Blockchain Commands

Full command reference for managing AnyLog policies — connecting/syncing, publishing/dropping policies, and querying the blockchain.

In general the blockchain or metadata layer is the platform that informs all the nodes in the network where data resides and which nodes have access to what. The previous section discussed the different types of policies and metadata content that can be stored in the blockchain. This section covers how to interact with the blockchain layer.

Connect & Sync
Publish & Drop Policy
Query the Blockchain

Connect & Sync

Real Blockchain

blockchain set account info where platform = [platform name] and [platform parameters] - associate parameters (private key, public key, chain ID, etc.) with a blockchain platform.

<blockchain set account info where 
    platform = ethereum and 
    private_key = !private_key and 
    public_key = !public_key and 
    chain_id = 11155111>

blockchain deploy contract where platform = [platform name] and public_key = [public key] - deploy the AnyLog contract on the blockchain platform.

blockchain deploy contract where platform = ethereum and public_key = !public_key

A metadata manager (i.e. master node) does not need to define the steps above. Instead, it creates a logical database and table (blockchain.ledger) and syncs the content against it.

Master / Metadata Node Blockchain

Master nodes, and optionally any node, can maintain the ledger in a local database:

blockchain create table                           # create the ledger table
blockchain pull to json [output-file]             # export to JSON file
blockchain pull to sql [output-file]              # export as INSERT statements
blockchain pull to stdout                         # print to console
blockchain update dbms [file]                     # load file into local DB
sql blockchain "select * from ledger"             # query directly with SQL

Pull from a master node

master_node = 127.45.35.12:32048
run client (!master_node) blockchain pull to json
run client (!master_node) file get !!blockchain_file !blockchain_file
blockchain load metadata                          # force node to use updated file

Blockchain sync

blockchain seed from [ip:port] - pull the metadata from a source node (typically used once, on startup).

blockchain seed from 73.202.142.172:7848

run blockchain sync where [options] - repeatedly update the local copy of the blockchain.

Option	Description
`source`	The source of the metadata (`blockchain` or `master`)
`dest`	Destination for the blockchain data — `file` (local file) and/or `dbms` (local database)
`connection`	Connection info needed to retrieve the data — for a master, its IP:Port
`time`	Frequency of updates

run blockchain sync where source = master and time = 60 seconds and dest = file and dest = dbms and connection = !ip_port
run blockchain sync where source = blockchain and time = !sync_time and dest = file and platform = ethereum

The sync logic should run on every node in the network (though frequency may differ based on node type).

Publish & Drop Policy

blockchain prepare policy [policy] - add id and date attributes to a policy.

blockchain prepare policy !operator

blockchain insert where policy = [policy] and blockchain = [platform] and local = [true/false] and master = [IP:Port] - add a JSON policy to the specified destination(s).

blockchain insert where policy = !policy and local = true and master = !ledger_conn
blockchain insert where policy = !policy and local = true and blockchain = ethereum

Key	Description
`policy`	The JSON policy to add
`local`	`true` — also update the local JSON file
`master`	IP:Port of the master node
`blockchain`	Blockchain platform name (e.g. `ethereum`)

When inserted locally, the policy gets "ledger": "local". Once confirmed on the global ledger, it changes to "ledger": "global".

Narrower insert variants

Command	Target
`blockchain add [policy]`	Local JSON file only
`blockchain push [policy]`	Local database only
`blockchain commit [policy]`	Blockchain platform only

blockchain wait where [condition] - pause the process until the local copy of the blockchain is updated with the policy. [condition] is specified as [key] = [value].

blockchain wait where policy = !operator
blockchain wait where id = [id]
blockchain wait where command = "blockchain get cluster where name = cluster_1"

blockchain update to [blockchain name] [policy_id] [policy] - update an existing JSON policy on the blockchain platform.

blockchain update to ethereum !policy_id !policy

blockchain drop policy where id = [policy id] / blockchain drop policy [policy] - on the master node, delete the provided policy (or policies) from the local blockchain database.

blockchain drop policy where id = 4a0c16ff565c6dfc05eb5a1aca4bf825
blockchain drop policy !operator

Blockchain drop is interesting because the actual ledger is immutable - i.e. cannot be changed. So when a user executes blockchain drop policy when using the master / metadata manager node, the policy / row is actually removed. However, when using an actual blockchain, blockchain drop policy instead adds an annotation telling the network to ignore the policy with the given ID.

Each policy has a unique ID, which can either be manually defined or automatically assigned based on a hash of the policy’s content. Since the id must be unique, we recommend letting AnyLog assign it automatically, unless the policy is one you’ll reference manually and often — where a short, readable ID is easier to work with than an auto-generated hash (e.g. a schedule policy used to monitor nodes).

Securing Policies

By default, each policy has a unique ID that’s based on the hash of the policy, or is defined by the user (though this is less recommended). The system is also intelligent enough to stop a user from registering multiple nodes of the same type on the same IP and port.

