cmissh 2026.1.0

CMIS Python client library and command-line shell

CMIS Shell (cmissh)

A Python-based CMIS (Content Management Interoperability Services) client library and interactive command-line shell for browsing and managing content on CMIS repositories.

Features

• CMIS Client Library: Python client supporting both AtomPub and Browser bindings
• Interactive Shell: Command-line interface similar to a Unix shell for CMIS repositories
• Multiple Execution Modes:
  • Interactive mode with command history and tab completion
  • Single command execution (-e flag)
  • Batch script execution (-b flag)
• Comprehensive Commands: Navigation, file operations, property management, and more

Installation

From Source

# Clone the repository
git clone <repository-url>
cd cmissh

# Install in development mode
pip install -e .

# Or install with development dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Using pip (once published)

pip install cmissh

Quick Start

Interactive Mode

Start the shell and connect to a CMIS repository:

# Start shell
cmissh

# Connect to repository
|:> connect admin:admin@http://localhost:8080/alfresco/api/-default-/public/cmis/versions/1.1/atom

Or connect directly when starting:

cmissh -u admin -p admin http://localhost:8080/alfresco/api/-default-/public/cmis/versions/1.1/atom

Single Command Mode

Execute a single command and exit:

cmissh -u admin -p admin -e "ls" http://localhost:8080/alfresco/api/-default-/public/cmis/versions/1.1/atom

Batch Mode

Execute commands from a script file:

cmissh -u admin -p admin -b script.cmis http://localhost:8080/alfresco/api/-default-/public/cmis/versions/1.1/atom

Available Commands

Connection

• connect [user:pass@]<url> - Connect to a CMIS repository
• disconnect - Disconnect from current repository

Navigation

• ls [path] - List contents of folder or available repositories
• cd <path> - Change directory or select repository
• pwd - Print working directory
• pushd <path> - Push directory to stack and change to new directory
• popd - Pop directory from stack and return to it
• tree [path] [depth] - Display repository tree structure (alias: dump)

File Operations

• mkdir <name> - Create a new folder
• mkfile <name> - Create a new empty document (alias: mkdoc)
• rm <name> - Remove an object (alias: del)
• get <doc> [local] - Download document content (alias: getstream)
• put <local> [remote] - Upload file as document (alias: setstream)
• cat <doc> - Display document content to console

Property Management

• props [path] - Display all properties of an object
• propget <prop> [path] - Get specific property value (alias: getp)
• propset <prop> <value> [path] - Set property value (alias: setp)
• id [path] - Display object ID and type information

Local File System

• lpwd - Print local working directory
• lcd <path> - Change local working directory
• lls [path] - List local directory contents (alias: ll)
• lpushd <path> - Push local directory to stack
• lpopd - Pop local directory from stack

Utility

• help [command] - Show help for commands
• exit / quit - Exit the shell

Usage Examples

Example Session

$ cmissh
CMIS Shell. Type 'help' for help, 'connect' to connect to a repository.
|:> connect admin:admin@http://localhost:8080/alfresco/api/-default-/public/cmis/versions/1.1/atom
Connected to http://localhost:8080/alfresco/api/-default-/public/cmis/versions/1.1/atom
|:> ls
Available repositories:
  -default-
|:> cd -default-
Entered repository: -default-
|-default-> ls
  Data Dictionary/
  Guest Home/
  Shared/
  Sites/
  User Homes/
|-default-> cd Sites
|-default-:Sites> ls
  swsdp/
|-default-:Sites> cd swsdp
|-default-:swsdp> tree
swsdp/
  documentLibrary/
    Agency Files/
    Meeting Notes/
  wiki/
|-default-:swsdp> cd documentLibrary
|-default-:documentLibrary> mkdir TestFolder
Created folder: TestFolder
|-default-:documentLibrary> cd TestFolder
|-default-:TestFolder> put /tmp/test.txt
Created document: test.txt
|-default-:TestFolder> ls
  test.txt
|-default-:TestFolder> cat test.txt
This is a test file.
|-default-:TestFolder> props test.txt
Properties of test.txt:
cmis:baseTypeId = cmis:document
cmis:contentStreamFileName = test.txt
cmis:contentStreamLength = 21
cmis:contentStreamMimeType = text/plain
cmis:createdBy = admin
cmis:name = test.txt
cmis:objectId = workspace://SpacesStore/abc123...
cmis:objectTypeId = cmis:document
...
|-default-:TestFolder> quit
Bye

