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Command-line tool (em)

bin/em.mjs is a single-file, zero-dependency bundle of the same core code the app uses. It runs on any Node.js 18 or later, works on the models/<id>/model.json files of a local checkout, and is safe to copy into other repositories (for CI, for example).

Run node bin/em.mjs with no arguments to see every option.

Models

node bin/em.mjs list                                       # models in models/
node bin/em.mjs new <id> --title "Title" --org "Organization"
node bin/em.mjs summary <id>                                # compact text view
node bin/em.mjs validate <id> [--all]                       # exit 2 on errors; --all adds info findings
node bin/em.mjs validate <id> --fix [--dry-run]             # apply mechanical fixes
node bin/em.mjs fmt <id>                                    # normalize and re-save

Import and reference values

node bin/em.mjs import <id> <file.sql|file.dbml> [--create] [--title T]
node bin/em.mjs values <id> <reference-entity> <file.csv> [--append]
node bin/em.mjs values <id> <reference-entity> --export [--out F]

Export and docs

node bin/em.mjs export <id> --format sql|dbml|mermaid|dbt|odcs|jsonschema|avro \
  [--dialect postgres|mysql|snowflake|databricks] [--no-values] [--out F | --stdout]
node bin/em.mjs docs <id> [--format md|html|pdf] [--sections a,b] [--entities x,y] [--out F] [--stdout]
     # PDF only: [--diagram F.png | --no-diagram] [--page-size letter|a4]
node bin/em.mjs sections                                    # list the doc sections

Tabs, derive, diff and migrate

node bin/em.mjs tabs <id>                                   # list tabs
node bin/em.mjs tabs <id> --add NAME [--kind K]             # conceptual|logical|physical|variant
node bin/em.mjs tabs <id> --rename TAB NEW | --remove TAB | --primary TAB
node bin/em.mjs derive <id> --kind logical|physical|conceptual|variant [--from TAB] [--name N] [--dry-run]
     # logical:  [--no-business-names] [--no-drop-technical] [--no-drop-fks] [--no-collapse-junctions]
     #           [--no-detect-references] [--no-infer-relationships]
     # physical: [--dialect D] [--no-add-fks] [--no-junctions] [--flatten-structs] [--audit-columns]
node bin/em.mjs diff <id> <tabA> <tabB> [--format json]
node bin/em.mjs migrate <id> <tabA> <tabB> [--dialect D] [--out F]
node bin/em.mjs sync <id> <source> <target> [--apply [--all] | --propose]

--tab <name|id> picks the tab for summary, docs, export, import and values (default: the primary tab). validate checks every tab unless you pass --tab.

Mappings and glossary

node bin/em.mjs mappings <id> --target T [--source S] [--auto] [--format summary|md|csv|dbt] [--out F]
node bin/em.mjs glossary [add "Term" --definition D [--synonyms a,b] | suggest <id> | link <id> | sync <id>]

Review in pull requests

node bin/em.mjs review [--base REF] [--head REF] [--models a,b] [--format md|json] \
  [--dialect D] [--fail-on-errors] [--out F]

See Data models in Git.

Live schemas

Credentials come from your environment or the platform's CLI profile and are never stored.

node bin/em.mjs pull <id> --from databricks --catalog C --schema S [--profile P]
node bin/em.mjs pull <id> --from snowflake --catalog DB --schema S
node bin/em.mjs pull <id> --from postgres [--url postgres://…] [--schema public]
node bin/em.mjs pull <id> --csv result.csv --platform P [--catalog C] [--schema S]
node bin/em.mjs catalog-query --platform P [--catalog C] [--schema S]
     # common: [--name TAB] [--propose]

See Import from a database.

Agents and proposals

node bin/em.mjs mcp [--allow-apply]                         # MCP server over stdio
node bin/em.mjs proposals <id> [--accept|--reject|--show <pid>]
node bin/em.mjs apply <id> ops.json [--apply]

See AI data modeling.