DualEntry CLI Reference: Commands, Flags, and Exit Codes

Use this page as a scannable reference for the DualEntry CLI. For getting started, see the Quickstart Guide.

Global options

The flags below apply to every CLI invocation, regardless of subcommand.

Flag	Description
`--version`, `-v`	Print the CLI version and exit
`--help`	Show help for any command or subcommand
`--install-completion`	Install shell tab completion

dualentry --help is the fastest way to see all available commands. You can also run dualentry [resource] --help for help on a specific resource.

Authentication commands

The authentication commands manage how the CLI connects to your DualEntry account.

Command	Description
`dualentry auth login`	Opens your browser for OAuth login. Credentials are stored in your system keychain.
`dualentry auth logout`	Clears the stored credentials.
`dualentry auth status`	Shows whether you are currently authenticated.
`dualentry health`	Checks that the CLI can reach the API.

Login runs the OAuth flow against /public/v2/oauth/authorize/ and /public/v2/oauth/token/, then stores the resulting API key in your system keychain. On a machine with no usable keychain, the CLI falls back to a file, so treat that file as a credential if you are working on a shared host. For CI/CD or headless environments, set the X_API_KEY environment variable instead. See Configuration below.

Resource commands

The Resource commands section lists all CLI resources grouped by domain. Most resources support these subcommands, though a few read-only or non-editable resources (for example accounts, workflows, and inbox) support only list and get:

Subcommand	What it does
`list`	Show all records for this resource (paginated table by default)
`get`	Retrieve a single record
`create`	Create a new record
`update`	Update an existing record

On resources that carry a record number, get accepts either a number or an ID and works out which you gave it. Two explicit forms are available when you want to be unambiguous:

Subcommand	What it does
`get-number`	Retrieve by record number
`get-id`	Retrieve by internal ID

A few subcommands are resource-specific rather than universal:

Subcommand	Available on
`delete`	The three `recurring` resources: invoices, bills, journal entries
`validate`	`intercompany-journal-entries`
`post`	`intercompany-journal-entries`
`template`	`intercompany-journal-entries`

delete is real on recurring records and removes the schedule. It is not available on posted transactions, so do not assume the absence of a delete command elsewhere protects a recurring template.

Run dualentry [resource] --help to see the exact flags and required arguments for each subcommand; they vary by resource.

Receivables

Command	Description
`dualentry invoices`	Manage invoices
`dualentry sales-orders`	Manage sales orders
`dualentry customer-payments`	Manage customer payments
`dualentry customer-credits`	Manage customer credits
`dualentry customer-prepayments`	Manage customer prepayments
`dualentry customer-prepayment-applications`	Manage customer prepayment applications
`dualentry customer-deposits`	Manage customer deposits
`dualentry customer-refunds`	Manage customer refunds
`dualentry cash-sales`	Manage cash sales

Payables

Command	Description
`dualentry bills`	Manage bills
`dualentry purchase-orders`	Manage purchase orders
`dualentry vendor-payments`	Manage vendor payments
`dualentry vendor-credits`	Manage vendor credits
`dualentry vendor-prepayments`	Manage vendor prepayments
`dualentry vendor-prepayment-applications`	Manage vendor prepayment applications
`dualentry vendor-refunds`	Manage vendor refunds
`dualentry direct-expenses`	Manage direct expenses

Accounting

Command	Description
`dualentry journal-entries`	Manage journal entries
`dualentry intercompany-journal-entries`	Manage intercompany journal entries; adds `validate`, `post`, and `template`
`dualentry bank-transfers`	Manage bank transfers
`dualentry fixed-assets`	Manage fixed assets
`dualentry depreciation-books`	Manage depreciation books
`dualentry paper-checks`	Manage paper checks
`dualentry inbox`	Manage inbox records

Master data

Command	Description
`dualentry customers`	Manage customers
`dualentry vendors`	Manage vendors
`dualentry items`	Manage items
`dualentry accounts`	Manage chart of accounts
`dualentry companies`	Manage companies
`dualentry classifications`	Manage classifications

Automation

Command	Description
`dualentry recurring`	Manage recurring records (invoices, bills, etc.)
`dualentry contracts`	Manage contracts
`dualentry budgets`	Manage budgets
`dualentry workflows`	Manage workflows

Common flags

The flags below work across multiple resource commands and control output format, pagination, and filtering.

