5-Minute Quickstart

Get from zero to modifying a Mendix project in 5 minutes. No prior MDL knowledge needed.

1. Install mxcli

Option A: Zero install (Playground)

Open the mxcli Playground in a Codespace – mxcli, a sample project, and example scripts are pre-installed. Skip to step 3.

Option B: Binary download

Download from the GitHub Releases page and extract:

# macOS / Linux
tar xzf mxcli_<platform>.tar.gz
sudo mv mxcli /usr/local/bin/

Option C: Build from source

go install github.com/mendixlabs/mxcli/cmd/mxcli@latest

Verify: mxcli --version should print the version number.

See Installation for all options including Dev Containers.

2. Open your project

mxcli -p /path/to/your-app.mpr

You’ll see:

Connected to: your-app.mpr (Mendix 11.6.3)
MDL REPL - Mendix Definition Language
mdl>

Don’t have a Mendix project? Create one with mxcli new test-app --version 11.8.0 — this downloads MxBuild, creates a blank project, and sets up all tooling automatically.

3. Explore what’s there

-- List all modules
LIST MODULES;

-- List entities in a module
LIST ENTITIES IN MyFirstModule;

-- See the full structure at a glance
LIST STRUCTURE;

4. Create something

-- Create a new entity
CREATE PERSISTENT ENTITY MyFirstModule.Customer (
  Name: String(200) NOT NULL,
  Email: String(200),
  IsActive: Boolean DEFAULT true
);

Expected output:

Created entity: MyFirstModule.Customer

5. Verify it works

-- See what you created
DESCRIBE ENTITY MyFirstModule.Customer;

Output:

@Position(100, 100)
CREATE OR REPLACE PERSISTENT ENTITY MyFirstModule.Customer (
  Name: String(200) NOT NULL,
  Email: String(200),
  IsActive: Boolean DEFAULT true
);

Open the project in Studio Pro – your entity is there.

6. Create a microflow

CREATE MICROFLOW MyFirstModule.ACT_DeactivateCustomer (
  $Customer: MyFirstModule.Customer
)
BEGIN
  CHANGE $Customer (IsActive = false);
  COMMIT $Customer;
END;

7. Validate

# Check your project for errors (from a separate terminal)
mxcli check -p /path/to/your-app.mpr

No errors? You’re done. Open in Studio Pro and everything is there.

What’s next?

Common issues

“mx command not available” – Install mxbuild for validation:

mxcli setup mxbuild -p your-app.mpr

“CGO not available” – mxcli uses pure Go SQLite. No C compiler needed. If you see CGO errors, ensure you’re using the official binary or go install.

Project won’t open in Studio Pro after changes – Close Studio Pro before running mxcli write commands, then reopen. See F4 sync support for details.