Agent Skill · Frontline

crm-setup

End-to-end guide for building a CRM using the Frontline CLI. Covers creating custom objects/tables with fields, setting up relations between entities, adding pipeline stages, populating data, and querying across related objects. Use as a reference when building any multi-entity business workflow from scratch. IMPORTANT: Before designing new entities or fields, always read the `frontline-internals` skill to understand what the system already handles automatically (activity sync, consolidation, built-in objects).

View SKILL.md on GitHub → Source repository Provider profile

Provider: Frontline Path in repo: crm-setup/SKILL.md

Skill body

Building a CRM with the Frontline CLI

[!IMPORTANT] Read the crm-objects skill first. It has the complete field catalog, background automations, auto-creation rules, AI profile/summary behavior, and deduplication logic for each built-in object. Also read frontline-internals for the broader platform mechanics (activity sync, memories, consolidation). Designing entities that duplicate built-in behaviour leads to split history and inconsistent data.

This skill walks through building a complete CRM system: Companies, Contacts, and Deals — with relations, pipeline stages, record types, and views.

The built-in companies, people, and deals objects already exist. This guide uses custom objects to show how to build everything from scratch, but the same patterns apply when extending existing objects.

Available Field Types

Type	Usage	Value format
`string`	Text fields (name, email, url)	`"text"`
`number`	Numeric fields (amounts, counts)	`42`
`date`	Timestamps	`"2026-04-17T00:00:00Z"`
`dateOnly`	Date without time	`"2026-04-17"`
`boolean`	True/false toggles	`true` / `false`
`select`	Single/multi-select (options with color)	`[1, 3]` (option IDs)
`relation`	Link to records in another table	`["record_id_1"]`
`autoIncrement`	Auto-generated sequential ID	(auto)
`file`	File attachment	(upload only)

Available Option Colors

When creating options for select fields, use these color names (case-insensitive). Note this is a different palette from icon colors.

Name	Hex
Terracotta	`#D08F6D`
Amber	`#FFCA41`
Lime	`#D4F997`
Emerald	`#00DC71`
Lavender	`#B76FFF`
Sky	`#339AFF`
Magenta	`#FE55AA`
Bright Red	`#E90012`
Teal	`#00D1B7`
Gray	`#727272`
Brown	`#775B49`
Orange	`#8D4818`
Yellow	`#846826`
Green	`#237045`
Blue	`#215B9D`
Purple	`#7132A2`
Pink	`#A32662`
Red	`#A0362E`

Snapshot — run frontline guidance icons (field optionColors) for the authoritative list. See the guidance skill.

Step 1 — Create the Objects or Tables

Use object create for business entities and table create for simple data.

Icons: tables (table create / table update) use a Unicode emoji in emoji (e.g. "🚚"). Objects use an icon key string (e.g. "handshake"). Do not mix the two formats.

# Create a new "Embarques" table
frontline table create embarques --data '{
  "displayName": "Embarques",
  "emoji": "🚚",
  "icon_color": "orange",
  "columns": [
    { "name": "Nombre", "type": "string", "metadata": { "format": "text" } }
  ]
}'

# Create a new "Pedidos" table
frontline table create pedidos --data '{
  "displayName": "Pedidos",
  "emoji": "📦",
  "icon_color": "blue",
  "columns": [
    { "name": "Nombre", "type": "string", "metadata": { "format": "text" } }
  ]
}'

The system also ships with these core objects:

companies  — Companies
people     — People (contacts)
deals      — Deals (sales pipeline)

Verify they exist:

frontline object list

Setting Icons on Existing Objects/Tables

# Objects take an icon KEY for emoji; tables take a literal emoji.
frontline object update deals --data '{"emoji": "handshake", "icon_color": "emerald"}'
frontline table update embarques --data '{"emoji": "🚚", "icon_color": "teal"}'

Available Icon Colors

Use the icon_color field with a color name (case-insensitive):

red, orange, amber, yellow, lime, green, emerald, teal, cyan, sky, blue, indigo, violet, purple, pink, rose

Snapshot — run frontline guidance icons (field iconColors) for the authoritative name→hex list.

Step 2 — Inspect & Extend the Schema

View current fields

frontline object field list companies
frontline object field list people
frontline object field list deals

Add custom fields

# Add a "Probability %" number field to Deals
frontline object field create deals --data '{
  "name": "Probability",
  "type": "number",
  "metadata": { "format": "percent" }
}'

# Add a "Next Follow-up" date field to Deals
frontline object field create deals --data '{
  "name": "Next Follow-up",
  "type": "dateOnly",
  "metadata": {}
}'

Step 3 — Understand Relations

The built-in objects already have relations defined:

frontline object schema people
# → relations: [{ name: "companies", target: "companies", mode: "multi" }]

frontline object schema deals
# → relations: [
#     { name: "people", target: "people", mode: "multi" },
#     { name: "company", target: "companies", mode: "single" }
#   ]

The name field is what you use in all relation commands.

