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Feature request: CLI tool + git-based development workflow #219

@Bradymck

Description

@Bradymck

The problem

The only way to build and test an ability is through the web dashboard. No local testing, no CLI, no git deploy. To test anything, you must publish it live first.

Current steps to update an ability:

  1. Write code
  2. Zip and upload the file manually
  3. Fill out a form
  4. Delete the old version
  5. Turn it on
  6. Wait — no status shown

This is slow and creates friction for developers.

What we want

Short term — CLI tool

Let developers deploy from the terminal:

  • openhome login — authenticate to your account
  • openhome deploy ./my-ability — zip and upload directly
  • openhome test ./my-ability — deploy to a staging version on your agent
  • Show real-time deploy status so developers know when their ability is live

Long term — Git-based workflow (similar to Vercel / Netlify)

  • Connect a GitHub repo to OpenHome
  • Push to a branch → ability auto-deploys to a private test version
  • Merge to main → ability goes public on the marketplace
  • Developers never have to publish just to test

Questions for the team

  1. Is the GitHub integration already planned? What will it do?
  2. Can abilities run locally on the Pi for testing?
  3. Is cloud-only a permanent decision, or just not built yet?
  4. How will community contributions be reviewed as the repo grows?
  5. Will the GitHub repo and the dashboard account ever be connected?

Suggested roadmap

  1. Short term — Fix the Live Editor so testing in the cloud is fast (Bug: Live Editor testing broken + security scanner false positives on string content #218)
  2. Medium term — CLI tool (openhome deploy ./my-ability)
  3. Long term — GitHub repo linking, branch deploys, PR-to-marketplace flow

Would remove a lot of friction and bring the workflow closer to what developers are used to with tools like Vercel or Netlify.

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