The bandura CLI

The bandura command runs the same execution engine as the desktop app, with no Electron and no UI — built for terminals and CI. A flow that passes in the editor passes in the pipeline, because it’s the same engine reading the same file.

Install

Available at launch. The commands below are the intended setup; the @bandura/cli package publishes to npm at the v1.0.0 launch. Join early access for the launch-day link.

bandura is distributed on npm as a small installer that pulls a native, self-contained binary for your platform — there’s no JavaScript to load and, once installed, no Node.js runtime is needed to run it.

# Global install — puts `bandura` on your PATH
npm install -g @bandura/cli
bandura --version

# Or run without installing (CI-friendly)
npx @bandura/cli run

The installer selects the right prebuilt binary automatically. Supported platforms:

Installing with --ignore-scripts skips the step that places the binary. If you must, run the CLI via the bundled fallback: node node_modules/@bandura/cli/cli-wrapper.cjs <args>.

In CI, prefer npx @bandura/cli@<version> (pin the version) or the official bandura-io/run@v1 action, which wraps the same binary.

bandura run

bandura run                          # the manifest's flows globs, or **/*.aether
bandura run flows/smoke.aether       # one flow
bandura run "flows/**/*.aether"      # a glob

With no globs, run uses the flows field from bandura.json when there is one.

Options:

Examples:

# CI: JUnit for the test dashboard, plus GitHub annotations
bandura run "flows/**/*.aether" -r junit,github -o report.xml

# Point the suite at a different host without touching any file
bandura run smoke.aether --var baseUrl=https://staging.api.example.com

# The staging environment from bandura.json, four flows at a time
bandura run -e staging --concurrency 4

Flows with ai-action nodes run headlessly too: set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY in the environment (or .env) and they execute with your key; ANTHROPIC_MODEL optionally picks the model. Without a key, only the ai-action node fails — the rest of the suite is unaffected.

Exit codes

Deterministic, so CI can tell “the tests failed” apart from “the tool broke”:

bandura validate

Parses and schema-validates flows — and bandura.json — without executing anything:

bandura validate                     # everything the manifest resolves to
bandura validate "flows/**/*.aether" # or an explicit glob

One ✓/✗ line per file; exit 0 when everything is valid, 3 on any schema error, 2 when nothing matches. Fast enough for a pre-commit hook or a PR gate that doesn’t need a network.

bandura list

Prints the flows the manifest resolves to — one path name (N nodes) line each, sorted by path, headed by the project name. Handy for verifying what a glob will actually run.

bandura init

Scaffolds a project in the current directory:

• bandura.json — with requiredEnv inferred by scanning existing .aether files for ${{ env.* }} references.
• .env.example — the inferred names, values blank, safe to commit.
• .gitignore — .env and friends merged in (existing entries kept).

It never overwrites an existing manifest. This is the CLI twin of the desktop app’s clone-and-run setup — run it once and a teammate’s git clone knows exactly which variables to ask for.

bandura import

The same importers as the desktop app’s Import modal, headless:

bandura import ./collection.json --out flows/     # Postman
bandura import ./openapi.yaml --out flows/        # OpenAPI / Swagger
bandura import ./get-user.bru --out flows/        # a Bruno request file
bandura import ./request.curl                     # a saved curl command

--from openapi|postman|postman-env|bruno|curl forces the format when auto-detection guesses wrong; --out picks the output directory (default: current directory).

A CI recipe

Any CI system works — it’s one command with an exit code:

# GitHub Actions
- run: npx bandura run "flows/**/*.aether" -r junit,github -o report.xml
  env:
    API_KEY: ${{ secrets.API_KEY }} # process env is visible to flows as env.API_KEY

Flows read env.* from the process environment plus the dotenv file (--env-file, default .env) — never from inside the .aether files, which stay clean in the repo.