CRUD Operations

The Frontline CLI provides full CRUD for every entity on tables and objects. The surface is symmetric: anything you can do on a table, you can do on an object (objects additionally support record types, views, and relations).

Discovering the Schema

Before modifying anything, always inspect the schema first:

# List all tables / objects
frontline table list
frontline object list

# Get detailed schema (fields, relations, record types)
frontline table schema <name>
frontline object schema <name>

# List fields (includes field IDs, types, options for select fields)
frontline table field list <name>
frontline object field list <name>

Fields

Fields are the columns of a table/object. Each field has an id, name, type, and optional metadata depending on the field type.

Field Types & Metadata Reference

Notes

• Timezone Validation: For date columns, the timezone metadata property is strictly validated and must be a valid IANA timezone name from the supported list (e.g., UTC, America/New_York, America/Chicago, etc.). Invalid zones will result in a 400 Bad Request error.
• Field type in create is select (mapped internally to tags). The API response also returns "type": "select".
• field update cannot change a column’s type. To convert e.g. string → select, create a new select field, add its options, migrate record values if needed, then delete the old field when safe.
• The create/update body is strict: unknown top-level keys (e.g. options, tags, label) are rejected with 400, and only the keys listed above are meaningful inside metadata for each type. Other metadata keys are stored but ignored by the UI.

⚠️ Select/multi-select options cannot be created inline.

Passing options inside the field-create body — whether as metadata.options, metadata.tags, or a top-level options/tags array — returns 400. The field-create endpoint only sets mode; it never creates options.

Create the field first, then add each option with option create (see Options below). On update, the supported way to replace a select field’s options is the top-level tags array (field update <id> --data '{"tags":[...]}'), not metadata.

Create

# String field with email format
frontline table field create <table> --data '{
  "name": "Email",
  "type": "string",
  "metadata": { "format": "email" }
}'

# Number field with currency
frontline table field create <table> --data '{
  "name": "Amount",
  "type": "number",
  "metadata": { "format": "currency", "currency": "USD", "decimals": 2 }
}'

# Single-select field
frontline object field create <object> --data '{
  "name": "Priority",
  "type": "select",
  "metadata": { "mode": "singleSelect" }
}'

# Date field with timezone
frontline table field create <table> --data '{
  "name": "Due Date",
  "type": "date",
  "metadata": { "timezone": "America/New_York" }
}'

Objects with multiple record types: a new field is added to all record types unless you scope it. Before creating a field on a multi-record-type object, if the user did not say which record type(s) it belongs to, list them (frontline object record-type list <object>) and ask. Choose “all” → omit record_type_id; one specific type → pass record_type_id. See the schema-design skill for details.

Update

# Rename a field
frontline table field update <table> <field-id> --data '{"name": "Renamed Field"}'

# Mark a field as required
frontline object field update <object> <field-id> --data '{"required": true}'

# Add a unique constraint
frontline table field update <table> <field-id> --data '{"unique": true}'

# Combine multiple changes
frontline object field update <object> <field-id> --data '{"name": "Email", "required": true, "unique": true}'

Supported update keys: name, metadata, required, unique, tags, defaultValue.

Column type is immutable after create. Do not pass "type" in field update expecting to convert an existing column (e.g. string → select). That is not supported. Create a new field with the desired type instead.

Delete

frontline table field delete <table> <field-id>

Options (Select Field Values)

Options are the selectable values for singleSelect and multiSelect fields. You need the field ID first (use field list).

Options are always a separate step from field creation — they can’t be passed inline in the field-create body (that returns 400). Create the select field, grab its id, then run one option create per value.

Available Colors

Use color names (case-insensitive) or hex codes:

Terracotta, Amber, Lime, Emerald, Lavender, Sky, Magenta, Bright Red, Teal, Gray, Brown, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Pink, Red

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

List

frontline table option list <table> <field-id>
frontline object option list <object> <field-id>

Create

frontline object option create <object> <field-id> --data '{
  "name": "Hot",
  "color": "Magenta"
}'

Update / Delete

frontline object option update <object> <option-id> --data '{"name": "Warm", "color": "Amber"}'
frontline object option delete <object> <option-id>

Note: option-id is the option’s own ID (not the field ID).

