Kaizen #160: Automating ZDK CLI commands using shell scripting
Hello everyone,
Welcome back to Kaizen. ZDK CLI's command-line nature allows you to easily incorporate it within a shell script, to achieve any custom action that you want to execute. It allows you to execute multiple ZDK CLI commands seamlessly, enhancing productivity.
In this week's Kaizen post, we will discuss a shell script designed to automate the process of pushing locally modified metadata to our CRM environment. Before executing the push operation, ensure that the local metadata is up-to-date and conflicts (same file has been modified in both the local ZDK environment and the remote UI environment) are resolved. To achieve this, we will perform the following steps for files in conflict where manual intervention is required:
- Retrieve the latest metadata from Zoho CRM to our local environment using zdk org:pull command
- Address conflicts that may arise during the pull operation using zdk org:pull:resolve command
- Update our local directory with the newly pulled file using zdk org:pull:update command
- Push changes from your local environment to the CRM using zdk org:push command
- Update local directory and check status of push command using zdk org:push:result command
This script automates the sequential execution of these commands.
Prerequisites
- ZDK CLI Version 1.0.2-beta
To update ZDK CLI, execute the following command in your terminal
npm install -g @zohocrm/zdk-cli |
This will initiate the installation process for the latest version.
Crafting the Shell Script
1.Create a new shell script file zdk_automation.sh in your ZDK project's root directory.
#!/bin/bash touch stdout.txt #This script is used to automate ZDK CLI conflict resolve flow conflict_flag=false # Clear stdout.txt at the start > stdout.txt #Step 1: Initial Push Command echo "====Start of the script ====" >> stdout.txt echo "**Executing the initial zdk org:push -j" >> stdout.txt json_content=$(zdk org:push -j) echo "Output $json_content" >> stdout.txt next_command=$(echo "$json_content" | jq -r '.next_command_sequence // empty') echo "next_command after initial push is $next_command">> stdout.txt # Check if the JSON is valid if echo "$json_content" | jq empty 2>/dev/null; then #Step 2: Conflict Detection message=$(echo "$json_content" | jq -r '.message') echo "message: $message" >>stdout.txt if [[ "$message" == *"Merge Conflicts!"* ]]; then #Step 3: Resolving Conflicts conflict_flag=true # Pull changes to the local repository and store the output in a variable echo "**Executing zdk org:pull -j" >> stdout.txt json_content=$(zdk org:pull -j) echo "Output $json_content" >> stdout.txt if echo "$json_content" | jq empty 2>/dev/null; then message=$(echo "$json_content" | jq -r '.result') echo "message $message" >>stdout.txt IFS=$'\n' read -r -d '' -a filenames <<< "$message" # Iterate over each filename and execute the resolve command for filename in "${filenames[@]}"; do echo "**Executing zdk org:pull:resolve for $filename" >> stdout.txt # Executing zdk org:pull:resolve json_content=$(zdk org:pull:resolve -f "$filename" -j) echo "Output $json_content" >> stdout.txt done echo "***Executing zdk org:pull:update" >> stdout.txt json_content=$(zdk org:pull:update -j) echo "Output $json_content" >> stdout.txt fi fi fi #Step 4: Second Push Attempt after conflict if [ "$conflict_flag" = true ]; then # Push changes to the org and store the output in a variable again echo "***Executing: zdk org:push -j after conflict resolution" >> stdout.txt json_content=$(zdk org:push -j) echo "Output $json_content" >> stdout.txt # Extract the line containing "next_command_sequence" from the push output next_command=$(echo "$json_content" | jq -r '.next_command_sequence') echo "Next command $next_command " >> stdout.txt fi #Step 5: Push result command # Execute the next command if it exists counter=0 # Initialize a counter if [ -n "$next_command" ]; then while true; do # Execute the command stored in next_command and capture the output echo "***Executing: $next_command -j" >> stdout.txt output=$(eval "$next_command -j") echo "Output $output" >>stdout.txt # Check if the output contains "Process in progress" if echo "$output" | grep -q "Process in progress"; then echo "Push process in progress. Waiting for 5 seconds..." >> stdout.txt sleep 5 # Wait for 5 seconds else # If not found, break the loop and handle the output echo "Command executed successfully or completed." >> stdout.txt break fi # Increment the counter counter=$((counter + 1)) # Break the loop after 10 iterations if [ "$counter" -ge 10 ]; then echo "Maximum number of attempts(10) reached. Exiting the loop." >> stdout.txt echo "Try executing $next_command after some time" >> stdout.txt break fi done fi |
Explanation of the script
Step 1: Initial Push Command
- The script starts by executing the zdk org:push -j command.
