fast-rc-apps

The Rocket.Chat Apps CLI is a command-line interface tool that you use to initialize, develop, scaffold, and maintain Rocket.Chat Apps app directly from a command shell.

Prerequisite

This package requires node.js version > 12.18.4 to work normally

Install

Install as a dev dependency in your project

npm install --save-dev fast-rc-apps

Install globally

npm install -g fast-rc-apps

Usage

fast-rc-apps <command> [options]

You can also use --config to pass the path of a JSON config file for options

Commands and Options

To know more about parameters and usage, run:

fast-rc-apps -h

init

fast-rc-apps init

This command initializes a new Rocket.Chat Apps project. After running it, you have to provide your app's name and description. After that, the fast-rc-apps will create a folder with all the necessary files for a new Rocket.Chat Apps project.

package

fast-rc-apps package

Package the app project to a distributable zip file.

You can add --production or --prod flag to minify the source files:

fast-rc-apps package --production

Normally, fast-rc-apps will perform type-check before bundling the app which will take very long time. If you only want to deploy the existing app or if you have another type-checker (e.g. Intellij) you can pass the option --skip-type-check to package the app with super speed.

Package flow:

• Create a custom TypeScript config file named packager.tsconfig.json which inherit from the project's current tsconfig.json file
• Perform type-checking if --skip-type-check is not passed
• Compile and bundle app's source code into a single JavaScript file
• Zip the compiled code and assets into a zip file which name <npm package name>_v<npm version>.zip
• Remove temporary files

Repack

fast-rc-apps repack --zip-path='./dist/app_5.1.0.zip' --app-json="./customApp.json" --output="./repacked/app_5.1.0.zip"

Create a new zip file with different app.json information. The data of the old and new app.json file will be merged to avoid lack of important properties.

deploy

Deploy the current app project:

fast-rc-apps deploy --url=<Rocket.Chat host> --username=<username> --password=<password>

Deploy a zip file:

fast-rc-apps deploy --url=<Rocket.Chat host> --username=<username> --password=<password> --zip-path=<path-to-zip-file>

Deploy the Rocket.Chat Apps App to the Rocket.Chat server. If it has been deployed the Rocket.Chat server before, update it.

If the param --zip-path is provided, the fast-rc-apps will deploy the zip file at that path to the server. Otherwise, it will package the app project at the current path and deploy it

As same as the package command, you can also add --production or --prod flag to deploy the minified version:

fast-rc-apps deploy --url=<Rocket.Chat host> --username=<username> --password=<password> --production

To watch the codebase and re-deploy the app to the server every time the code changed, pass the --watch option.

fast-rc-apps deploy --config=./deploy-config.json --watch

This option is very useful when developing because it reduces the times you type the command.

The --production and --watch flag will cause conflict when being used with --zip-path flag. It makes no sense when using a development flag with an already packaged zip file. At the moment, we don't allow using --production flag along with --watch flag, the reason is it will decrease the performance and it will not bring too much value if we allow using a production flag with a development flag at once.

uninstall

Sometimes you want to remove your app from a Rocket.Chat server for some purposes like removing test app, deploying from a clean state, etc. You can use the uninstall command to remove the app from a provided app id, app zip file or your current app folder.

To remove the app from the current app folder, firstly go to your app folder's root and then run:

fast-rc-apps uninstall --url=<Rocket.Chat host> --username=<username> --password=<password>

Removing app from a provided app id:

fast-rc-apps uninstall --url=<Rocket.Chat host> --username=<username> --password=<password> --id=<your app id>

Removing app from an app zip file:

fast-rc-apps uninstall --url=<Rocket.Chat host> --username=<username> --password=<password> --zip-path=<path to your zip file>

Two factors authentication

app CLI supports deploying your app with 2FA via TOTP.

If deployer account requires 2FA to login, there will be a prompt appears to ask for your TOTP, you have to enter the TOTP you get from your authentication app to deploy the app.

If you want to deploy the app with 2FA silently (without the prompt), you can pass the TOTP to the command line by the param --code or -c:

fast-rc-apps deploy --config=./deploy-config.json --code=<your TOTP>

Config file

You can use a JSON config file to provide params. To do so, use --config option with the path to your JSON config file.

Example:

fast-rc-apps deploy --config=./deploy-config.json

File config must contain a single object with keys and values are the option names and option values.

Sample deploy-config.json:

{
	"username": "username",
	"password": "password",
	"url": "http://localhost:3000"
}

Interactive mode

For the deploy and uninstall command, you must provide the host information like Rocket.Chat server URL, username and password of the deployer. You may want to enter these information in the interactive mode to avoid bash syntax error with special characters or you want to hide your password when typing.

To use the interactive mode, add --interactive/-i flag.

fast-rc-apps deploy --interactive

Interactively enter password only:

fast-rc-apps deploy --url=<host> --username=<deployer's username> --interactive