ZDK CLI with VCS facilitates team collaboration. One team member can build up on another team member's work.

Riding on the success wave of Brookside University’s LMS integration, Smith’s firm, TechSolutions Inc., now needs to replicate the same Zoho CRM customization for their next project. Without ZDK CLI, Smith would have to do it all over again: manually rebuilding every module, field, and widget through the UI.

With ZDK CLI, the effort required is minimal.
  • Using zdk org:export command, Smith can export the metadata of Brookside University. 
  • He can use the exported files and "tweak" them to suit the needs of his new project.
  • Using zdk org:push  command, he can deploy the refined configuration to the new environment.
ZDK CLI transforms CRM customization from a manual process into a repeatable strategy—ensuring TechSolutions Inc.’s  growth.

When to Use ZDK CLI 

  • Bulk Metadata Management: You can use ZDK CLI to pull the metadata from one organization which has metadata customizations for LMS, make minor changes, and deploy it for a different CRM organization which needs customizations for the same.
  • Version Control of metadata changes: With ZDK CLI you can use Version Control Systems like  Git/Mercurial to track and manage metadata changes made by different team members, clearly showing who made updates and when, enabling transparency. This also makes it easy to revert changes if issues arise.
  • Collaboration - Reuse Components: Using ZDK CLI you can easily export your local metadata changes with zdk org:export, which creates a zip file of the the crm directory in your local ZDK CLI project. You can share this zip file with your fellow developers to collaborate seamlessly by building on each other’s work. You can also achieve the same using VCS. Checkout our previous Kaizen post on using ZDK CLI with git: Leveraging ZDK CLI with VCS to reuse components across different Zoho CRM org. 
  • Widget Development: You can create and update widgets via CLI commands.You can use ZET commands in ZDK CLI project directory and widgets can be added to your organization from the terminal itself without the need of packaging the widget.
  • Automate commands: You can automate ZDK CLI commands using scripts, reducing manual intervention. Take a look at this Kaizen post where we discuss a shell script designed to automate the process of pushing locally modified metadata along with conflict management.
  • Conflict Resolution:  Conflict resolution in ZDK CLI guarantees that changes done does not get accidentally overwritten.  Resolve merge conflicts with zdk org:pull:resolve, which opens a browser-based diff editor to reconcile code differences.

Best Practices

  • Use ZDK CLI for development in sandbox environments and the Web UI for minor fixes and to deploy it to Production environment.
  • Pull configurations via CLI (zdk org:pull) before major edits to maintain a backup.
  • For developing widgets zet commands along with ZDK CLI commands in the terminal.
  • Refrain from making simultaneous changes via Web UI and ZDK CLI to prevent conflicts.
  • If you are unfamiliar with a command, use zdk help command for to check the description of the command.
  • Though ZDK CLI lacks the visual simplicity of the Web UI, pairing it with IDEs like VSCode improves its usability.

Notes
For the current beta release, ZDK CLI will exclusively be available for Sandbox environment and will not be operational in Production environments. 

We hope you found this post useful. We will meet you next week with another interesting topic!
If you have any questions, let us know in the comment section.

Happy Customizing!





    • Recent Topics

    • Introducing Sub-Accounts in Zoho Books!

      Hello Everyone, Sub-Accounts is LIVE! Yes, you read it right. The much needed and most requested feature is now live in Zoho Books. The sub-accounts feature in Zoho Books will help you to classify your accounts further which will give you a more detailed view of your accounts while running reports. You can create sub-accounts for the below Accounts: Asset Cost of Goods Sold Expense Liability Fixed Asset Other Asset Other Current Asset Long Term Liability Other Current Liability Other Liability Other

    • Sesión "Ask me anything" Zoho en Español - 26 de junio de 2025, de 14:00 a 17:00 (en español)

      ¡Hola Comunidad! ¿Quieres entender mejor Zoho CRM o Zoho Desk? Nuestros expertos estarán disponibles para responder a todas tus preguntas durante nuestra sesión "Ask me anything". Puedes comentar este artículo y durante tres horas, nuestro equipo estará

    • UI Update: We've Reorganized Invoice Settings

      Dear users, We’ve reorganized invoice settings to offer you a streamlined and intuitive experience when managing your subscriptions. Starting from 2 July 2025, subscription-related invoice settings will be accessible from a new page called Billing Preferences

    • Marketer’s Space – Automate Subscription Management for CRM Contacts Using Workflows in Zoho Campaigns

      Hello, marketers! Welcome back to Marketer’s Space. In this week’s post, we’ll look at how to simplify subscription management using Workflows for contacts synced from Zoho CRM in Zoho Campaigns. There are multiple ways to assign topics to your contacts:

    • CRM and Finance Tab - Add Invoice "Subject " Column

      When On a contact in CRM, and you click the Zoho Finace tab, how can I put in the invoice subject line? Or even a custom field for this.  We need to see what that invoice is for, without opening it.   If we have tons of invoices we need a way to quick

    • WhatsApp to shift to per-message billing from July 1, 2025

      Greetings Recruiters, If you’re using WhatsApp to connect with candidates through Zoho Recruit, there’s an important pricing change coming up that you’ll want to plan for. What’s changing? Starting July 1, 2025, WhatsApp is moving away from conversation-based

    • Implement full RTL support in Zoho Cliq, including text alignment and character positioning, regardless of the interface language.