- The commands executed using -j option ensures that the output is in a machine-readable JSON format, which facilitates easier parsing and processing.
- The conflict_flag is set to false.
Step 2: Conflict Detection
- The script checks the output for any merge conflicts.
- If conflicts are detected, it executes the zdk org:pull -j command to retrieve the latest changes from the organization. The conflict_flag is set to true.
- If conflicts are not present, the script proceeds to Step 5: Executing the push:result command.
Step 3: Resolving Conflicts
- If conflicts are present, the script extracts a list of filenames associated with these conflicts.
- It iterates through this list and executes the zdk org:pull:resolve -j command for each filename, allowing for manual resolution of conflicts as needed.
- This opens a three-way editor in the browser where the conflicts can be resolved.
Step 4: Second Push Attempt after conflict
- Once all conflicts are resolved, the script attempts to push any changes back to Zoho CRM by executing the zdk org:push -j command.
Step 5: Executing push:result command
- This command should be followed by zdk org:push:result --jobid {id} command (indicated by a next_command_sequence) which displays the result of the push process with the mentioned job id and updates the local directory.
- During this process, if the result is shown as "Process in progress", a subsequent push:result command is required. In this case, the script waits for five seconds before trying again to ensure that operations complete successfully.
2.Make the script executable
chmod +x zdk_automation.sh |
3.Run your script
./zdk_automation.sh & tail -f stdout.txt |
Logging Actions: All actions taken by the script are logged in stdout.txt. This serves as a record for later reference and troubleshooting.
Using ZDK CLI with shell script ensures that your ZDK CLI operations are automated daily, minimizing manual intervention while effectively managing conflicts.
For the current beta release, ZDK CLI is exclusively available for Sandbox environment and is not 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.
Access your files securely from anywhere
Centralize Knowledge. Transform Learning.
All-in-one knowledge management and training platform for your employees and customers.
New to Zoho Recruit?
Zoho Developer Community
New to Zoho LandingPage?
Zoho LandingPage Resources
New to Zoho Survey?
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Bigin?
Topic Participants
Mable Mary M P
Sticky Posts
Kaizen #198: Using Client Script for Custom Validation in Blueprint
Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – 1 More to the Big Two-Oh-Oh! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.Kaizen #226: Using ZRC in Client Script
Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. In today's post, lets see what is ZRC (Zoho Request Client) and how we can use ZRC methods in Client Script to get inputs from a Salesperson and update the Lead status with a single button click. In thisKaizen #222 - Client Script Support for Notes Related List
Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. The final Kaizen post of the year 2025 is here! With the new Client Script support for the Notes Related List, you can validate, enrich, and manage notes across modules. In this post, we’ll explore howKaizen #217 - Actions APIs : Tasks
Welcome to another week of Kaizen! In last week's post we discussed Email Notifications APIs which act as the link between your Workflow automations and you. We have discussed how Zylker Cloud Services uses Email Notifications API in their custom dashboard.Kaizen #216 - Actions APIs : Email Notifications
Welcome to another week of Kaizen! For the last three weeks, we have been discussing Zylker's workflows. We successfully updated a dormant workflow, built a new one from the ground up and more. But our work is not finished—these automated processes are
New to Zoho TeamInbox?
Zoho TeamInbox Resources
Zoho CRM Plus Resources
Zoho Books Resources
Zoho Subscriptions Resources
Zoho Projects Resources
Zoho Sprints Resources
Qntrl Resources
Zoho Creator Resources
Zoho CRM Resources
Design. Discuss. Deliver.
Zoho Show Resources
Get Started. Write Away!
Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.
Zoho CRM コンテンツ
-
オンラインヘルプ
-
Webセミナー
-
機能活用動画
-
よくある質問
-
Ebook
-
-
Zoho Campaigns
- Zoho サービスのWebセミナー
その他のサービス コンテンツ
Nederlandse Hulpbronnen
ご検討中の方
Recent Topics
Any recommendations for Australian Telephony Integration providers?
