quads-client

QUADS Client provides both a powerful CLI and an intuitive GUI for managing multiple QUADS servers.

Features

Dual Interface Options:
- Standalone CLI: Interactive shell with tab completion, scripting support, and one-shot commands
- Full-Featured Multi-Platform GUI: Modern graphical interface for Linux/macOS with onboarding wizard, dark/light themes, and visual host management
Multi-Server Support: Connect to and manage multiple QUADS servers from a single interface
Session Management: Maintain multiple authenticated connections simultaneously and switch between them instantly
Bearer Token Authentication: Secure JWT-based authentication via python-quads-lib
Interactive Shell: Built on cmd2 with command history and comprehensive tab completion
Intelligent Tab Completion: Context-aware autocompletion for all commands, arguments, cloud names, hostnames, assignment IDs, and server names
Rich UI: Beautiful terminal output with colors, tables, and status indicators powered by python-rich
User Registration: Non-admin users can register accounts and manage their own assignments
Command History: SQLite-based persistent command history per server
Unified Schedule Command: Combines cloud assignment creation and host scheduling in a single operation for simpler workflows
Progress Tracking: Real-time provisioning progress monitoring
Connection Management: Easy switching between QUADS server instances
Thin Wrapper Design: Server-side authorization via QUADS API

Installation

From PyPI (pip)

Important

quads-client and quads-client-gui require Python3.13 or higher.

For Linux and Mac (with Python setup)
Install the latest stable release from PyPI:

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install quads-client

Run QUADS Client

quads-client

Run QUADS Client GUI

quads-client-gui

To upgrade to the latest version:

source venv/bin/activate
pip install --upgrade quads-client

To deactivate the virtual environment when done:

deactivate

Mac Native Application (pip)

For macOS users who want a double-clickable .app bundle:

# Install quads-client and pyinstaller
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install quads-client pyinstaller

# Find site-packages path
SITE_PACKAGES=$(python3 -c "import site; print(site.getsitepackages()[0])")

# Create standalone app
pyinstaller --windowed --noconsole \
  --icon "$SITE_PACKAGES/quads_client/gui/assets/quads-client-gui.icns" \
  --name "QUADS Client GUI" \
  venv/bin/quads-client-gui

# Move to Applications
mv "dist/QUADS Client GUI.app" /Applications/

The app can now be launched from Applications or Spotlight.

From RPM

For Fedora:

dnf copr enable quadsdev/python3-quads -y
dnf install quads-client

From Source

For development or the latest unreleased features:

git clone https://github.com/quadsproject/quads-client.git
cd quads-client
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .

Configuration

Configuration File Location

Operating System	Config File Location	Notes
Linux	`~/.config/quads/quads-client.yml`	Follows XDG Base Directory spec; directory auto-created on first run
macOS	`~/.config/quads/quads-client.yml`	Standard CLI tool convention; directory auto-created on first run
Windows	`~/.config/quads/quads-client.yml`	Expands to `%USERPROFILE%\.config\quads\quads-client.yml`
FreeBSD	`~/.config/quads/quads-client.yml`	Follows XDG Base Directory spec; directory auto-created on first run

Quick Setup (Recommended)

Tip

The add-quads-server command creates the configuration file interactively. This is the easiest way to get started.

Use the interactive add-quads-server command:

quads-client
add-quads-server
# Follow the prompts to add your QUADS server
# (includes optional credential entry for existing users)
connect <server_name>
register your.email@example.com YourPassword123

Manual Configuration (Advanced)

Alternatively, manually create the configuration file using the provided example configuration as a template.

Configuration Notes:

For new users: Leave username and password blank (or skip credentials during add-quads-server). Use the register command after connecting — if the account already exists, it will auto-login.
For existing users: Enter credentials during add-quads-server or fill them into the config file to login automatically on connect.
Specify the base URL only (no /api/v3/ path, no port :5000). The client automatically appends the API path.
verify: true enables SSL certificate verification (recommended). Set to false only for development/testing with self-signed certificates.