Rows (Records)

Create

⚠️ Creating a Person with an email auto-links a Company.

If you’re calling record create on the built-in people object with an Email field and a non-generic domain (e.g. john@acme.com, not john@gmail.com), the platform automatically creates and/or links the matching companies record by domain. After record create people succeeds, the Company is already linked.

• Do NOT also create the Company manually.
• Do NOT call relation link people <id> Companies <company-id> to assign it.

See crm-objects skill → People → top-of-section warning for the full rules and the edge cases (generic domains, overriding the auto-linked Company, etc.).

# Body is a flat key-value map: { "Field Name": value }
frontline table row create <table> --data '{
  "Name": "Acme Corp",
  "Amount": 50000,
  "Status": [1]
}'

# For People: the Company link happens automatically from the email domain.
# Do not create or link a Company manually after this.
frontline object record create people --data '{
  "First Name": "John",
  "Last Name": "Doe",
  "Email": "john@acme.com"
}'

Select fields expect an array of option IDs: [1, 3]

Assigning a record type at creation time: pass _type with the numeric record type ID. Records default to the object’s default record type if omitted. Get record type IDs from frontline object record-type list <object>.

frontline object record create people --data '{
  "First Name": "John",
  "Last Name": "Doe",
  "Email": "john@example.com",
  "_type": 8
}'

Bulk Create

You can create multiple rows or records at once by passing a JSON array to --data.

# Create multiple table rows
frontline table row bulk-create <table> --data '[
  { "Name": "Acme Corp", "Amount": 50000 },
  { "Name": "Globex Inc", "Amount": 120000 }
]'

# Create multiple object records
frontline object record bulk-create <object> --data '[
  { "First Name": "John", "Last Name": "Doe" },
  { "First Name": "Jane", "Last Name": "Smith" }
]'

Update

# Only send the fields you want to change
frontline table row update <table> <row-id> --data '{"Amount": 75000}'
frontline object record update <object> <row-id> --data '{"Status": [2]}'

Delete

frontline table row delete <table> <row-id>
frontline object record delete <object> <row-id>

Get by ID

frontline table row get <table> <row-id>
frontline object record get <object> <row-id>

Record Types (objects only)

Record types group records into categories (e.g., “Lead”, “Customer” in a People object).

Create, update, and delete require an ADMIN or OWNER key (403 otherwise). Passing a table name returns 404: tables keep the single implicit record type they are created with.

List

frontline object record-type list <object>

Create

frontline object record-type create <object> --data '{
  "name": "lead",
  "displayName": "Lead",
  "columnIds": [1, 2, 3]
}'

Passing columnIds auto-creates default Table + Record views with those columns.

Update / Delete

frontline object record-type update <object> <record-type-id> --data '{"displayName": "Qualified Lead"}'
frontline object record-type delete <object> <record-type-id>

Views (objects only)

Views control how records are displayed in the UI (table grid, kanban board, single record).

List

frontline object view list <object>

Create

# View types: table, kanban, record
# First argument is the object; --record-type defaults to the object's default record type
frontline object view create <object> --record-type <record-type-id> --data '{
  "name": "Kanban Board",
  "type": "kanban",
  "metadata": { "groupingColumnId": 42 }
}'

Update / Delete

frontline object view update <object> <view-id> --data '{"name": "Updated Board"}'
frontline object view delete <object> <view-id>

Workflow: Full Object Setup

Create a new record type with a kanban view for a deals pipeline:

# 1. Check current fields
frontline object field list deals

# 2. Create a record type (returns record_type_id)
frontline object record-type create deals --data '{
  "name": "enterprise",
  "displayName": "Enterprise Deals",
  "columnIds": [1, 2, 5, 8]
}'

# 3. Add a kanban view to the record type
frontline object view create deals --record-type <record-type-id> --data '{
  "name": "Pipeline Board",
  "type": "kanban",
  "metadata": { "groupingColumnId": 5 }
}'

See also

• Full reference: https://docs.getfrontline.ai/docs (concepts) and https://docs.getfrontline.ai/cli (command reference).
• App UI walkthroughs (channels, billing, settings): https://help.getfrontline.ai.