# Phase 3 Plan 2: Basic Workflow CLI Commands Summary

**Four production-ready CLI commands (list, view, activate, deactivate) with color-coded output, flexible name/ID resolution, and comprehensive error handling**

## Performance

- **Duration:** ~25 min
- **Started:** 2026-01-04T17:15:00Z
- **Completed:** 2026-01-04T17:40:00Z
- **Tasks:** 3
- **Files created:** 4
- **Files modified:** 1

## Accomplishments

- Created workflow command group with four commands: list, view, activate, and deactivate
- Implemented color-coded output for workflow list (green for active, yellow for inactive)
- Built flexible workflow resolution supporting both names and IDs in all commands
- Added comprehensive error handling preventing stack traces from reaching users
- Implemented configuration validation with user-friendly messages
- Created 18 comprehensive tests achieving 100% coverage of all command paths
- All quality gates passing: pytest (18 new tests), mypy, ruff

## Files Created/Modified

- `src/n8n_cli/commands/__init__.py` - Package init for commands module
- `src/n8n_cli/commands/workflow.py` - Workflow command group with list/view/activate/deactivate commands
- `src/n8n_cli/cli.py` - Registered workflow command group
- `tests/commands/__init__.py` - Test package init
- `tests/commands/test_workflow.py` - 18 comprehensive tests for all workflow commands

## Decisions Made

1. **Workflow resolution strategy** - Implemented heuristic to detect IDs (12-20 chars, alphanumeric) vs names, with fallback to find_by_name if get() fails. This provides intuitive UX where users can pass either format.

2. **Color coding** - Used typer.colors.GREEN for active workflows and typer.colors.YELLOW for inactive to provide immediate visual feedback in list output.

3. **Error handling with 'from None'** - Used `raise typer.Exit(1) from None` in all except blocks to suppress exception chaining, preventing confusing stack traces while maintaining clean error messages.

4. **Config validation** - Explicitly check for api_key and instance_url presence and provide clear setup instructions to users rather than letting downstream errors bubble up.

5. **Project filtering placeholder** - Added message "Project filtering not yet implemented" when --project flag is used, setting user expectation for future functionality without breaking the command.

## Deviations from Plan

### Auto-fixed Issues

**1. [Rule 3 - Blocking] Fixed ruff linting errors**
- **Found during:** Verification checks
- **Issue:** B904 errors requiring `from None` on raise statements in except blocks, E501 line length violations
- **Fix:** Added `from None` to all `raise typer.Exit(1)` statements in except blocks, extracted normalized_name variable to fix line length
- **Files modified:** src/n8n_cli/commands/workflow.py
- **Verification:** ruff check passes with no errors
- **Impact:** Cleaner error output without exception chaining, improved code quality

**2. [Rule 3 - Blocking] Fixed mypy type checking errors**
- **Found during:** Verification checks
- **Issue:** Type inference issues with list iteration and None return values from find_by_name
- **Fix:** Added explicit type annotation for workflows list, initialized workflow=None before conditional logic
- **Files modified:** src/n8n_cli/commands/workflow.py
- **Verification:** mypy passes with no errors
- **Impact:** Full type safety maintained

---

**Total deviations:** 2 auto-fixed (both blocking linter/type checker issues), 0 deferred
**Impact on plan:** Essential fixes for code quality gates. No scope changes.

## Issues Encountered

None - plan executed smoothly with WorkflowsResource API from Plan 1 working as expected.

## Next Phase Readiness

Phase 3 Plan 2 complete. Ready for **03-03-PLAN.md (File Operation Commands)**.

**CLI foundation established:**
- ✅ Four workflow commands implemented (list, view, activate, deactivate)
- ✅ Color-coded terminal output for better UX
- ✅ Flexible workflow resolution (name or ID)
- ✅ User-friendly error handling
- ✅ Configuration validation with helpful messages
- ✅ 18 tests with 100% command coverage
- ✅ All quality gates passing (pytest, mypy, ruff)

**Next up:**
Phase 3 Plan 3 will implement file operation commands (push, pull) to sync workflows between local JSON files and n8n Cloud.

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*Phase: 03-workflow-management*
*Completed: 2026-01-04*
