Scripting with -c: an empty -c "" starts the interactive REPL, and one failing DESCRIBE in a ;-batch silently stops the rest of the batch

[MohamedElNady]

Environment

• mxcli: v0.24.0 (2026-09-24T05:44:35Z), Windows (Git Bash)
• Mendix: 11.14.0, blank project from mx create-project (MPR v2)

Summary

Two traps for tools and agents that generate -c batches (for example, one mxcli -c "describe …; describe …" call instead of 100 processes).

1. -c "" opens the REPL. When a generator produces an empty statement list, mxcli -p App.mpr -c "" prints the mdl> prompt and waits on stdin. From a non-interactive caller this is a hang (ours waited 10 minutes). With stdin at /dev/null it prints mdl> / Goodbye! and exits 0.
2. A failing statement stops the batch, with a misleading error. describe entity of a non-entity name ends the batch, and the error text talks about creating objects:

$ mxcli -p Repro.mpr -c "describe entity System.User; describe entity String; describe entity System.FileDocument"
create or modify persistent entity System.User (
...
Error: module name is required: objects must be created within a module (use ModuleName.ObjectName syntax)

System.FileDocument is never described.

Expected

• -c "" (an empty or whitespace-only command) is a no-op or an error, never interactive. An explicit --repl or the absence of -c should be the only way to start the REPL.
• In a -c batch, a failing read-only statement (describe, show) reports its error and the batch continues. Alternatively, a flag such as --continue-on-error does this.
• The error for an unqualified name in describe says "String is not a qualified entity name" rather than talking about object creation.

Actual

1. An empty -c hangs a non-interactive caller.
2. Later statements are skipped, with an error that doesn't point at the real cause.

Minor, but both cost real time when mxcli is driven by a generator.

[github-actions]

Issue Triage

Summary:
The issue reports that an empty -c "" argument launches an interactive REPL (causing hangs) and that a failing describe statement stops a semicolon‑separated batch with a misleading error message.

Checklist for bug report completeness

Required information	Present?	Details
mxcli version	✅	v0.24.0 (2026-09-24T05:44:35Z)
Mendix version	✅	11.14.0
Scenario (what the user was trying to do)	✅	Using mxcli -p … -c "<command>;<command>" to run multiple statements in one invocation, including an empty command and a failing describe.
Expected output	✅	Empty -c should be a no‑or error (never start REPL); failing read‑only statement should report error and continue batch; error message should indicate unqualified name.
Experienced output	✅	Empty -c opens REPL (hangs or prints prompt); failing describe stops batch and shows object‑creation‑related error; later statements are skipped.
AI bug report (mxcli diag --bundle or session log)	❌	Not provided.

What’s missing:
The issue does not include the output of mxcli diag --bundle (or at least a session log) that would help developers reproduce the environment and any internal state.

Polite request:
Could you please run mxcli diag --bundle (or share the relevant session log) and attach the resulting file or output to the issue? That will give us the extra context needed to investigate and fix the problem.

Thank you for taking the time to report this!

---

Automated triage via OpenRouter — workflow source

[MohamedElNady]

Adding the session log requested by the triage bot.

To keep it free of unrelated project data, I re-ran the reproduction from this issue on a fresh blank Mendix 11.14.0 project (mx create-project, MPR v2), with mxcli's log directory isolated to this run only (HOME / USERPROFILE pointed at an empty folder). The log below therefore contains nothing but this reproduction. Result: same behaviour as reported above (mxcli v0.24.0, windows/amd64).

The empty -c run below had stdin at /dev/null, so the REPL read EOF and exited. With an open stdin (a generator spawning mxcli without redirecting it), it sits at the mdl> prompt indefinitely.

mxcli diag

mxcli diagnostics
  Version:     v0.24.0
  Go:          go1.26.6 windows/amd64
  Log dir:     D:\Mohamed\Mendix\_mxrepro\home_1218\.mxcli\logs
  Log files:   1 files (1 KB)
  Sessions:    2 (last 7 days)
  Errors:      1 (last 7 days)

Recent errors:
  [2026-09-27 16:10] describe ENTITY String: module name is required: objects must be created within a module (use ModuleName.ObjectName syntax)

Session log: complete .mxcli/logs/mxcli-2026-09-27.log for this run (9 lines)

{"time":"2026-09-27T16:10:59.0513108+03:00","level":"INFO","msg":"session_start","version":"v0.24.0","go":"go1.26.6","os":"windows","arch":"amd64","mode":"batch","args":["C:\\Tools\\mxcli.exe","-p","Repro.mpr","-c",""],"pid":9484,"parent_pid":""}
{"time":"2026-09-27T16:10:59.1001527+03:00","level":"INFO","msg":"connect","mpr_path":"Repro.mpr","mendix_version":"11.14.0","mpr_format":2}
{"time":"2026-09-27T16:10:59.1005593+03:00","level":"INFO","msg":"execute","stmt_type":"ConnectStmt","stmt_summary":"connect local 'Repro.mpr'","duration_ms":2}
{"time":"2026-09-27T16:10:59.1027485+03:00","level":"INFO","msg":"session_end","commands_executed":1,"errors_count":0,"duration_s":0,"pid":9484}
{"time":"2026-09-27T16:10:59.6873625+03:00","level":"INFO","msg":"session_start","version":"v0.24.0","go":"go1.26.6","os":"windows","arch":"amd64","mode":"batch","args":["C:\\Tools\\mxcli.exe","-p","Repro.mpr","-c","describe entity System.User; describe entity String; describe entity System.FileDocument"],"pid":44312,"parent_pid":""}
{"time":"2026-09-27T16:10:59.7506059+03:00","level":"INFO","msg":"connect","mpr_path":"Repro.mpr","mendix_version":"11.14.0","mpr_format":2}
{"time":"2026-09-27T16:10:59.7509589+03:00","level":"INFO","msg":"execute","stmt_type":"ConnectStmt","stmt_summary":"connect local 'Repro.mpr'","duration_ms":2}
{"time":"2026-09-27T16:10:59.8377522+03:00","level":"INFO","msg":"execute","stmt_type":"DescribeStmt","stmt_summary":"describe ENTITY System.User","duration_ms":86}
{"time":"2026-09-27T16:10:59.8380678+03:00","level":"ERROR","msg":"execute_error","stmt_type":"DescribeStmt","stmt_summary":"describe ENTITY String","error":"module name is required: objects must be created within a module (use ModuleName.ObjectName syntax)","duration_ms":0}

No entry for describe ENTITY System.FileDocument and no session_end: the batch stopped at the failing statement.

Console transcript of the same run

$ mxcli -p Repro.mpr -c "" < /dev/null
Connected to: Repro.mpr (Mendix 11.14.0)
MDL REPL — Mendix Definition Language
Type 'help' or '?' for commands, 'exit' or 'quit' to quit
Tab: autocomplete, ↑↓: history, Ctrl+R: search history
mdl> 
Goodbye!
exit=0

$ mxcli -p Repro.mpr -c "describe entity System.User; describe entity String; describe entity System.FileDocument"
@Position(0, 0)
create or modify persistent entity System.User (
  Name: String(100),
  Password: Unknown,
  LastLogin: DateTime,
  Blocked: Boolean,
  BlockedSince: DateTime,
  Active: Boolean,
  FailedLogins: Integer,
  WebServiceUser: Boolean,
  IsAnonymous: Boolean
);
/
Error: module name is required: objects must be created within a module (use ModuleName.ObjectName syntax)

mxcli diag --bundle of this isolated log directory contains exactly the log above; I can attach the tar.gz as a file if you prefer.