knock-cli

name	knock-cli
description	Guidelines for working with the Knock CLI to manage workflows, templates, and other notification resources in a Knock project.

Knock CLI skill

This skill provides comprehensive guidelines for working with the Knock CLI to manage workflows, templates, and other notification resources.

Overview

The Knock CLI skill includes detailed rule sets covering:

1. CLI installation and authentication - How to install and authenticate with the Knock CLI
2. Knock directory structure - Understanding the knock directory layout and configuration
3. CLI commands reference - Pull, push, and resource management commands
4. Workflow templates - Structures, patterns, and best practices for workflows and templates
5. Guides and message types - Working with in-app guides for lifecycle messaging and message types as their schema
6. Partials - Reusable template building blocks for email design systems

How to use this skill

For initial setup

When setting up a new project with Knock:

1. Start with installation and authentication (rules/cli-installation-authentication.md)

   • Verify the CLI is installed
   • Authenticate with a service token or dashboard account
   • Initialize the project with knock init

2. Understand the directory structure (rules/knock-directory-structure.md)

   • Learn the knock.json configuration
   • Understand resource organization

For managing resources

When working with Knock resources:

1. Use the CLI commands reference (rules/cli-commands-reference.md)

   • Pull resources from Knock to your local project
   • Push changes back to Knock
   • Work with specific resource types

2. Follow workflow and template guidelines (rules/workflow-templates.md)

   • Understand template modes and structures
   • Avoid common mistakes with file paths and variables
   • Follow best practices for workflow modifications

For managing guides and message types

When working with in-app guides (banners, modals, announcements):

1. Start with guides and message types (rules/guides-and-message-types.md)

   • Understand that guides are separate from workflows (lifecycle messaging vs notifications)
   • Message types define the schema; guides reference them via schema_key and schema_variant_key
   • Use built-in types (banner, modal, card) when possible; create custom message types when needed

2. Discover before creating

   • Run knock message-type list to see available message type keys
   • Run knock guide list to see existing guides
   • Use exact keys from output when creating new guides

For working with partials

When building reusable email components (callouts, quote blocks, comment cards):

1. Start with partials (rules/partials.md)

   • Understand partial file structure and partial.json schema
   • Define input_schema for block editor fields (same format as message type variant fields)
   • Use visual_block_enabled: true for partials that appear in the email visual block editor

2. Create and push

   • Run knock partial new -k <key> -n "Name" -t html --force to scaffold
   • Add input_schema and edit content; validate and push with knock partial push <key>

For modifying workflows and templates

When making changes to workflows or templates:

1. Always read before writing - Understand existing structure before modifying
2. Use visual blocks for new emails - Always default to visual blocks mode; only use HTML mode if explicitly requested
3. Use correct variable namespaces - data for trigger payload, vars for environment variables
4. Verify file path references - Paths are relative to the file containing the reference
5. Push after modifying - Local file changes are not synced to Knock until you push. Run knock workflow push <key> (or the equivalent for other resource types) for changes to take effect.

Rule files reference

• rules/cli-installation-authentication.md - Installation and authentication setup
• rules/knock-directory-structure.md - Directory structure and configuration
• rules/cli-commands-reference.md - CLI commands for resource management
• rules/workflow-templates.md - Workflow and template structures and best practices
• rules/guides-and-message-types.md - Guides and message types for lifecycle messaging
• rules/partials.md - Partials and reusable template building blocks

Quick reference

Common commands

# Initialize a new project (interactive; use --knock-dir to skip prompts)
knock init --knock-dir=./knock

# Pull all resources from Knock (--force skips confirmation prompts)
knock pull --all --force

# Pull a specific workflow
knock workflow pull <workflow-key> --force

# Push all resources to Knock (push never prompts)
knock push --all

# Push a specific workflow
knock workflow push <workflow-key>

# Push a specific email layout
knock email-layout push <layout-key>

# List channels (discover valid channel_key values before creating workflows)
knock channel list

# Guide and message type commands
knock message-type list          # Discover message type keys before creating guides
knock guide list                 # List existing guides
knock guide push <guide-key>     # Push a guide after modifying
knock message-type push <key>    # Push a message type after modifying

# Partial commands (email design system building blocks)
knock partial list               # List existing partials
knock partial new -k <key> -n "Name" -t html --force   # Create a new partial
knock partial pull <key> --force # Pull a partial from Knock
knock partial push <key>         # Push a partial after modifying
knock partial validate <key>     # Validate a partial locally

# Commit and promote a specific resource only (safe when other resources have pending changes)
knock commit -m "message" --resource-type=workflow --resource-id=<key> --force
knock commit list --resource-type=workflow --resource-id=<key>   # get the commit ID
knock commit promote --only=<commit-id> --force

Key concepts

• knockDir: The directory where Knock resources are stored (configured in knock.json)
• Resource types: workflows, email-layouts, guides, message-types, translations, partials, commits
• Guides vs workflows: Guides are for lifecycle messaging (banners, modals); workflows are for notifications
• Template modes: Visual blocks (default for new emails) vs HTML (only when explicitly requested)
• Variable namespaces: data (trigger payload), vars (environment variables), recipient, actor, tenant

Important patterns

1. Use --force on commands with prompts - Many CLI commands (pull, commit, promote, activate) display interactive confirmation prompts. Always pass --force to skip them in automated/agent contexts.
2. Push after every change - Local edits stay local until pushed. No push = no update in Knock.
3. File path references use @ suffix: "content@": "visual_blocks/1.content.md"
4. Paths are relative to containing file: Don't double the step directory
5. Always use data. for trigger payload values, not vars.
6. Read existing files before modifying to preserve structure
7. Discover channel keys before creating workflows - Run knock channel list to get valid channel_key values
8. Discover message type keys before creating guides - Run knock message-type list to get valid message type keys
9. Scope commits and promotes when working on a single resource - knock commit promote --to=<env> promotes ALL unpromoted commits across all resources. When working on one resource, use --resource-type and --resource-id to commit only that resource, then use knock commit promote --only=<commit-id> to promote only that commit. See the "Promote a specific resource only" workflow below.

Best practices summary

1. Pull before editing - Sync latest changes before making modifications
2. Push after modifying - Local changes are not persisted to Knock until explicitly pushed
3. Read before writing - Understand existing structure to avoid data loss
4. Use correct namespaces - data for dynamic payload, vars for environment constants
5. Visual blocks by default - Use visual blocks for new emails; preserve existing mode when editing
6. Verify paths - File references are relative to the containing file
7. Test changes - Validate workflows after pushing changes
8. Scope commits and promotes - Default to --resource-type/--resource-id on commit and --only on promote when working on a single resource. Only use knock commit promote --to=<env> when you intend to promote all pending changes across every resource.