fmddr 0.8.0

A CLI and library for analyzing FileMaker DDRs. Built for agents — JSON-first, scriptable, headless.

fmddr

A CLI and library for analyzing FileMaker DDRs (Database Design Reports).

fmddr parses a DDR XML once into a SQLite index, then answers structural and cross-reference queries in milliseconds. The output is JSON-first and stable, so an agent — or a script, or a developer at the terminal — can drive analysis at the same depth a GUI tool offers, without the GUI.

Install

Requires Python 3.11+.

pip install fmddr
# or for an isolated CLI install:
pipx install fmddr

fmddr --version
# fmddr 0.1.0

Listed on PyPI →

From source (for development)

git clone https://github.com/proofsh/fmddr.git
cd fmddr
pip install -e .[dev]    # adds pytest, ruff, build, twine
pip install -e .[lxml]   # adds libxml2-bound parser (optional)

Building a wheel locally

pip install build
python -m build
# → dist/fmddr-<version>-py3-none-any.whl

Quickstart

# 1. Explode the DDR into a per-object XML tree (grep/diff friendly).
fmddr split path/to/Profile.xml --out ./xmls-split

# 2. Build the SQLite index (the "ingest" step).
#    Works on a single DDR (`type="Report"`) or a `Summary.xml` that links
#    multiple files together — both produce one queryable index.
fmddr index path/to/Profile.xml --out ./profile.fmddr.db
fmddr index path/to/Summary.xml --out ./solution.fmddr.db

# 3. Query.
fmddr stats --db ./profile.fmddr.db
fmddr table fields "Production Run" -o table
fmddr field script-refs "Production Run::ProductionRunStatus"
fmddr script chain "Save Case Request" --depth 2 --format mermaid
fmddr cf called-by "FindWordPartsInText"
fmddr impact field "Customer::__UID"
fmddr unused --kind script
fmddr search "Customer*" --kind script

When stdout is a TTY, results render as Rich tables. Pipe to a file or another process and you get JSON. Override with -o {json,jsonl,table,markdown,csv,tsv}.

Why

A FileMaker file with thousands of fields, scripts, and layouts is hard to refactor safely. Every change requires structural reasoning:

• What scripts touch this field, and at which step?
• Which layouts show it, and which objects on those layouts?
• What does this script call, and who calls it?
• If this field is removed, what breaks?
• Where is this custom function used?
• Which steps run risky ExecuteSQL or Evaluate?
• What's dead code? What's an orphan reference?

fmddr answers each of these in a one-line shell command with structured output, so an agent can run thousands of these queries during a refactor — programmatically, with stable output an LLM can parse.

Performance

On a 491 MB DDR from a long-running production file:

• Index build: ~7 s (one-time, streams through the XML)
• 257 tables / 10,403 fields / 1,877 scripts / 189,026 steps
• 873 layouts / 70,564 layout refs / 3,083 TOs / 2,758 relationships
• 123 custom functions / 503 value lists / 8,810 predicate refs
• Queries return in <50 ms

Streaming iterparse + element-clearing keeps memory bounded regardless of DDR size. SQLite with journal_mode=MEMORY, synchronous=OFF during build, plus VACUUM + PRAGMA optimize at end.

Command reference

Ingest

Command	Purpose
fmddr split <ddr>	Per-object XML tree (grep/diff friendly)
fmddr index <ddr> / <Summary.xml>	Build the SQLite index (single file or multi-file)
fmddr stats	Counts and metadata recorded in the index
fmddr file list	Files ingested into this index, with per-file counts
fmddr open	Interactive sqlite3 shell against the index

Tables and fields

Command	Purpose
fmddr table list	All base tables with field counts
fmddr table show <name|id>	Table metadata (records, calc/unstored counts)
fmddr table fields <name|id> [--type ...] [--unstored]	Fields on a table, optionally filtered
fmddr field show <Table::Field|id>	Field metadata (calc text, AutoEnter, storage flags)
fmddr field references <token> [--kind ...]	All references, denormalized
fmddr field script-refs <token>	One row per (script, step) that names the field
fmddr field on-layouts <token>	Distinct layouts that show the field
fmddr field field-refs <token>	Other fields whose calcs name this field
fmddr field where <token>	Counts grouped by owner_kind

Scripts and steps

Command	Purpose
fmddr script list [--folder ...] [--name ...]	All scripts, optionally filtered
fmddr script show <token>	Script header + step count
fmddr script steps <token> [--type ...] [--has ...]	Steps; --has execute_sql|evaluate|get_script_parameter|get_script_result
fmddr script calls <token>	Scripts called from this script
fmddr script called-by <token>	Everything that calls this script
fmddr script fields <token>	Distinct fields touched anywhere in this script
fmddr script elements <token>	Every distinct (field, script, layout, CF) referenced
fmddr script calcs <token>	Every step's text
fmddr script chain <token> --depth N --format mermaid|dot	BFS call-chain diagram (Mermaid / Graphviz / JSON)
fmddr script grep <token> <regex>	Regex search step text within a script
fmddr step show "<Script>:<index>"	Full step detail (FMP step id, has_* flags, var name, text)
fmddr step refs "<Script>:<index>"	All fields/scripts/layouts/CFs this single step references
fmddr risky-steps --has <flag> [--limit N]	Cross-script audit of risky steps (execute_sql etc.)

