---

name: sevdesk-agent-cli description: "Sevdesk bookkeeping automation via a global CLI, with read-first discovery, voucher intake, transaction matching, invoice/order/contact workflows, and delete-guarded mutations."

sevdesk-agent-cli

When to use

Use this skill when tasks involve sevdesk API access from this workspace, especially when an agent must:

• inspect business/accounting state via read-only endpoints,
• search contacts, invoices, vouchers, or transactions without improvising raw API filters,
• create or update contacts, quotes, invoices, and vouchers through typed workflows,
• match vouchers against bank transactions and prepare or execute bookings,
• execute write endpoints quickly while keeping DELETE operations explicitly guarded,
• produce a context snapshot for later agent runs.

Preconditions

• Ensure the CLI is globally available on PATH once per machine:
  • preferred: npm install -g @codecell-germany/sevdesk-agent-skill
  • Codex bootstrap helper: npx -y -p @codecell-germany/sevdesk-agent-skill sevdesk-agent-skill install --force
  • verify: sevdesk-agent --help
• If sevdesk-agent is still not found after install:
  • check the npm global prefix: npm config get prefix
  • add <prefix>/bin to PATH for the current shell if needed
• Temporary fallback without global install:
  • npx -y -p @codecell-germany/sevdesk-agent-skill sevdesk-agent --help
• For skill-aware agent environments, install the skill payload explicitly:
  • sevdesk-agent-skill install --force
• API token is available in env:
  • SEVDESK_API_TOKEN=<token>
• Optional env:
  • SEVDESK_BASE_URL (default https://my.sevdesk.de/api/v1)
  • SEVDESK_USER_AGENT
• SEVDESK_ALLOW_WRITE=true (required only for DELETE operations, unless --allow-write is used)

First-run detection

Run this before the first real bookkeeping workflow on a machine:

sevdesk-agent --help
sevdesk-agent doctor --json
sevdesk-agent read bookkeepingSystemVersion --output json

Treat the environment as not ready if any of these are true:

• sevdesk-agent is not available on PATH
• SEVDESK_API_TOKEN is missing
• doctor reports a failed check
• bookkeepingSystemVersion cannot be read successfully

If setup is incomplete, install the public package first, verify the token, and only then continue to read, find-*, or write workflows.

Core workflow

1. Discover operation ids:
   • sevdesk-agent ops list --read-only
   • sevdesk-agent op-show <operationId>
   • sevdesk-agent ops-quirks
   • stable parser output: sevdesk-agent ops-quirks --json-array
2. Run read calls first:
   • sevdesk-agent read <operationId> --query key=value
   • sevdesk-agent read find-contact --query term="<name>" --output json (alias for top-level find-contact)
   • sevdesk-agent read resolve-billing-contact --query term="<name>" --output json (alias for helper command)
   • sevdesk-agent read find-invoice --query term="<text>" --query deepScan=true --output json (alias for helper command)
   • sevdesk-agent read find-transaction --query amount=119 --query booked=false --output json (alias for helper command)
   • sevdesk-agent read match-transaction --query voucherId=<id> --output json (alias for helper command)
   • local contact search helper: sevdesk-agent find-contact <term> --output json
   • billing helper: sevdesk-agent resolve-billing-contact <term> --output json
   • invoice text search: sevdesk-agent find-invoice <term> --deep-scan --output json
   • transaction search: sevdesk-agent find-transaction "<text>" --amount <n> --booked false --output json
   • voucher-to-transaction matching: sevdesk-agent match-transaction --voucher-id <id> --output json
   • semantic transaction matching: sevdesk-agent transaction find-match --supplier "<name>" --amount <n> --date <yyyy-mm-dd> --direction expense --output json
   • voucher inspection: sevdesk-agent voucher inspect --id <id> --output json
   • by default, read responses are normalized for known live API quirks
   • Shell quoting: params like contact[id] should be quoted: --query 'contact[id]=123'
   • Invoice date filters (observed): in our tests, getInvoices works with startDate/endDate as Unix timestamps (seconds). ISO dates like 2026-01-01 may return empty results. Example: sevdesk-agent read getInvoices --query startDate=1767225600 --query endDate=1769903999 --output json
   • Generate a full read-op reference doc: sevdesk-agent docs read-ops --output knowledge/READ_OPERATIONS.md
3. For write calls:
   • POST / PUT / PATCH: sevdesk-agent write <operationId> ...
   • ergonomic entity edits:
     • sevdesk-agent order edit --order-id <id> ... --verify
     • sevdesk-agent contact edit --contact-id <id> ... --verify
   • multipart writes are available with --form-field key=value and --form-file file=/path/to/file
   • DELETE: sevdesk-agent write <operationId> --execute --confirm-execute yes --allow-write ...
   • for createContact / createOrder, local preflight validation runs by default
   • for createInvoiceByFactory, preflight also validates invoice/delivery date consistency (--auto-fix-delivery-date available)
   • for voucherFactorySaveVoucher and bookVoucher, local preflight validates the high-risk accounting fields before the API call
   • add --verify to run read-only post-write checks (including createInvoiceByFactory, voucherFactorySaveVoucher and bookVoucher)
   • for createContact workflows, prefer --verify-contact (includes customerNumber mismatch checks; auto-fix enabled by default and can be disabled via --no-fix-contact)
4. Persist agent handoff context:
   • stdout (default): sevdesk-agent context snapshot
   • optional file export: sevdesk-agent context snapshot --output .context/sevdesk-context-snapshot.json

