aciapi(a4i)

CLI/MCP/Python Library for the Cisco ACI REST API.

• The token is never written to disk. login hands it to a small per-user daemon that holds it in memory, behind a Unix domain socket, so it survives across short-lived CLI invocations without touching the filesystem.
• The ACI object model ships with it. search and describe answer what a class is called and what a body may set on it, without an APIC and without a login.
• merge and diff compare a fabric against an intended configuration, reporting both what the configuration asks for and the fabric lacks, and what the fabric carries and the configuration never mentions.

Install

pip install a4i

Shell completion is printed to standard output; add one line to your shell's startup file:

eval "$(a4i generate-shell-completion zsh)"    # ~/.zshrc, after compinit
eval "$(a4i generate-shell-completion bash)"   # ~/.bashrc
a4i generate-shell-completion fish | source    # ~/.config/fish/config.fish

Usage

a4i login apic1.example.com -u admin              # prompts for password; -k if self-signed
a4i get class fvTenant                            # class query
a4i get mo uni/tn-common                          # MO query, by DN
a4i get class fvTenant --query-target subtree --rsp-subtree full
a4i get class l1PhysIf --node leaf101.example.com # query a switch with the same token
echo '{"fvTenant":{"attributes":{"name":"demo"}}}' | a4i post mo uni/tn-demo
a4i logout                                        # drop the in-memory session
a4i daemon status                                 # is a token held, and for how long
a4i login apic1.example.com -u admin --read-only  # a session that will refuse every POST
a4i mcp                                           # serve MCP on stdio for an LLM client

get, post and list each take a class or an mo subcommand, so a DN needs no leading / and a class name is never mistaken for one. Every get option is named after the ACI query parameter it sets, so a parameter read in the APIC REST API documentation can be typed as-is -- a4i get class --help lists them.

Reading the model

a4i search 'bridge domain'          # which class is that, by name
a4i describe fvBD                   # what a body may set on it
a4i list class fvT                  # class names starting with fvT
a4i list mo uni/tn-common           # the MOs one level under that DN

search, describe and list class read the bundled dictionary, so they need neither a login nor a daemon. list mo asks the APIC for one level of children, so it needs a session.

$ a4i describe fvCtx
fvCtx  VRF
The private layer 3 network context that belongs to a specific tenant or is
shared.

rn  ctx-{name}
dn  uni/tn-{name}/ctx-{name}
in  fvTenant

properties (13 settable, 14 read-only hidden)
  descr                string:Basic (0-128)            Specifies a descriptio…
  ipDataPlaneLearning  disabled|enabled = enabled
  name*                string:Basic (1-64)             A name for the network…
  pcEnfDir             egress|ingress|mixed = ingress  Policy Control Enforce…
  pcEnfPref            enforced|unenforced = enforced
  …
children (42)  --children to list them

A * marks a naming property -- the one the RN is built from. The middle column is what the property accepts, with the default after =. -a spells out the read-only properties, --children the classes that may hang under this one, and --json prints the underlying record instead of the layout.

Comparing a configuration

merge folds a configuration written across several files into the one body that diff and post each take, later files winning attribute by attribute. diff then compares that configuration against everything the fabric has under uni.

a4i merge ./configs/ -o merged.json               # every *.json, in path order
a4i merge ./configs/ | a4i diff
a4i merge ./configs/ | a4i diff --exclude uni/tn-common --exclude uni/infra
a4i post mo uni/tn-demo --dry-run '{"fvTenant":{"attributes":{"descr":"prod"}}}'

- fvTenant uni/tn-common  (extra: 2 child MOs)
  - descr: ""
  - name: "common"

~ fvBD uni/tn-demo/BD-bd1
  ~ mtu: "1500" -> "9000"

+ fvTenant uni/tn-new  (missing: 2 child MOs)
  + descr: "added"
  + name: "new"

1 missing, 1 modified, 1 extra

+ is an MO the configuration asks for and the fabric does not have, - one the fabric has and the configuration does not mention, and ~ one whose attributes differ. A wholly missing or wholly extra subtree is reported as its top MO with the MOs below it counted; --expand lists every one of them.

The configuration is taken to describe the whole of uni, so everything it leaves out is extra -- including tn-common, tn-infra, tn-mgmt and the policies the APIC creates for itself. --exclude is how the rest is quietened: it takes a DN, or a pattern whose * matches within one RN, and is repeatable.

post --dry-run reads the same way over a single POST: it fetches the subtree the body targets, prints what would change, and sends nothing. Both commands say in their exit code whether anything would change:

Code	Meaning
0	the fabric matches / posting this body would change nothing
2	it differs / the body would change something
1	the command itself failed (not logged in, bad JSON, unknown DN)

MCP server

a4i mcp speaks the Model Context Protocol on stdin and stdout, so an LLM client can read and write the fabric through the session you already logged in. Register it with the client, then log in from a terminal as usual -- there is no login tool, because this server never handles a password.

{"mcpServers": {"a4i": {"command": "a4i", "args": ["mcp"]}}}

Tool	What it does
search	find a class by what it is called
describe	one class from the bundled model, as a JSON record
list	class names by prefix, or the DNs one level under a DN
get	a class or MO query, with every query option under its own name
dry_run	what a POST would change, sending nothing
post	POST a body
merge	several bodies or paths folded into one
diff	the fabric compared against one configuration

Resource	Contents
a4i://guide/post-body	how an ACI body nests, how a child MO gets its DN, what status does
a4i://guide/query	class against MO queries, the two subtree controls, keeping a response small
a4i://guide/workflow	the order: search or list, describe, get, dry run, post
a4i://guide/limits	where the bundled model, the dry run and the diff each stop short

A get whose response would exceed 64 KB is refused, with the total count and the ways to narrow it; A4I_MCP_MAX_BYTES raises or lowers that. On a --read-only session, post is not offered at all.

Python library

A Client holds its own session, so no daemon is involved: it logs in itself and keeps the token in memory for as long as it lives.

import a4i
from a4i.merge import merge

with a4i.Client("apic1.example.com", verify=False) as client:
    client.login("admin", password)

    data = client.get("fvTenant", kind="class", query_target="subtree", rsp_subtree="full")
    client.post("uni/tn-demo", {"fvTenant": {"attributes": {"name": "demo"}}}, kind="mo")
    changes = client.diff(merge(base, override))

kind is the subcommand the CLI takes, and it is required: "class" for a class name, "mo" for a DN. Every other keyword argument is the CLI option of the same name with underscores. verify is what -k/--insecure and --ca express, timeout is login --timeout, and dry_run(), diff() and a4i.merge.merge() are the commands of those names.

AsyncClient is Client awaited: the same arguments, the same return values and the same exceptions, sending the same requests in the same order.

async with a4i.AsyncClient("apic1.example.com", verify=False) as client:
    await client.login("admin", password)
    data = await client.get("fvTenant", kind="class")

A value ACI does not define raises ValueError before anything is sent. A failed request raises a4i.ApicError, a4i.NotLoggedInError or a4i.SessionExpiredError, all of them a4i.A4iError. The token refreshes itself once half its lifetime has elapsed, so a long-running script needs nothing of its own.