Layouts

Command	Purpose
fmddr layout list [--folder ...]	All layouts
fmddr layout show <token>	Layout header
fmddr layout objects <token> [--type ...]	Objects on the layout (Field/Button/Portal/TabControl/...)
fmddr layout fields <token>	Distinct fields shown on the layout
fmddr layout scripts <token>	Scripts referenced (buttons + ScriptTriggers)

Custom functions

Command	Purpose
fmddr cf list	All custom functions
fmddr cf show <token>	CF metadata + body
fmddr cf calls <token>	Other CFs this CF calls
fmddr cf fields <token>	Fields referenced inside this CF body
fmddr cf called-by <token>	Everywhere this CF is used

Relationship graph

Command	Purpose
fmddr graph relationships	All relationships
fmddr graph tos [--base-table ...]	Table occurrences, optionally filtered
fmddr graph predicates <relationship_id>	Join predicates for a relationship
fmddr graph path <from-TO> <to-TO> [--max-hops N]	Shortest TO→TO path through relationships

Higher-order

Command	Purpose
fmddr impact field <token>	What breaks if this field is removed
fmddr impact script <token> [--depth N]	Transitive script callers
fmddr unused --kind <field|script|layout|custom_function|value_list|table_occurrence>	Dead code candidates
fmddr orphans	Refs whose target rows don't exist
fmddr cleanup-candidates	Names matching debt patterns (BACKUP/COPY/OLD/TEMP/...)

Search

Command	Purpose
fmddr search <fts5-query> [--kind ...] [--limit N]	FTS5 over names of every kind

Clipboard (macOS only, v1)

Edit a per-object split-tree XML file, then paste straight into FileMaker.

Command	Purpose
fmddr copy <split-xml-path>	Validate, wrap as <fmxmlsnippet>, push to OS clipboard
fmddr copy <script-xml> --steps all|5-12	Copy script steps (all or a subset) as a ScriptStep — paste into a script
fmddr paste [--type Script|Table|...]	Read FM clipboard XML and emit <fmxmlsnippet>
fmddr validate <split-xml-path>	Run pre-clipboard guards only (no clipboard side effects)
fmddr clipboard formats	List FM-recognized clipboard formats currently present

Supports <Script>, <BaseTable>, <CustomFunction> roots. See docs/guides/clipboard.

Global flags

--db <path>                   Override default DB location (also $FMDDR_DB)
-o, --output {json,jsonl,table,markdown,csv,tsv}   Force output format
--version                     Show version and exit

DB lookup order: --db flag → $FMDDR_DB → unique *.fmddr.db in CWD → error.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	OK
1	Not found (no field/script/layout matched)
2	Ambiguous (qualify with Table::Field or --by-id)
64	Bad usage
70	Internal error

Output envelope

Every command emits a stable JSON shape:

{
  "kind": "field.script-refs",
  "version": 1,
  "ddr": {"path": "...", "sha256": "...", "indexed_at": "..."},
  "query": {"field": {"id": 8712, "name": "ProductionRunStatus", "table": "Production Run"}},
  "result": [
    {
      "script_id": 1245, "script_name": "Save Case Request", "folder": "case-management",
      "step_index": 82, "fm_line": 83, "step_type_name": "Perform Script",
      "step_text": "Perform Script [ \"Send Alert Notification\" ... ]",
      "via_to_id": 207, "via_to_name": "Production Run"
    }
  ],
  "result_count": 1,
  "truncated": false
}

kind is the agent contract — agents can dispatch on it without parsing free text. version: 1 allows future schema bumps without breaking older callers.

Tests double as runnable examples

tests/test_demo_questions.py runs through 22 representative analyses against a synthetic mini DDR fixture. Run it with -s to see the formatted output for each one:

pytest tests/test_demo_questions.py -s

When this file passes, the library answers all of them.

Architecture

src/fmddr/
├── cli.py                 # Typer entry point (thin shell)
├── parser/
│   ├── stream.py          # UTF-16 → UTF-8 decode + iterparse driver
│   ├── split.py           # Per-object XML tree explosion
│   └── refs.py            # The uniform Chunk[FieldRef|CustomFunctionRef] walker
├── index/
│   ├── schema.sql         # Canonical SQLite DDL
│   └── build.py           # Streaming insert with executemany batches + staged ref resolution
├── query/
│   ├── tables.py          # base_table + field queries
│   ├── fields.py          # Field reference drills
│   ├── scripts.py         # script + step + steps/refs/calls/elements/calcs
│   ├── layouts.py         # layouts + objects + fields + scripts
│   ├── cf.py              # Custom function queries
│   ├── graph.py           # TOs + relationships + predicates + path
│   ├── impact.py          # impact / unused / orphans / script-chain
│   ├── search.py          # FTS5 + script grep
│   └── resolvers.py       # name|id → (kind, id) with ambiguity handling
├── format/
│   └── output.py          # Stable envelope + multi-format rendering
└── db.py                  # Connection helpers + meta envelope info

The reference graph is the heart: field_ref, script_ref, layout_ref, custom_function_ref, value_list_ref, table_ref — every "where used / depends on" question reduces to a one- or two-hop SQL query.

Docs site

A full Astro/Starlight docs site lives in docs/:

cd docs
npm install
npm run dev          # http://localhost:4321
npm run build        # static site → docs/dist/, deployable anywhere

License

MIT