      Dear Zoho Cliq Support Team, We are writing to request a significant enhancement to the current RTL language support within Zoho Cliq. Currently, while Zoho Cliq allows users to input text in RTL languages, the text alignment remains LTR, resulting in

    • Email Alerts with Affected Flow Details When Deprecating Modules in Zoho Flow

      Dear Zoho Flow Team, We would like to request an enhancement to the module deprecation process in Zoho Flow. 🧩 Current Limitation: Currently, when a module is deprecated by the Flow team: No email notifications are sent. There is no automated way to

    • are there Url parameters to group records in the report/view?

      There are URL parameters to filter records in target report.  Is there any way to group records in report by certain field, using URL parameters or embed report parameters? Or any other workaround, apart from creating second report for dofferent grouping?  Aim: I want to provide user a quick link to re-group embed report by different fields.

    • Setvalue() client script not working

      I have created a client script on the load the record(detail view page). I wanted to populate some default information in the single line field. for that I created the client script. below is the script: var field_obj = ZDK.Page.getField( 'Designation'

    • Power of Automation :: Automate Deal Status Update in Zoho CRM upon Project Completion.

      Hello Everyone, A Custom function is a user-written set of code to achieve a specific requirement. Set the required conditions needed as when to trigger using the Workflow rules (be it Tasks / Project) and associate the custom function to it. Requirement:

    • Leverage the power of Zia (AI) to create Marketing Projects in Zoho Marketing Plus

      Hey everyone, Zoho's advanced AI assistant, Zia, now works with OpenAI to offer personalized marketing activity suggestions for your marketing projects in Brand Studio. With information such as your campaign's objective, duration, marketing channel types,

    • Use Zoho Flow to Supercharge your Zoho FSM Integrations

      We are thrilled to announce that Zoho FSM is now included in Zoho Flow - Zoho’s powerful no-code integration platform. With this, you can connect Zoho FSM with your most-used applications—without requiring technical expertise. What does this offer? Zoho

    • Zoho Flow triggers not working

      Hi , I have set up a flow which triggers when a new record is created in a Zoho Creator app. This flow works great when I initiate the flow with  "test and debug". However the flow does not trigger in live mode.  I have tested all the connections used

    • Can you sync your Apple Calendar with Bigin Activities/calendar?

      I've searched everything I can find and nothing is coming up... I've got a number of things in my calendar for the future, and it would be easiest if I can sync between them to update my availability for my booking page (also syncing the other way would

    • How to track salesiq on google analytics without GTM

      Hello! We had to move the installation of the SalesIQ widget from GTM to directly do it in our wordpress site. The SalesIQ widget was being blocked by Adblockers which caused a lot of our visitors to not be able to see it. This issue was fixed from deleting

    • Custom Module Count

      We are on Zoho One. CRM says that the three modules which support Zoho Sign integration are "custom modules." Do these count against the 200 custom modules permitted by the One access to "enterprise-level" CRM features?

    • Marketer's Space: Bookmarks by Zoho Campaigns

      Hello Marketers, In this week's Marketer's Space, we'll look at a simple yet powerful feature that makes a big difference in your workflow: Bookmarks. Bookmarks is a built-in feature in Zoho Campaigns that enables you to create a personalized library

    • I need a custom AI Chatbot to be integrated with ChatGPT to Handle Customers inquiries

      I need a custom AI Chatbot to be integrated with ChatGPT to handle Customer inquiries, and save the data to Zoho CRM as a Leads, Also to schedule a demo with clients and more options

    • User Management > Agents request

      I have a few suggestions for the Agent page: 1) Please add a way to filter Full agents. The list currently shows Light agents as an option but sometimes it would be helpful to view only the full agent licenses or non-light agent. 2) Add the ability to

    • Mandate Assessments in Zoho Recruit's Candidate Application Form

      We're excited to announce the Include Assessment option for the Candidate Application Form, which lets you display the pre-screening assessment associated with the job opening along with the application form fields. This ensures that every candidate applying

