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+---
+title: "Commands"
+menu:
+    addons:
+        weight: 4
+---
+
+# Commands
+
+Commands allow users to actively interact with addons - querying their state,
+commanding them to perform actions, and having them transform data. Like
+[options]({{< relref addons-options >}}), commands are typed, and both
+invocations and data returned from commands are checked at runtime. Commands are
+a very powerful construct - for instance, all user interaction in mitmproxy
+console are built by binding commands to keys.
+
+
+## Simple example
+
+Let's begin with a simple example.
+
+{{< example src="examples/addons/commands-simple.py" lang="py" >}}
+
+To see this example in action, start mitmproxy console with the addon loaded:
+
+{{< highlight bash  >}}
+> mitmproxy -s ./examples/addons/commands-simple.py
+{{< /highlight >}}
+
+Now, make sure the event log is showing, and then execute the command at the
+prompt (started by typing ":"):
+
+{{< highlight none>}}
+:myaddon.inc
+{{< /highlight >}}
+
+Notice that tab completion works - our addon command has complete parity with
+builtin commands. There are a few things to note about this example:
+
+- Commands are declared through the `command.command` decorator. Each command
+  has a unique name - by convention, we use period-separated names, with the
+  name of the addon as a prefix.
+- Annotating commands with types is mandatory, including the return type (in
+  this case `None`). This allows mitmproxy to support addon commands throughout
+  its toolset - runtime invocations are type checked, addon commands are
+  included in the built-in help, the command editor in mitmproxy console can
+  perform sophisticated completion and error checking, and so forth.
+
+
+## Working with flows
+
+Since command arguments are typed, we can provide special conveniences for
+working with certain important data types. The most useful of these are the
+`Flows` classes that represent mitmproxy traffic.
+
+Consider the following addon:
+
+{{< example src="examples/addons/commands-flows.py" lang="py" >}}
+
+The `myaddon.addheader` command is quite simple: it takes a sequence of flows,
+and adds a header to every request. The really interesting aspect of this
+example is how users specify flows. Because mitmproxy can inspect the type
+signature, it can expand a text flow selector into a sequence of flows for us
+transparently. This means that the user has the full flexibility of [flow
+filters]({{< relref addons-options >}}) available. Let's try it out.
+
+Start by loading the addon into mitmproxy and sending some traffic through so we
+have flows to work with:
+
+{{< highlight bash  >}}
+> mitmproxy -s ./examples/addons/commands-flows.py
+{{< /highlight >}}
+
+We can now invoke our toy command in various ways. Let's begin by running it
+just on the currently focused flow:
+
+{{< highlight none  >}}
+:myaddon.addheader @focus
+{{< /highlight >}}
+
+We can also invoke it on all flows:
+
+{{< highlight none  >}}
+:myaddon.addheader @all
+{{< /highlight >}}
+
+Or only flows from **google.com**:
+
+{{< highlight none  >}}
+:myaddon.addheader ~d google.com
+{{< /highlight >}}
+
+What's more, we can trivially bind these commands to keyboard shortcuts within
+mitmproxy if we plan to use them frequently. Flow selectors combined with
+commands are amazingly powerful, and lets us build and expose re-usable functions
+for operating on flows.
+
+
+## Paths
+
+Commands can take an arbitrary number of arguments. Let's build on the previous
+example to illustrate this, and also demonstrate another special type: paths.
+
+{{< example src="examples/addons/commands-paths.py" lang="py" >}}
+
+Our command calculates a histogram of the domains in the specified set of flows,
+and writes it to a path which is specified as the second argument to the
+command. Try invoking it like this:
+
+{{< highlight none  >}}
+:myaddon.histogram @all /tmp/xxx
+{{< /highlight >}}
+
+Notice that mitmproxy provides tab completion both for the flow specification
+and the path.
+
+
+
+## Supported Types
+
+The following types are supported for options. If you need to use a type not
+listed here, please send us a pull request.
+
+- Primitive types: `str`, `int`, `bool`
+- Sequences: `typing.Sequence[str]`
+- Flows and flow sequences: `flow.Flow` and `typing.Sequence[flow.Flow]`
+- Multiple choice strings: `types.Choice`
+- Meta-types: `types.Command` and `types.Arg`. These are for constructing
+  commands that invoke other commands. This is most commonly useful in
+  keybinding - see the built-in mitmproxy console keybindings for a rich suite
+  of examples.
+- Data types: `types.CutSpec` and `types.Data`. The cuts mechanism is in alpha
+  at the moment, and provides a convenient way to snip up flow data.
+- Path: `types.Path`