using-ado-cli

name

using-ado-cli

description

Reference for ado CLI command syntax, flags, and usage patterns — covers get, create, edit, show, and describe subcommands, output formatting with -o and --output-file, convenience flags (--use-latest, --set, --with), debugging with -l, and run_experiment for local point testing. Use when writing or verifying ado CLI commands, looking up correct command syntax or flags, debugging unexpected CLI output, or explaining ado command patterns.

Using the ado CLI

Command Verification

Always run --help before writing any ado command in documentation, comments, or code. Do not rely on memory or analogy to other CLIs.

# Verify top-level command
uv run ado [COMMAND] --help

# Verify subcommands
uv run ado [COMMAND] [SUBCOMMAND] --help
uv run ado [COMMAND] [SUBCOMMAND1] [SUBCOMMAND2] --help

Check:

• Command and subcommand names are correct
• Options are spelled correctly (e.g., --use-latest not --latest)
• Required arguments are included
• Optional flags match actual CLI behavior

Output Format and File Handling

For ado get and ado show subcommands:

• -o / --output selects the output format (for example yaml, table, csv, json, or stats; allowed values depend on the command — use --help).
• --output-file PATH writes formatted output to PATH instead of stdout.

Shell redirects (>) work for simple cases. Prefer --output-file when:

• Pre-flight checks: ado validates the path is writable before fetching, avoiding failure after a long data fetch.
• Stdout pollution: --output-file writes only formatted output to the file; logs stay on stderr. A redirect captures both.
• Table truncation: terminal-width column truncation applies to redirected output but not to --output-file.

uv run ado get space SPACE_ID -o yaml > space.yaml
uv run ado show measurements operation OPERATION_ID -o csv --output-file measurements.csv

Commands That do not exist

These plausible-sounding commands do not exist in ado. Do not write them:

❌ Does not exist	✅ Correct equivalent
ado run	ado create operation -f op.yaml
ado start	ado create operation -f op.yaml
ado execute	ado create operation -f op.yaml
ado launch	ado create operation -f op.yaml
ado list	ado get spaces / ado get operations
ado status	ado show stats discoveryspace SPACE_ID

Key principle: ado create operation both defines and starts the operation in a single command. There is no separate "run" step.

Point Testing with run_experiment

run_experiment is a separate CLI entry point (not an ado subcommand) for running a single entity through an experiment locally, without creating a space or operation. It is the correct tool for functional validation of custom experiments.

uv run run_experiment PATH_TO_POINT_YAML

A point YAML has the form:

entity:
  param_a: value_a
  param_b: value_b

experiments:
  - actuatorIdentifier: custom_experiments
    experimentIdentifier: my_experiment

It prints the result as a pandas Series and exits. No metastore or Ray cluster needed beyond a local Ray instance (started automatically).

Core Commands

ado get

Lists resources of a given type and gets resource YAML

# List all spaces
uv run ado get spaces

# Get the YAML for a space (console)
uv run ado get space SPACE_ID -o yaml

# Or write the same YAML to a file
uv run ado get space SPACE_ID -o yaml --output-file space.yaml

# Get the latest space as YAML
uv run ado get space --use-latest -o yaml

# Get the latest operation as YAML
uv run ado get operation --use-latest -o yaml

# Get measurement statistics for all operations
uv run ado get operations -o stats --output-file operations-stats.txt
uv run ado get operation OPERATION_ID -o stats --no-trunc

# Get statistics for all discovery spaces
uv run ado get spaces -o stats --output-file spaces-stats.txt
uv run ado get space SPACE_ID -o stats --no-trunc

# Get statistics for all sample stores
uv run ado get samplestores -o stats --output-file samplestores-stats.txt
uv run ado get samplestore SAMPLESTORE_ID -o stats --no-trunc

# Get statistics for all data containers
uv run ado get datacontainers -o stats --output-file datacontainers-stats.txt
uv run ado get datacontainer DATACONTAINER_ID -o stats --no-trunc

-o stats extends the table with statistics columns:

• Operations: TOTAL_RESULTS, SUCCESSFUL_RESULTS, FAILED_RESULTS, MEASURED_ENTITIES.
• Discovery Spaces: EXPERIMENTS, OPERATIONS, EXPLORE_OPERATIONS, MEASURED_ENTITIES.
• Sample Stores: ENTITIES, RESULTS, EXPERIMENTS.
• Data Containers: TABLES, LOCATIONS, KEY_VALUES, DATA_BYTES.

ado create

Creates resources and starts operations.

# Create a discoveryspace
uv run ado create space -f space.yaml

# Create and start an operation
uv run ado create operation -f operation.yaml

Key point: ado create both defines AND initiates resources.

ado edit

Updates metadata (name, description, labels, etc.) for metastore resources.

# Interactive (default editor: nano, or $ADO_EDITOR)
uv run ado edit space SPACE_ID

# Non-interactive: default is an inline YAML or JSON patch (-p / --patch),
# like oc
uv run ado edit space SPACE_ID -p "labels: { team: research }"

# Or merge from a file
uv run ado edit space SPACE_ID --patch-file meta.yaml

Always prefer a non-interative edit with -p / --patch or --patch-file. Use uv run ado edit --help for current options.

ado show

Retrieves details and data from resources.

