The Notecard CLI is a command-line utility for interaction with a Notecard connected directly to a computer over USB. It is meant to serve as a development and debugging aid as you build Notecard-powered applications.
Use the Notecard Playground to interact with your Device
This site provides an in-browser terminal that emulates much of the functionality of the Notecard CLI. Access the terminal via the Notecard Playground or the expansion button at the top right of your screen, assuming you're using a supported browser (Chrome, Edge, or Opera).
To install the Notecard CLI, visit the
releases page of the note-go repository
and download the binary for your operating system. Extract the notecard
utility and place it in your PATH
.
Alternatively, if you have Go and the Go tools installed and want to build from source, you can clone the note-go repo and build the Notecard CLI directly with the following commands:
go get -u . && go build .
Once the Notecard CLI is installed, use the notecard
command to view available
arguments, as well as a list of available serial ports detected by
the utility.
The Notecard will show up as tty.usbmodemNOTE1
, ttyACM0
, and COMx
on
macOS, Linux, and Windows respectively. The three asterisks (***) next to a
device name indicates the default device that will be used, if the port
flag is
not provided.
If the CLI detects a single Notecard available via serial, it will issue all of the
commands below directly on that device. If you have multiple Notecards connected
and wish to specify a serial port, use the port
flag, followed by the
device address for your OS.
notecard -port /dev/cu.usbmodem3 -info
The rest of this guide details a number of common CLI commands.
Use the info
flag to obtain a view of Notecard configuration, network state,
sensors, and onboard storage.
notecard -info
This command returns a formatted view of data.
To make a single request, use the req
flag, followed by the full JSON
request string, as outlined in the
Notecard API Reference.
notecard -req '{"req":"hub.get"}'
This command sends the specified request to the Notecard and returns the result.
If you need to issue a number of requests to the Notecard, you can also
use the play
flag to enter interactive mode. In this mode, the Notecard
expects direct JSON
requests and returns JSON
responses. Note: This
is the same mode supported in our in-browser terminal and the Notecard
Playground.
notecard -play
Exit interactive mode by typing q
.
The product
and sn
flags provide a shorthand way to set the
ProductUID and Serial Number on the Notecard. Both flags issue a
hub.set
request to the Notecard.
notecard -product 'org.soda-cola.vending-machine.v2'
{"req":"hub.set","product":"org.soda-cola.vending-machine.v2"}
{}
notecard -sn 'Scranton-12'
{"req":"hub.set","sn":"Scranton-12"}
{}
To manually initiate a sync between the Notecard and Notehub, use the
sync
flag.
notecard -sync
{"req":"hub.sync"}
{}
To trace the Notecard's activity, use the trace
flag. This mode is similar to
play
in that it accepts interactive JSON
requests, but also outputs
trace messages from the Notecard.
notecard -trace
> t
on
> {"req":"hub.sync"}
{}
S9705:14.08 sync: sync triggered by manual sync request
S9705:14.08 sync: work: begin (anything pending) {sync-begin}
S9705:14.08 sync: request: get notebox change summary
S9705:15.64 sync: work: completed (nothing was pending) {sync-end}
S9705:15.64 sync: advancing last sync time from 16:05:45Z to 16:08:00Z
You can instruct the CLI to send a series of requests
to the Notecard with the setup
flag. This command is useful for simplifying
some of the Notecard configuration requests across a number of similar devices.
The requests should be defined in a file with a .json
extension and a request
on each line of the file. For example, the following script contains a series
of requests for configuring the Notecard as a standalone asset tracker:
# Tracking Device setup script version no. is published in an env var so # that it's visible within the Notehub's Device Environment Variable UI {"req":"env.default","name":"setup_script_version","text":"1.1.1"} # Set product UID to one that's registered in our product {"req":"hub.set","product":"org.soda-cola.vending-machine.v2"} # Hourly sync if data is available, with weekly inbound as a backup {"req":"hub.set","mode":"periodic","outbound":60,"inbound":1440,"align":true} # Daily sampling of the tracker's location {"req":"card.location.mode","mode":"periodic","seconds":86400} # Track location in the _track.qo Notefile and add a weekly heartbeat if no movement {"req":"card.location.track","start":true,"heartbeat":true,"hours":168} # Configure voltage monitoring for a Notecarrier-AA with three L91 batteries {"req":"card.voltage","mode":"l91"}
Then, use the setup
flag and the JSON file on each connected Notecard:
notecard -setup config-tracker.json
If you need to output device details or certificates from a single or batch of
Notecards, you can use the scan
flag, followed by the name of a file in which
to output details. When run, the Notecard CLI will create the output JSON file,
and a CSV file containing the DeviceUID for the Notecard.
notecard -scan configured.json
*** new file: configured.json
*** new file: configured.csv
dev:000000000000000
*** please remove the notecard
scan
can be used with multiple devices in sequence, without rerunning the
utility.
notecard -scan configured.json
dev:000000000000000
*** please remove the notecard
*** please insert the next notecard, or enter q to quit
dev:000000000000000
*** please remove the notecard
When used together, scan
and setup
allow developers to quickly configure a
set of Notecards for deployment.
notecard -setup config-tracker.json -scan configured.json
If you are working with a variant of the Notecard that uses an alternative
embedded SIM from a partner (for example, Twilio), you'll need to perform an
additional provisioning step to ensure that the SIM on your device is properly
registered with that carrier. You can do so with the provisioning
flag, which
embeds a token for your carrier onto the device.
As an example, for Twilio, your provisioning token is your Account SID and Auth
Token, separated by a colon. This flag can be used with scan
and setup
to
provision multiple Notecards at once.
notecard -provision <your_twilio_sid>:<your_twilio_token>
dev:000000000000000
twilio: device provisioned: status:new