Standard runbook: Kontakt + Angebot + PDF

1. Discovery:
   • sevdesk-agent ops list --read-only
   • sevdesk-agent op-show createContact
   • sevdesk-agent op-show createOrder
2. Kontakt finden/erstellen:
   • sevdesk-agent find-contact "<name or customerNumber>" --output json
   • sevdesk-agent write createContact ... --verify-contact
3. Angebot erstellen:
   • sevdesk-agent write createOrder ... --verify
4. PDF export ohne Status-Nebeneffekt:
   • sevdesk-agent read orderGetPdf --path orderId=<id> --decode-pdf output/<file>.pdf --suppress-content
   • preventSendBy=1 wird standardmäßig gesetzt (--no-safe-pdf deaktiviert das)
5. Handoff:
   • sevdesk-agent context snapshot --include-default

Additional invoice helpers

• Installment from existing invoice:
  • sevdesk-agent create-invoice-installment --from-invoice <id> --percent 70 --label "..." [--execute --verify]
• Clone invoice for recurring workflows:
  • sevdesk-agent invoice clone --from <id> --date <...> --period <...> with selective position overrides
• Safe invoice replacement when generic invoice mutation is not available:
  • sevdesk-agent invoice recreate --from <id> --patch-file payloads/invoice.patch.json --verify
• Voucher intake from local PDF:
  • sevdesk-agent create-voucher-from-pdf --file /absolute/path/to/beleg.pdf ... [--execute --verify]
• Voucher booking helpers:
  • sevdesk-agent voucher inspect --id <id> --output json
  • sevdesk-agent voucher book-existing --voucher-id <id> --transaction-id <id> [--execute --verify]
  • sevdesk-agent book-voucher --voucher-id <id> --check-account-id <id> --amount <n> [--transaction-id <id>] [--execute --verify]
  • sevdesk-agent assign-voucher-to-transaction --voucher-id <id> --check-account-id <id> --transaction-id <id> --amount <n> [--execute --verify]
  • sevdesk-agent expense process-paid --file /absolute/path/to/beleg.pdf --transaction-id <id> ... [--execute --verify]
• Self-check and command sync:
  • sevdesk-agent doctor --json

Guardrails

• Default behavior is workflow-friendly: POST/PUT/PATCH run directly; DELETE is blocked unless guard flags are set.
• In production workflows, prefer read-only tests and read-only probes first.
• For *GetPdf endpoints, responses are typically JSON wrapped in data.objects (often containing filename, mimetype, and base64 content).
• for orderGetPdf / invoiceGetPdf, CLI now applies preventSendBy=1 by default (safe PDF mode).
• use --decode-pdf <path> for direct PDF file output without jq/base64.
• with --decode-pdf, use --suppress-content (default) to keep large base64 payload out of CLI output.
• create-voucher-from-pdf, book-voucher and assign-voucher-to-transaction are dry-run by default; real writes happen only with --execute.
• voucher book-existing and expense process-paid are also dry-run by default; use --execute only after checking the derived payload.
• order edit, contact edit and invoice recreate execute directly like normal PUT/POST flows; use --verify to validate the result immediately.
• When a write response or built-in verification returns ok: false, the CLI now exits with a non-zero shell status. Do not treat that as success in automation.
• If the server returns a non-JSON binary content-type (pdf/xml/zip/csv), the CLI prints metadata (binary, bytes, contentType) instead of raw bytes.
• Runtime-required query quirks are enforced for selected operations (e.g. contactCustomerNumberAvailabilityCheck requires customerNumber at runtime).
• Use op-show or ops-quirks to see operation-specific runtime quirks.
• ops-quirks --json returns an object mapping; for stable array parsing use ops-quirks --json-array.
• if you need invoice mutation guidance and updateInvoice is missing, run sevdesk-agent docs invoice-edit.
• if you need to change invoice content, prefer sevdesk-agent invoice recreate --from <id> ... over guessing a raw updateInvoice payload.
• for numbering/finalization sequence after invoice creation, run sevdesk-agent docs invoice-finalize.

References

• Command cheat sheet: references/command-cheatsheet.md
• Offer/order write notes (live behavior): knowledge/SEVDESK_ORDER_WRITE_LEARNINGS.md