AnswerLayer

AnswerLayer CLI

Open-source command line client for the AnswerLayer API.

Use it three ways: as a global command, on demand with npx, or as a Claude Code plugin that lets Claude configure and drive it for you.

Install

npm install -g @answerlayer/cli

Or run it without installing:

npx -y @answerlayer/cli --help

The CLI is zero-dependency and runs on Node 20+. It also runs on Bun, if you prefer it:

bun install -g @answerlayer/cli   # or: bunx @answerlayer/cli --help

For local development:

git clone https://github.com/AnswerLayer/answerlayer-cli.git
cd answerlayer-cli
npm link

Use with Claude Code

This repo is also a Claude Code plugin. Installing it gives Claude the CLI (on its PATH, no separate install) plus a skill that configures your host + API key and then answers questions against your data.

/plugin marketplace add AnswerLayer/answerlayer-cli
/plugin install answerlayer@answerlayer

Then just ask — for example "set up AnswerLayer and tell me revenue last month." Claude will prompt for your API key (and host, if you're self-hosted), run answerlayer configure, and start asking questions for you. Your key is stored locally in ~/.answerlayer/config.json; it is never sent anywhere except to your AnswerLayer host as the X-API-Key header.

The plugin and the standalone CLI are the same tool — installing the plugin does not change how answerlayer works from your terminal.

Configure

Create an API key in AnswerLayer with the scopes needed by your workflow, then run:

answerlayer configure --api-key al_live_...

The CLI talks to the hosted SaaS at https://app.answerlayer.io by default. For a BYOC or self-hosted install, point it at your own URL:

answerlayer configure --api-key al_live_... --base-url https://answerlayer.your-company.com

You can also skip the config file and use environment variables:

export ANSWERLAYER_API_KEY=al_live_...
export ANSWERLAYER_BASE_URL=https://answerlayer.your-company.com  # optional override

The CLI sends API keys using the X-API-Key header.

Useful scopes:

• api_key:manage for API key management
• connection:read for listing connections
• query:execute for raw SQL
• saved_query:read, saved_query:execute, and saved_query:write for saved-query workflows
• semantic:read, semantic:write, and semantic:generate for semantic-layer workflows
• dashboard:read, dashboard:write, tile:read, and tile:write for dashboard workflows
• inquiry:execute for natural-language inquiry

Commands

answerlayer health
answerlayer openapi --output openapi.json

answerlayer connections list
answerlayer connections get <connection-id>
answerlayer connections create --data-file ./postgres-connection.json
answerlayer metadata structure <connection-id>

answerlayer query run <connection-id> --sql "select * from orders limit 10"
answerlayer query validate <connection-id> --sql "select * from orders"
answerlayer query run <connection-id> --file ./query.sql --format csv

answerlayer saved-queries list
answerlayer saved-queries create --name "Revenue by month" --connection <connection-id> --file ./revenue.sql
answerlayer saved-queries execute <saved-query-id> --format table

answerlayer semantic entities create --connection <connection-id> --name Orders --source-table public.orders --identifier id
answerlayer semantic metrics list --connection <connection-id>
answerlayer semantic metrics generate --connection <connection-id> --prompt "SaaS revenue metrics"

answerlayer inquiry ask --connection <connection-id> "What changed in revenue this month?"
answerlayer inquiry ask --session <session-id> "Break that down by region"

answerlayer dashboards create --title "Executive overview" --visibility org
answerlayer tiles create --title "Revenue" --source-type saved_query --source <saved-query-id>
answerlayer dashboards attach-tile <dashboard-id> --tile <tile-id> --x 0 --y 0 --w 6 --h 4

answerlayer documents upload ./definitions.md --title "Business definitions"
answerlayer documents link <document-id> --connection <connection-id>

answerlayer api-keys create --name "CI" --scope query:execute --scope saved_query:execute

Most read commands support --json. Query results support --format table|json|csv.

For complex create/update payloads, pass structured JSON:

answerlayer connections create --data-file ./connection.json
answerlayer dashboards update <dashboard-id> --data '{"default_filters":[{"key":"region","type":"string_enum","label":"Region"}]}'
answerlayer branding update --data-file ./branding.json

Command groups