# Inspect the trace of measurement requests for an operation
uv run ado show trace operation OPERATION_ID

# Get entities and measurements
uv run ado show measurements space SPACE_ID
uv run ado show measurements operation OPERATION_ID

# Show in-depth statistics (more columns than ado get -o stats)
# No IDs = all resources of that type
uv run ado show stats operation
uv run ado show stats operation --use-latest -o json
uv run ado show stats discoveryspace SPACE_ID
uv run ado show stats samplestore -l key=value
# Include DESCRIPTION and LABELS columns
uv run ado show stats operation --details

ado describe

Outputs a human readable description

# Output a description of a space
# Dimensions, values, experiments
uv run ado describe space SPACE_ID

#Output a description of an experiment
# (input params, output params etc.)
uv run ado describe experiment EXPERIMENT_ID

Debugging

If commands are not given expected output use the -l flag to activate different log levels

e.g. for debug level logs

uv run ado -lDEBUG [COMMAND]

show Commands Quick Reference

Entities are points in the discovery space — constitutive properties (inputs) plus measured properties (outputs).

Command	What It Shows
show measurements operation	Entities (inputs) and their measurements (outputs) from this operation
show measurements space	All entities and measurements collected in this space
show trace operation	The trace of measurement requests made during an explore operation. Optionally can show per entity measurement metadata
show stats operation	In-depth stats: results (total/successful/failed), measured entities, plus request-level counts. No IDs = all operations
show stats discoveryspace	In-depth stats: experiments, operations, measured entities, plus full entity-space coverage columns. No IDs = all spaces
show stats samplestore	In-depth stats: entities, results, and experiments counts. No IDs = all sample stores
show stats datacontainer	In-depth stats: tables, locations, key-values, and data bytes. No IDs = all data containers

# Measurement data
uv run ado show measurements operation op-123

# Inspect the trace of measurement requests for an operation
uv run ado show trace operation op-123

Command-Line Shortcuts

--use-latest

Queries the current context's metastore to find the most recently created resource of the given type.

Without --use-latest:

# Step 1: Create space, note the ID from output
uv run ado create space -f space.yaml
# Output: Created space: space-abc123

# Step 2: Edit operation.yaml to add space-abc123
# Step 3: Create operation
uv run ado create operation -f operation.yaml

With --use-latest:

# Step 1: Create space
uv run ado create space -f space.yaml

# Step 2: Create operation using that space automatically
uv run ado create operation -f operation.yaml --use-latest space

The --use-latest flag automatically fills in the latest space ID.

--set

Overrides individual fields in a resource YAML at creation time without editing the file. Takes path=JSON_document pairs; can be used multiple times.

# Override the sample store used by a space
uv run ado create space -f space.yaml --set sampleStoreIdentifier=my_store

# Override a nested operation parameter
uv run ado create operation -f operation.yaml --set parameters.budget=100

--with

Creates a resource from YAML inline and uses it in the current command.

Without --with:

# Create actuator configuration separately
uv run ado create actuatorconfiguration -f actuator.yaml

# Edit operation.yaml to reference the actuator config ID
uv run ado create operation -f operation.yaml

With --with:

# Create both in one command
uv run ado create operation -f operation.yaml \
  --with space=space.yaml \
  --with actuatorconfiguration=actuator.yaml

This creates the space and actuator configuration, then automatically references them when creating the operation.

Documentation Best Practices

When writing documentation with ado commands:

1. Always verify the command syntax with --help
2. Use realistic IDs in examples (e.g., space-abc123 not SPACE_ID in code blocks where actual output is shown)
3. Prefer shortcuts (--use-latest, --with) in tutorials to reduce friction
4. Explain terminology the first time: "entities (the inputs and their measurements)"

Common Patterns

Query workflow

# List all operations
uv run ado get operations

# Get details on a specific operation (YAML to a file)
uv run ado get operation op-123 -o yaml --output-file op-123.yaml

# Get the entities and measurements
uv run ado show measurements operation op-123

Create with dependencies

# Create everything in one command
uv run ado create operation -f operation.yaml \
  --with space=space.yaml \
  --with actuatorconfiguration=config.yaml

Iterative development

# Create space
uv run ado create space -f space.yaml

# Validate with dry-run
uv run ado create operation -f operation.yaml --dry-run --use-latest space

# If dry-run fails: check error message, fix the YAML, re-run dry-run
# Common issues: missing experiment references, invalid parameter types,
# unresolvable --use-latest (no resource of that type exists yet)

# Once dry-run passes, actually create it
uv run ado create operation -f operation.yaml --use-latest space

Related Resources

• For creating and structuring resource YAML files, see resource-yaml-creation
• For creating discoveryspace and operation YAML files, see formulate-discovery-problem
• For general development guidelines, see AGENTS.md