Batch Script Example

Create a file setup.cmis:

# Connect and navigate
cd -default-
cd Sites/swsdp/documentLibrary

# Create folder structure
mkdir Projects
cd Projects
mkdir Documentation
mkdir Code

# Upload files
put /tmp/readme.md Documentation/README.md
put /tmp/code.py Code/main.py

Run it:

cmissh -u admin -p admin -b setup.cmis http://localhost:8080/alfresco/api/-default-/public/cmis/versions/1.1/atom

Using the Library

You can also use cmissh as a library in your Python code:

from cmissh.model import CmisClient

# Connect to repository
client = CmisClient(
    'http://localhost:8080/alfresco/api/-default-/public/cmis/versions/1.1/atom',
    'admin',
    'admin'
)

# Get default repository
repo = client.getDefaultRepository()

# Get root folder
root = repo.getRootFolder()

# List children
for child in root.getChildren():
    print(child.getName())

# Create a folder
properties = {
    'cmis:objectTypeId': 'cmis:folder',
    'cmis:name': 'My New Folder'
}
new_folder = root.createFolder(properties)

# Create a document with content
with open('myfile.txt', 'rb') as f:
    properties = {
        'cmis:objectTypeId': 'cmis:document',
        'cmis:name': 'MyDocument.txt'
    }
    doc = new_folder.createDocument(properties, contentFile=f)

# Get document by path
doc = repo.getObjectByPath('/My New Folder/MyDocument.txt')

# Download content
content = doc.getContentStream()
with open('downloaded.txt', 'wb') as f:
    f.write(content.read())

CMIS Bindings

The library supports two CMIS protocol bindings:

1. AtomPub Binding (XML-based) - Legacy but widely supported
2. Browser Binding (JSON-based) - Modern and more efficient

The binding is automatically selected based on the repository URL.

Development

Setup Development Environment

# Clone repository
git clone <repository-url>
cd cmissh

# Install with development dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Running Tests

The project includes a comprehensive test suite with 430+ tests:

# Run all unit tests (no CMIS server required!)
pytest
# Or: make test

# Run with verbose output
pytest -v

# Run with coverage report
pytest --cov=cmissh --cov-report=term-missing
# Or: make test-coverage

# Run specific test categories
pytest -m unit              # Fast unit tests
pytest -m integration       # Integration tests (mocked)
pytest -m shell             # Shell command tests

# Run server integration tests (requires CMIS server)
make test-server
# Or with custom server:
# CMIS_URL=http://myserver/cmis CMIS_USER=user CMIS_PASSWORD=pass make test-server

# Run ALL tests including server integration
make test-all

Unit tests (430+) use mocks - no external dependencies required! Server integration tests (29) validate against a real CMIS server (optional)

Test Coverage by Module

Module	Coverage
Exceptions	100% ✅
Utilities	87% ⭐
CLI	87% ⭐
Model	84% ⭐
Shell	75% 🟡
Domain	62% 🟡
Bindings	27-30% 🔴

See TEST_SUMMARY.md for detailed coverage information and tests/SERVER_INTEGRATION.md for server testing documentation.

Code Formatting

# Format code
black src/

# Lint code
ruff src/

Type Checking

mypy src/

Requirements

• Python 3.9 or higher
• Dependencies:
  • iso8601 - Date/time parsing
  • requests - HTTP client
  • requests-toolbelt - Multipart encoding

Compatibility

This library is compatible with CMIS 1.0 and 1.1 compliant repositories, including:

• Alfresco
• Apache Chemistry OpenCMIS (InMemory Server)
• Nuxeo
• Microsoft SharePoint
• IBM FileNet
• EMC Documentum
• And other CMIS-compliant systems

License

Apache License 2.0

Credits

This project builds upon:

• cmislib - Original Apache Chemistry CMIS Python client library
• cmissh - Original Java-based CMIS shell by Nuxeo

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit pull requests or open issues.

Resources

• CMIS Specification
• Apache Chemistry Project