Since the blockchain is intended as a tool for untrusted groups to view / share data (almost like an immutable contract), it may also be worth validating who is writing to the blockchain, using public / private keys:

id sign [JSON Policy] where key = [private key] and password = [password] / id sign [JSON Policy] where password = [password] - sign a policy, adding the public key and signature to it.

id sign !json_script where password = !my_password
id sign !json_script where key = !my_key and password = !my_password

Query the Blockchain

Queries run against the local copy and do not depend on global ledger availability.

Command	Description
`blockchain get`	Returns policies after runtime dynamic updates (use this normally)
`blockchain read`	Returns policies exactly as received from the global ledger, without dynamic updates

Basic get

blockchain get [policy-type]
blockchain get operator
blockchain get (operator, publisher)       # multiple types
blockchain get *                           # all policies

Where conditions

blockchain get operator where dbms = my_data
blockchain get operator where dbms = my_data and ip = 24.23.250.144
blockchain get cluster where company = my-company

Using conditional expressions (square-bracket paths):

blockchain get operator where [name] == operator1 or [name] == operator2
blockchain get operator where [country] == US and ([city] == "San Francisco" or [city] == "San Jose")

Special path operators:

blockchain get tag where [path] startwith 'Root/Objects/DeviceSet'
blockchain get tag where [path] childfrom 'Root/Objects/DeviceSet'

bring — format the output

blockchain get operator bring [name]                        # single field
blockchain get operator bring [name] [ip]:[port]            # concatenate fields
blockchain get operator bring.ip_port                       # standard IP:Port list
blockchain get operator bring.table                         # tabular output
blockchain get operator bring.json                          # JSON output
blockchain get operator bring.table.sort [operator][name]   # sorted table

from — apply bring to a variable

operators = blockchain get operator
from !operators bring [name] [ip]:[port]

Examples

# All operators supporting a specific table
blockchain get operator where dbms = my_data and table = ping_sensor bring [name] [ip]:[port]

# Operators in specific countries
blockchain get operator where [country] == US or [country] == UK bring.ip_port

# Cluster ID for a specific table
blockchain get cluster where table[dbms] = my_data and table[name] = ping_sensor bring [cluster][id] separator = ,

JOIN — keep both objects separate

blockchain get bucket where name = my_bucket join (blockchain get operator where name = [bucket][operator])

Output:

[{"bucket": {...}, "operator": {...}}]

If no RHS match → record is omitted (inner join behavior)
Path interpolation: [bucket][operator] is resolved from the LHS record

MERGE — flatten RHS into LHS

blockchain get bucket where name = my_bucket merge (blockchain get operator where name = [bucket][operator])

Output:

[{"bucket": {"name": "my_bucket", "operator": "op1", "ip": "24.5.219.50", "port": 7848}}]

LHS wins on key conflicts
If no RHS match → LHS returned unchanged (left merge behavior)

With bring formatting

# Table output with join
blockchain get bucket where name = my_bucket join (blockchain get operator where name = [bucket][operator]) bring.table [bucket][name] [operator][ip] [operator][port]

# JSON output with merge
blockchain get bucket where name = my_bucket merge (blockchain get operator where name = [bucket][operator]) bring.json [bucket][name] [bucket][ip] [bucket][port]

Root and child policies (UNS hierarchy)

Root policies have no parent attribute. Child policies reference a parent via the parent field, forming a hierarchy used by the Unified Namespace (UNS).

blockchain get root policies

Example output:

[
  {"uns": {"name": "Enterprise_A", "namespace": "Enterprise_A", "id": "00ddf..."}},
  {"uns": {"name": "Sensors", "namespace": "Enterprise_A/Sensors", "parent": "00ddf...", "dbms": "my_data", "table": "ping_sensor"}}
]

Child policies inherit structure from their parent and carry dbms/table attributes used by the query engine.

Compare Policies

Policies can be compared to determine the different attribute and values.
The following command returns a report indicating the differences between the two policies, or between lists of policies.
Usage:

get policies diff [object 1] [object 2]

Object 1 and Object 2 are policies or lists of policies to compare. When lists are compared, the number of policies in the lists needs to be equal with one exception: If a policy is compared to a list with a single policy, the policy is assumed to be in a list, and the comparison is allowed.
Example:

get policies diff !policy1 !policy2

Other blockchain commands

Command	Description
`blockchain test`	Validate local JSON file structure
`blockchain test id`	Check if a policy ID exists locally
`blockchain get id [json]`	Return the hash of a JSON structure
`blockchain prepare policy [json]`	Add ID and date to a policy
`blockchain checkout`	Pull latest data from blockchain platform to local JSON
`blockchain update file [path]`	Replace local blockchain file (backs up `.old`)
`blockchain delete local file`	Delete the local JSON file
`blockchain query metadata`	Diagram view of the local metadata structure
`blockchain test cluster`	Analyse cluster policies
`blockchain state where platform = [name]`	State of the active contract