# crm-cli > A command-line Customer Relationship Management software. * Works as a standalone local cli tool or client / server for multi-users * With or withhout a database, supporting: * data as a singe JSON file * [CouchDB](https://couchdb.apache.org/) ## Who is it for? The geek entrepreneur. ## Why? * You own your data. * Use an open text-based format: * JSON it is. * You can create custom reporting tools. * You can create your own integrations (import, export, ...) * Open-source: * The code is very concise, hack into it! ## Installation npm install -g crm-cli ## Usage Get into the directory where you want your data to be stored. Something shared on Dropbox (or whatever) is a good idea. The run the bellow command to initialize your data file. crm init-crm This creates a file called `crm.json` in the current directory. You can change the path to that file using the `DATABASE_JSON_FILE` environment variable (example: `DATABASE_JSON_FILE=/home/user/crm.json`) The full list of commands supported by the tool is available by just entering `crm` on the command line. ``` usage: crm COMMAND [filter] Available commands: - reports: i,interactions ... list of interactions. com,companies .... list of companies. con,contacts ..... list of contacts. a,apps ........... list of apps. about ............ all we know about a contact / company. f,followup ....... list of required follow-up. - data entry: add-company ............ register a new company. add-contact ............ register a new contact. add-app ................ register a new app. add-i,add-interaction .. register a new customer interaction. edit-company .............. edit an existing company. edit-contact .............. edit an existing contact. edit-app .................. edit an existing app. edit-i,edit-interaction ... edit an existing interaction. done ...................... remove follow-up date from interaction. - email: template FILE .......... fill in values for an email template. template-help .......... show the list of template fields. - system: init-crm ........ create data file in current directory. ``` ## Non-local usage CRM cli also features a client server architecture. You can launch a server: ```sh export SERVER_API_KEY=myapikey export HOSTNAME=127.0.0.1 # that's the default export PORT=3000 export DATABASE_URL=file://database.json crm server ``` Then connect the CRM client to the server: ```sh export DATABASE_URL=http://myapikey@127.0.0.1:3000 # reset the database, or do whatever crm init-crm ``` Notice that the CRM server doesn't support SSL, so it's strongly recommended you only expose it through a reverse proxy. ## Docker You can run the server with docker. ```sh docker run -p 8000:80 --rm -it jeko/crm-server ``` To build the image: ```sh docker build -t jeko/crm-server . ``` By default it will use a local `crm.json` file stored in a volume mounted in `/app/data`. You can customize the database with the `DATABASE_URL` environment variable. ## Note on filters All reports commands accepts a filter argument, used to restrict the data display. The filter is a fuzzy case-insensitive operator. Examples: * `crm about microsoft` will show all data you have about `Microsoft`. * `crm about marc twain` will show all data you have about `Marc Twain`. ## DATABASE_URL The `DATABASE_URL` environment variable sets the connection to the database. Possible values: * `file://PATH/TO-FILE.json` - Relative path to a JSON file * `file:///PATH/TO-FILE.json` - Absolute path to a JSON file * `http://USER:API_KEY@HOST:PORT` - URL to a CRM server (see "server" command) * `couchdb://USER:PASSWORD@HOSTNAME:5984/DATABASE_NAME` - CouchDB over HTTP * `couchdbs://USER:PASSWORD@HOSTNAME:5984/DATABASE_NAME` - CouchDB over HTTPS * `memory://` - Non-persistent in-memory database (for testing) ## Best practices * Put the `crm.json` file in version control. ## Template emails Here is how I use the template feature. I create a file that contains the headers and body of an email (see templates/subscriber-followup.txt for an example) To initiate an email to our newly subscribed customer (Microsoftware in this example): ``` crm template tempates/fup-registration.txt Microsoftware > email.txt neomutt -H email.txt ``` This will open a Draft in mutt with all fields replaced. I guess not everyone uses neomutt, but it's easy to adjust to your need. You can simply paste the output of the `crm template` command and compose your email from gmail or whatever. ## Data format `crm.json` contains JSON formatted data. The root element is an array of *Companies*. #### Company A *Company* has the following attributes: * `name`: string * `url`: string * `address`: string * `contacts`: array of *Contacts* * `interactions`: array of *Interactions* * `apps`: array of *Apps* #### Contact A *Contact* has the following attributes: * `firstName`: string * `lastName`: string * `role`: string * `email`: string The `email` field is considered a primary key. Should appear in only 1 *Contact* across all *Companies*. #### Interaction An *Interaction* has the following attributes: * `kind`: string -- the type of interaction (email, github, automated, ...) * `date`: string -- date of the interaction (anything javascript `Date` constructor can parse) * `from`: string -- email address of the contact * `summary`: string -- short summary of the interaction * `content`: string (optional) -- full interaction * `followUpDate`: string (optional) -- when a follow-up is due #### Apps An *App* has the following attributes: * `appName` * `plan` * `email` * `createdAt` * `upgradedAt` * `churnedAt` Apps is basically one of your products or subscription you're trying to sell... It's specific to my use case, if the tool is useful to others, we might make the *App* concept a little more generic. ## Interested by the idea? Am I launching a rock in the water by sharing this on github? Do you have some interest? Let me know! PRs are welcome, of course. ## Legal * GPL v3 -- https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html * Copyright (c) 2018, Fovea -- https://fovea.cc