HI, I am looking for some advice on phone providers as we are looking to upgrade our phone system, does anybody have experience with any of the Australian providers that integrate with CRM Telephony? So far we are looking at RingCentral and Amazon Connect, and would love to hear feedback on any of the other providers you might have tried. Thank youCRM gets location smart with the all new Map View: visualize records, locate records within any radius, and more
Hello all, We've introduced a new way to work with location data in Zoho CRM: the Map View. Instead of scrolling through endless lists, your records now appear as pins on a map. Built on top of the all-new address field and powered by Mappls (MapMyIndia),Enhance Appointment Buffers in Zoho Bookings
There was previously a long-standing feature request related to enhancing the way appointment buffers work in Zoho Bookings, but it looks like the original post has been deleted. I am therefore adding a new request that Zoho Bookings adjust how appointmentSubscriptions for service call
So we install products and we want to offer a service contract for the customers yearly service calls to be billed monthly. So ideally at some point we want to email them a quote for their needs. WE will choice it our end based on the equipment. It wouldAdd RTL and Hebrew Support for Candidate Portal (and Other Zoho Recruit Portals)
Dear Zoho Recruit Team, I hope you're doing well. We would like to request the ability to set the Candidate Portal to be Right-to-Left (RTL) and in Hebrew, similar to the existing functionality for the Career Site. Currently, when we set the Career SiteDelay in rendering Zoho Recruit - Careers in the ZappyWorks
I click on the Careers link (https://zappyworks.zohorecruit.com/jobs/Careers) on the ZappyWorks website expecting to see the job openings. The site redirects me to Zoho Recruit, but after the redirect, the page just stays blank for several seconds. I'mHow to add interviews through API
I'm trying to add an interview without much luck. The documentation gives examples of adding just about everything except an interview. However, the issue might be the way I'm formatting it, because the documentation is unclear to me. It seems as if the xml should be passed in the url, which seems unusual. I've tried the data as both plain and character escaped, but nothing seems to work, nor do I even get an error response. https://recruit.zoho.com/recruit/private/xml/Interviews/addRecords?authtoken=***&scope=recruitapi&version=2&xmlData=<Interviews> <rowConnection to other user
Zoho Cliq handles sharing of Custom OAuth Connections that require individual user logins.How to invite friends on other social media platforms to one of my group chats in arattai?
Hello, I have formed chat groups in arattai. I want to invite my friends on other social media platforms like WhatsApp/ FB to one of my groups. Different friends would be invited to different groups. How to share an invite link of one of my groups toCliq does not sync messages after Sleep on Mac
I'm using the mac app of Cliq. When I open my mac after it was in sleep mode, Cliq does not sync the messages that I received. I always have to reload using cmd + R, which is not what I want when using a chat application.Facing Issues with Sites Mobile font sizes
my page renediaz.com is facing issues mobile view, when i try to lower font sizes in home page, instead of changing the size, it changes the line spaceSearch not working!
I have items in my notebook tagged but when I search for a tag nothing comes up! Any fix for this?Set expiration date on document and send reminder
We have many company documents( for example business registration), work VISA documents. It will be nice if we can set a expiry date and set reminders ( for example 90 days, 60 days, 30 days etc.,) Does Zoho workdrive provide that option?Analytics : How to share to an external client ?
We have a use case where a client wants a portal so that several of his users can view dashboards that we have created for them in Zoho Analytics. They are not part of our company or Zoho One account. The clients want the ability to have user specific,Automatically Update Form Attachment Service with Newly added Fields
Hi, When I have a Form Setup and connected to a 3rd Party Service such as OneDrive for Form Attachments, when I later add a new Upload Field I have to remove and redo the entire 3rd Party Setup from scratch. This needs to be improved, such as when newPayroll and BAS ( Australian tax report format )
Hello , I am evaluating Zoho Books and I find the interface very intuitive and straight forward. My company is currently using Quickbooks Premier the Australian version. Before we can consider moving the service we would need to have the following addressed : 1.Payroll 2.BAS ( business activity statement ) for tax purposes 3.Some form of local backup and possible export of data to a widely accepted format. Regards Codrin MitinZoho Desk API - Send Reply to CUSTOMERPORTAL
Hello! I'll try to send a reply to Customer Portal, But the response is 500 (INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR in service response). {"Error":"{\"errorCode\":\"INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR\",\"message\":\"An internal server error occurred while performing this operation.\"}"}Python - code studio
Hi, I see the code studio is "coming soon". We have some files that will require some more complex transformation, is this feature far off? It appears to have been released in Zoho Analytics alreadyBest practices for managing Project Charters, Business Case and RAID logs within Zoho?
Hello everyone, I’m currently refining our PMO setup within Zoho Projects and I’m curious how others are handling high-level governance documentation. We’ve been using the standardized Project Charter, Business Case and RAID frameworks from projectmanagertemplate.comZoho Books Payroll
How am I supposed to do payroll and pay my employees with Zoho Books? I think it's pretty strange that an accounting software doesn't have the ability to perform one of the most common functions in business; paying your employees. Am I missing something,Sort Legend & stacked bar chart by value
I'd love to see an option added to sort the legend of graphs by the value that is being represented. This way the items with the largest value in the graph are displayed top down in the legend. For example, let's say I have a large sales team and I createIs It Possible to Convert a Custom Module to a Quote?