Output format

The output format flag toggles between human-readable tables and machine-readable JSON.

Flag	Description
`--format json`	Output as JSON instead of the default table format

Table format (default) - a human-readable, column-aligned table rendered with Rich. Best for quick lookups in the terminal.
JSON format - raw JSON output. Best for scripting, piping to jq, or feeding into other tools.

The example below shows both output modes for the same command:

# Table output (default)
dualentry invoices list

# JSON output
dualentry invoices list --format json

Pagination

Three flags control how much a list command returns.

Flag	Short	Description
`--limit N`	`-l`	Number of records per page
`--offset N`		Skip this many records before returning results
`--all`	`-a`	Fetch every page instead of just the first

By default, list commands return one page. Use --all when you need the complete dataset:

dualentry invoices list --all

Prefer --limit and --offset when you are paging deliberately in a script, and --all when you just want everything and the dataset is small enough to hold. --all issues a request per page, so on a large resource it is the slower of the two approaches.

Filtering

Four filters are available on most list commands, though a few resources with hand-rolled list commands (for example accounts) only support --search:

Flag	Short	Description
`--search TEXT`	`-s`	Free-text search across the resource
`--status STATUS`		Filter by record status (for example `posted`, `archived`)
`--start-date YYYY-MM-DD`		Filter records on or after this date
`--end-date YYYY-MM-DD`		Filter records on or before this date

Three more are entity filters, and these do vary by resource, because a resource only exposes the ones that make sense for it:

Flag	Short	Available on
`--company ID`	`-c`	Roughly half of resources
`--customer ID`		Receivables resources
`--vendor ID`		Payables resources

Run dualentry [resource] list --help to see which entity filters a specific resource accepts.

dualentry journal-entries list --start-date 2026-03-01 --end-date 2026-03-31
dualentry bills list --status posted

Configuration

The configuration commands and environment variables below control how the CLI connects to DualEntry.

Viewing config

Display your current configuration, including API URL and auth state, with the following command:

dualentry config show

Environment variables

Set the variables below to override default CLI behavior, primarily for CI/CD or non-production environments.

Variable	Description	Default
`X_API_KEY`	API key for authentication. Skips OAuth when set. Use this in CI/CD.	(none)
`DUALENTRY_API_URL`	Override the API base URL.	`https://api.dualentry.com`

# Use an API key instead of OAuth
export X_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

# Point at a different API environment
export DUALENTRY_API_URL="https://api-dev.dualentry.com"

Example output

The columns below appear in the table output of dualentry invoices list: record ID, document number, dates, company, counterparty, currency, financial amounts, and status. Other resources follow a similar table layout with columns relevant to that record type.

ID   #      Date        Company     Customer       Due Date    Currency  Amount    Paid    Due       Status
───  ────   ──────────  ──────────  ─────────────  ──────────  ────────  ────────  ──────  ────────  ────────
12   INV-1  2026-01-15  Acme Corp   Widget Co.     2026-02-14  USD       1,500.00  0.00    1,500.00  posted
15   INV-2  2026-02-01  Acme Corp   Sprocket Inc.  2026-03-03  USD       3,200.00  3,200   0.00      archived

Known limitations

The CLI is early-stage software. The current limitations are:

Early version - the CLI is at v0.1.17 at the time of writing; expect evolving commands and occasional rough edges.
Delete is limited to recurring records - every other resource supports only list, get, create, and update.
Performance - some operations may be slow, especially on large datasets.
Python 3.11+ required - Homebrew handles this automatically; other install methods require you to have Python 3.11+ already installed.

Developer Guide

V2 (latest)

V1

Release Notes & Changelog

DualEntry CLI Reference: Commands, Flags, and Exit Codes

Global options

Authentication commands

Resource commands

Receivables

Payables

Accounting

Master data

Automation

Common flags

Output format

Filtering

Configuration

Viewing config

Environment variables

Example output

Known limitations

​Global options

​Authentication commands

​Resource commands

​Receivables

​Payables

​Accounting

​Master data

​Automation

​Common flags

​Output format

​Pagination

​Filtering

​Configuration

​Viewing config

​Environment variables

​Example output

​Known limitations

Global options

Authentication commands

Resource commands

Receivables

Payables

Accounting

Master data

Automation

Common flags

Output format

Pagination

Filtering

Configuration

Viewing config

Environment variables

Example output

Known limitations