Step 4 — Populate Data

Create companies

frontline object record create companies --data '{
  "Name": "Acme Corp",
  "Domain": "acme.com",
  "Primary Location": "New York, USA"
}'
# → { id: "6625aaa...", ... }

frontline object record create companies --data '{
  "Name": "TechStart Inc",
  "Domain": "techstart.io",
  "Primary Location": "San Francisco, USA"
}'
# → { id: "6625bbb...", ... }

Create contacts

frontline object record create people --data '{
  "First Name": "Alice",
  "Last Name": "Johnson",
  "Email": "alice@acme.com",
  "Phone Number": "+1-555-0101",
  "Role": "VP Sales"
}'
# → { id: "6625ccc...", ... }

frontline object record create people --data '{
  "First Name": "Bob",
  "Last Name": "Smith",
  "Email": "bob@techstart.io",
  "Role": "CTO"
}'
# → { id: "6625ddd...", ... }

Create deals

# Use option IDs from `frontline object field list deals`
# Stage options: 1=Lead, 2=In Progress, 3=Won, 4=Lost

frontline object record create deals --data '{
  "Name": "Acme Enterprise License",
  "Stage": [2],
  "Value": 150000
}'
# → { id: "6625eee...", ... }

Step 5 — Link Records

Link person → company

# Alice works at Acme
frontline object relation link people 6625ccc... Companies 6625aaa...

# Bob works at TechStart
frontline object relation link people 6625ddd... Companies 6625bbb...

Link deal → company and deal → person

# The Acme deal belongs to Acme Corp
frontline object relation link deals 6625eee... Company 6625aaa...

# Alice is the contact for this deal
frontline object relation link deals 6625eee... People 6625ccc...

Verify links

# What company does Alice belong to?
frontline object relation get people 6625ccc... Companies

# Who are the contacts for the Acme deal?
frontline object relation get deals 6625eee... People

# Which deals belong to Acme Corp? (reverse lookup)
frontline object relation find-by deals Company 6625aaa...

# Which people work at Acme Corp? (reverse lookup)
frontline object relation find-by people Companies 6625aaa...

Step 6 — Set Up Pipeline Views

Create record types for deal stages

# Get the field IDs to include in each record type
frontline object field list deals
# → Use the IDs for Name, Stage, Value, People, Company

frontline object record-type create deals --data '{
  "name": "active_pipeline",
  "displayName": "Active Pipeline",
  "columnIds": [1, 2, 3, 5, 8]
}'
# → { id: 7, ... }

Create a kanban board for the pipeline

# Use the Stage field ID for grouping (e.g., field ID 2)
# Create directly on the object (no record type needed)
frontline object view create deals --data '{
  "name": "Pipeline Board",
  "type": "KANBAN",
  "metadata": { "groupingColumnId": 2 }
}'

# Or scoped to a specific record type with --record-type <id>
frontline object view create deals --record-type 7 --data '{
  "name": "Pipeline Board",
  "type": "KANBAN",
  "metadata": { "groupingColumnId": 2 }
}'

View types must be uppercase: KANBAN, TABLE, RECORD.

Step 7 — View Customization (Ordering and Visibility)

Refine your views to show only the most important information:

# Set order of columns/fields
frontline object view update deals <view-id> --column-order "Name, Stage, Value, Company"

# Hide less relevant fields
frontline object view update deals <view-id> --hidden-columns "createdAt, updatedAt"

# Order fields in the record creation dialog
frontline object view update deals <view-id> --dialog-field-order "Name, Stage, Value, Probability"

Step 8 — Query Your CRM

Find high-value deals

frontline object record list deals --query '{
  "operator": "and",
  "conditions": [
    { "path": "[Value]", "operator": "gte", "value": 50000 },
    { "path": "[Stage]", "operator": "containsAny", "value": [2] }
  ]
}' --sort '[{"path": "[Value]", "type": "desc"}]'

Find contacts with no company

frontline object record list people --query '{
  "path": "[Companies]", "operator": "isNull"
}'

Search across fields

frontline object record list people --search "alice"
frontline object record list companies --search "tech"

Find all contacts at a specific company

frontline object relation find-by people Companies <company-id>

Step 8 — Export & Backup

# Export all deals to spreadsheet
frontline object export xlsx deals --output deals_report.xlsx

# Export filtered data (only won deals)
frontline object export csv deals \
  --query '{"path": "[Stage]", "operator": "containsAny", "value": [3]}' \
  --output won_deals.csv

# Export all contacts
frontline object export xlsx people --output contacts_backup.xlsx

Quick Command Reference

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SCHEMA                                                           │
│  frontline object list                                           │
│  frontline object schema <obj>                                   │
│  frontline object field list <obj>                               │
│  frontline object field create <obj> --data '{...}'              │
│  frontline object option create <obj> <field-id> --data '{..}'   │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ RECORDS                                                          │
│  frontline object record create <obj> --data '{...}'             │
│  frontline object record list <obj> [--query] [--search]         │
│  frontline object record get <obj> <id>                          │
│  frontline object record update <obj> <id> --data '{...}'        │
│  frontline object record delete <obj> <id>                       │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ RELATIONS                                                        │
│  frontline object relation link <obj> <id> <rel> <target>        │
│  frontline object relation unlink <obj> <id> <rel> <target>      │
│  frontline object relation get <obj> <id> <rel>                  │
│  frontline object relation find-by <obj> <rel> <target-id>       │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ VIEWS & RECORD TYPES                                             │
│  frontline object record-type list <obj>                         │
│  frontline object record-type create <obj> --data '{...}'        │
│  frontline object view list <obj>                                │
│  frontline object view create <obj> [--record-type <id>] --data '{...}' │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ EXPORT                                                           │
│  frontline object export xlsx <obj> [--query] [--output]         │
│  frontline object export csv <obj> [--query] [--output]          │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

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