    • Sending an email from contacts does not display the recipient's name correctly

      When I select a contact or group of contacts and then click the envelope to send mail, the contacts are added to the To section of a new email. Unfortunately, their First and last names are not displayed. The part of the email address before the @ sign

    • Writing SQL Queries - After Comma Auto Suggesting Column

      When writing SQL Queries, does anyone else get super annoyed that after you type a comma and try to return to a new line it is automatically suggest a new column, so hitting return just inputs this suggested column instead of going to a new line? Anyone

    • Stop adding Default ID column to xls exports

      When anything is exported to xls, Zoho adds a column with an ID. WE DO NOT WANT THIS COLUMN. We use an automated report to a team. We have our own tracking number. 1. This makes the report messy, it just pushes OUR data off to the right. 2. We have to

    • communication distribution

      Hello community! Request for help - how to resolve the issue of subscribing to specific content. I use ZOHO CRM and ZOHO CAMPAIGNS to send email communications to my customers. I only purchased ZOHO CAMPAIGNS after using the CRM for some time and I have

    • Truesync for Linux

      Is Truesync available on linux ?

    • Web access blocked

      Hello, My account (chris@thewebprojects.com) has been blocked due to security reasons. Please see attached. Can you kindly please help me. Thank you in advanced

    • How to determine ZohoCreator organization ID

      I am trying to setup an API to interface with my ZohoCreator app by following the self-client credential flow here https://www.zoho.com/accounts/protocol/oauth/self-client/client-credentials-flow.html However, it requires me to input my organization ID.

    • Autofill Zoho form with Zoho campaign data

      Hello, I send campaigns and we have set a button called "Demo" in that campaign. This button leads to a form. Since we have the data in Zoho Campaign, would it be possible that some fields of the form (first+last name, email, company) are automatically filled when our readers click on this button? If yes, how could I do that? Thanks Aurélie Leyendecker

    • Need to be Amount Adjusted with same Group Comany

      Dear Sir/ Madam, Good Day, Example wise i write my quire Below A B C & D E F Bothe are Same Group Companies We Paid 50000 AED to ABC Company but we received Invoice 48000 AED worth of material Balance 2000 AED invoice i received from D E F. I Need to

    • Transfer between 2 accounts in forein currency

      Hello, While abroad, I have exchanged some money in a money exchange service from a foreign currency (MYR) to another foreign currency (USD) without passing through my base currency (CHF). How do I record this transaction in Zoho Books? When I try to

    • Zoho Books Webhook in Custom Module doesn't work

      I have a custom module "Purchase Request" in Zoho Books in which we're trying to convert status of the PRs to Draft and Pending Approval. We've explored different applications and custom functions but found that the status is not "writable". However,

    • Issue with Missing Scope for Creating Service Report via Zoho FSM API

      Hello @Latha Velu , I am currently working on creating a connection to create a Service Report in Zoho FSM using the API. However, while configuring the required scopes, I noticed that the scope ZohoFSM.modules.ServiceReports.CREATE which

    • Imap Support?

      Does Zoho Books support IMAP? I have enabled outlook integration from settings in Zoho Books Yet the emails I send from Zoho Books for example if I email a purchase order or an invoice I dont see them in it in my sent box in outlook Is there a problem

    • ADDING FUEL SURCHARGE & HST

      Hello I need to invoice the customer showing both Fuel Surcharge & ON HST separately. The FSC should be 20% of the subtotal. The HST should be applied to sum of Subtotal + FSC So it should be like: SUBTOTAL: 100.00 FSC (20%): 20.00 HST (13%): $15.60 How

    • Zoho Project API search?

      Good day, i would like to search our entire portal for a task using the API. We have over 20k tasks so I dont to search for all tasks and then do a for each as it would take way to long and also would need to go over the limit of 200 records per query.

    • Handling Deposits to Vendors and how to book this

      Our scenario: 1. We rent equipment from a renting company for a project (Vendor "Eurorent") 2. We receive an order confirmation with a request to pay a deposit of € 1500. (this is not a Bill) 3. We pay a deposit of € 1500 for the equipment. 4. After using

    • Tip of the Week #61– 5 easy ways to declutter your inbox!

      Managing a shared inbox is easier than you think. With the right tools and a smart approach, your team can stay on top of every conversation, collaborate more effectively, and deliver timely responses without any unnecessary back-and-forth. Here are 5

    • Vertical Solution Zoho One

      Hello, is it possible to create a vertical solution for Zoho One? Just like it is possible for Zoho CRM?

    • Multiple workspaces with in Bigin CRM

      As a freelancer working as a sales representative for two companies, each with its own email address, I would like to know if it’s possible to have two separate workspaces in Bigin. This way, I could manage each company and its contacts independently,

    • Next Page