I recently created a custom module in our CRM environment for RFQs so that our sales team can submit quote requests directly in Zoho rather than by email/phone. This allows for a cleaner overall process, minimizing potential errors and potentially encouragingProposal: Actionable API Error Messages to Reduce Support Ticket Volume
I've encountered a long-standing frustration with how Zoho Creator's API communicates errors to developers, and I'm hoping the Zoho team can address this in a future update. This issue has persisted for over 9 years based on community discussions, andDynamic Field Folders in OneDrive
Hi, With the 2 options today we have either a Dynamic Parent Folder and lots of attachments all in that one folder with only the ability to set the file name (Which is also not incremented so if I upload 5 photos to one field they are all named the sameFile Conversion from PDF to JPG/PNG
Hi, I have a question did anyone every tried using custom function to convert a PDF file to JPG/PNG format? Any possibility by using the custom function to achieve this within zoho apps. I do know there are many third parties API provide this withAllocating inventory to specific SO's
Is there a way that allocate inventory to a specific sales order? For example, let's say we have 90 items in stock. Customer 1 orders 100 items. This allocates all 90 items to their order, and they have a back order for the remaining 10 items which couldCliq iOS can't see shared screen
Hello, I had this morning a video call with a colleague. She is using Cliq Desktop MacOS and wanted to share her screen with me. I'm on iPad. I noticed, while she shared her screen, I could only see her video, but not the shared screen... Does Cliq iOS is able to display shared screen, or is it somewhere else to be found ? RegardsClosing the Loop: Why Lookup Asymmetry is Harming Data Integrity in Creator
TL;DR: Lookup fields allow users to add new related records inline via the "+" icon, but there's no equivalent ability to edit an existing related record without navigating away and losing form context. Adding a native "Edit" icon—with automatic UserAdd the ability to Hide Pages in Page Rules
Hi, We have Field Rules to show and hide fields and we have page Rules, but we can't hide a page in Page Rules so it isn't completed before the previous page (And then have the Deny Rules to prevent submitting without both pages completed), we can onlyEnable Free External Collaboration on Notecards in Zoho Notebook
Hi Zoho Notebook Team, I would like to suggest a feature enhancement regarding external collaboration in Zoho Notebook. Currently, we can share notes with external users, and they are able to view the content without any issue. However, when these externalusing the Client script on the load of the form if service no is empty means then i want to make issue relate to is Service
using the Client script on the load of the form if service no is empty means then i want to make issue relate to field is Service if Purchae no is empty means then i want to make issue relate to is PurchaseChanges to the send mail Deluge task in Zoho CRM
Hello everyone, At Zoho, we continuously enhance our security measures to ensure a safer experience for all users. As part of our ongoing security enhancements, we're making an important update on using the send mail Deluge task in Zoho CRM. What's changing?Work Order wont mark as Completed
I have a couple of work orders that won't mark as completed even when I've marked the Service Appointments as completed fully.Item name special charaters <>
Im trying to input speical characters such as < and > into item name and item description but comes up with following error: Invalid value passed for Item Name and Invalid value passed for Item Description How do i allow speical characters?Zoho Analytics Dashboard - How to hide the user filter
I am using the same dashboard template across different external clients and applying a user filter to the data by site URL. How can I hide the user filter in View Mode so the external client won't see the list of other clients in the drop-down menu?Customer Parent Account or Sub-Customer Account
Some of clients as they have 50 to 300 branches, they required separate account statement with outlet name and number; which means we have to open new account for each branch individually. However, the main issue is that, when they make a payment, theyKaizen #229: Email-Deal Associations in Zoho CRM
Hi All, Welcome back to another week of Kaizen! Emails are a core channel for customer communication in any CRM system. In Zoho CRM, emails can be associated with records across multiple modules. In this post, we will focus on email associations withAction Required: Update Microsoft SQL Server Security Settings Before February 2026
Dear Users, We recently deployed security updates in Zoho Analytics that inadvertently caused connection failures for a few customers using Microsoft (MS) SQL Server hosted on older Windows versions (Windows Server 2012, 2012 R2, and 2014). To restoreContacts limit in basic vs standard - what counts? Are customers contacts?
I’ve been using books for a number years for my small business. I only ever work with 20 clients at any given time. I do purchase services from a number of vendors to run my business, so there are some comtacts there too. I used to use the basic package,Saving issue
First problem I opened a MS word file in writer. after the work is done, it does not save instantly, I waited for like 10min and it still did not save. second problem When I save a file, then file gets saved as another copy. I just did save, not saveNext Page