Setting Up

Before you can start exploring and modifying Mendix projects from the command line, you need three things:

1. mxcli installed on your machine
2. A Mendix project (an .mpr file) to work with
3. A feel for the REPL, the interactive shell where you’ll spend most of your time

This chapter walks you through all three.

Installation methods

There are four ways to get started with mxcli:

• Playground – open the mxcli Playground in a GitHub Codespace. Zero install, runs in your browser with a sample Mendix project, tutorials, and example scripts. Best way to try mxcli for the first time.
• Binary download – grab a pre-built binary from GitHub Releases. Quickest path if you want to use mxcli on your own project.
• Build from source – clone the repo and run make build. Useful if you want the latest unreleased changes or plan to contribute.
• Dev Container (recommended for your own projects) – run mxcli init on your Mendix project, open it in VS Code, and reopen in the container. This gives you mxcli, a JDK, Docker-in-Docker, and Claude Code all pre-configured in a sandboxed environment. This is the recommended approach, especially when pairing with AI coding assistants.

The next few pages cover each method, then walk you through opening a project and using the REPL.

Alpha software warning. mxcli can corrupt your Mendix project files. Always work on a copy of your .mpr or use version control (Git) before making changes.