SSL/TLS Security Indicator

The client displays a visual security indicator in the prompt showing the SSL/TLS status of your connection:

Indicator	Color	Meaning
✓	Green	HTTPS with SSL certificate verification (trusted CA)
!	Green	HTTPS without SSL certificate verification (self-signed or verification disabled)
✗	Yellow	HTTP (no encryption)

Example prompts:

✓ (quads-prod.example.com) >   ← Secure HTTPS with verified certificate
! (quads-dev.example.com) >    ← HTTPS with self-signed certificate
✗ (quads-test.local) >         ← Insecure HTTP connection

Warning

Using verify: false or HTTP connections exposes your credentials and data to potential interception. For production use, always configure your QUADS server with valid SSL/TLS certificates.

Setting up SSL/TLS on your QUADS server:
See the QUADS SSL configuration guide for instructions on configuring nginx with SSL certificates.

Usage

GUI Mode

For a graphical interface:

quads-client-gui

GUI Features:

Onboarding wizard for first-time setup
Server/connection management with session switching
Self-scheduling interface for normal users
My Hosts view with status monitoring
Dark/light theme toggle
Cross-platform (Linux, macOS, Windows)

Installation:

Option 1: Fedora (Recommended for Linux)

# Includes desktop file, icon, and all dependencies
dnf install quads-client-gui

Option 2: pip (Linux/macOS)

# Linux: Install tkinter first (system package)
# Fedora:
sudo dnf install python3-tkinter

# macOS: tkinter included with Python from python.org
# No extra steps needed

# Then install quads-client via pip
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install quads-client
quads-client-gui

Notes:

Linux: tkinter is a system package, not available via pip. Must be installed at the system level before creating your venv.
macOS: tkinter is included with Python from python.org. No extra steps needed.
RPM: When installed via RPM, QUADS Client GUI appears in your Applications menu under System or Network categories.

Interactive Mode

Launch the interactive shell:

quads-client

One-Shot Commands

Execute a single command and exit without entering interactive mode. The client automatically connects to your default server (configured in quads-client.yml) and returns proper exit codes for scripting.

Basic Commands (no connection required):

quads-client version                # Show client version
quads-client help                   # Show available commands
quads-client servers                # List configured servers

Auto-Connect Commands:

One-shot commands requiring a connection will automatically connect to your default server (set default_server in ~/.config/quads/quads-client.yml).

# View resources (uses default server)
quads-client cloud_list             # List all clouds
quads-client my_hosts               # Show your scheduled hosts
quads-client my_assignments         # List your assignments

# Check available hosts
quads-client ls_available model r650 ram 256
quads-client ls_available start 2026-06-01 end 2026-06-15

Specify Non-Default Server:

To run a one-shot command against a non-default server, use connect <server> <command>:

# Connect to specific server and run command
quads-client connect quads-prod my_assignments
quads-client connect quads-stage cloud_list
quads-client connect quads-dev.dc1.example.com available

# Works with fuzzy server matching (FQDN, short names)
quads-client connect quads-stage.dc2.example.com ls_available

Self-Schedule (SSM Mode):

Quick one-shot scheduling for regular users:

# Schedule hosts by count (QUADS picks hosts automatically)
quads-client schedule 3 description "dev testing"
quads-client schedule 5 description "perf lab" model r640 ram 128

# Schedule specific hosts
quads-client schedule host01.example.com,host02.example.com description "CI pipeline"

# Schedule from host list file
quads-client schedule host-list ~/hosts.txt description "batch test"

# Terminate assignment when done
quads-client terminate 42

Admin Operations:

# Unified schedule command (creates assignment + schedules in one step)
quads-client schedule cloud02 host01,host02 2026-05-15 2026-06-15 \
  description "Test Environment" \
  cloud-owner jdoe \
  cloud-ticket JIRA-456

# Schedule with host list file
quads-client schedule cloud17 host-list ~/hosts.txt now 2026-07-01 \
  description "Performance Lab" \
  cloud-owner alice \
  cloud-ticket JIRA-789

# Extend schedules
quads-client extend cloud05 weeks 2
quads-client extend cloud17 date "2026-06-15 22:00"
quads-client extend host01.example.com weeks 1

# Shrink schedules
quads-client shrink host01.example.com weeks 2

# Cloud utilities
quads-client find-free-cloud
quads-client cloud-only cloud05
quads-client ls-vlan

Exit Codes:

One-shot commands return standard exit codes for scripting:

0 - Success
1 - Command error (validation, API error)
3 - Connection error (no default server, connection failed)
130 - Interrupted (Ctrl+C)

Scripting Example:

#!/bin/bash
# Check if hosts are available before scheduling
if quads-client ls_available model r650 ram 256 > /dev/null 2>&1; then
    quads-client schedule 3 description "CI job ${BUILD_ID}" model r650 ram 256
    echo "Scheduled hosts successfully"
else
    echo "No hosts available matching criteria"
    exit 1
fi

Tips:

Set default_server in your config to enable auto-connect
One-shot commands suppress banner and connection messages for clean output
Use > /dev/null 2>&1 to suppress all output in scripts
Commands use underscores (e.g., cloud_list, my_hosts)
All table output goes to stdout for easy parsing

How to Self-Schedule

Quick start for regular users:

# 1. Connect and register (if account already exists, register will auto-login)
quads-client
connect quads-prod.example.com
register your.email@example.com YourPassword123

# 2. Schedule hosts (automatic for 5 days or until Sunday 21:00 UTC)
schedule 3 description "My dev environment"
schedule host01,host02 description "CI testing"
schedule host-list hosts.txt description "Perf lab"

# 3. Check your hosts
my-hosts
my-assignments

# 4. Release when done
terminate 42                    # Terminate entire assignment
terminate 42 host01.example.com # Release single host

That's it. No tickets, no admin approval required.

Commands

Tab Completion

QUADS Client provides comprehensive tab completion for all commands and their arguments:

Command Completion: Press Tab after typing partial command names

(quads1-dev) > clo<Tab>
cloud-list  cloud-only

Context-Aware Argument Completion: Press Tab to complete command arguments based on live server data

Cloud names: mod-cloud <Tab> → shows available clouds
Hostnames: mark-broken <Tab> → shows non-broken hosts
Assignment IDs: terminate <Tab> → shows your active assignment IDs
Server names: connect <Tab> → shows configured servers
Keywords: schedule <Tab> → shows options like description, nowipe, vlan, qinq, model, ram

Examples:

# SSM mode - schedule command shows hostnames first, then keywords
(quads1-dev) > schedule <Tab>
host01.example.com  host02.example.com  host03.example.com  1  2  3  5  10

(quads1-dev) > schedule 3 <Tab>
description  nowipe  vlan  qinq  model  ram  host-list

# Admin mode - schedule command shows cloud names first
(quads1-dev) > schedule <Tab>
cloud01  cloud02  cloud03

# Cloud operations
(quads1-dev) > cloud-list cloud <Tab>
cloud01  cloud02  cloud03

# Terminate command
(quads1-dev) > terminate <Tab>
42  43  44

# Host management
(quads1-dev) > mark-broken <Tab>
host01.example.com  host02.example.com  host03.example.com

Tab completion dynamically fetches data from the connected QUADS server, ensuring you always see up-to-date options.

Connection Management

connect quads1.example.com                   - Connect to a QUADS server by name
connect 2                                    - Connect by server number from 'servers' list
connect quads-prod session prod              - Create a labeled session
disconnect                                   - Disconnect from current server
status                                       - Show connection status and active sessions

Examples:

connect quads1.example.com  # Connect by server name
connect 2                   # Connect by server number from 'servers' list
connect quads-prod session prod  # Create a labeled session

Fuzzy Server Name Matching:

The connect command supports flexible server name matching for convenience:

# Config has: "quads-dev.dc1" with URL "https://quads-dev.dc1.example.com"

connect quads-dev.dc1                    # Exact match (config key)
connect quads-dev.dc1.example.com        # FQDN match (from URL)
connect https://quads-dev.dc1.example.com # Full URL match

The client will intelligently resolve:

Exact match - Matches config keys exactly
URL matching - Strips https:// and trailing slashes to match server URLs
Prefix matching - If unique, matches shortened names (e.g., quads-prod)

This allows you to connect using the FQDN even if your config uses a shortened alias.

Multi-Server Session Management

QUADS Client allows you to maintain multiple authenticated connections simultaneously. This is useful when working across multiple environments (dev, staging, production) or comparing data between servers.

Key Benefits:

No re-authentication: Sessions stay authenticated when you switch between them
Instant switching: Move between servers without reconnecting
Labeled sessions: Use memorable names instead of full server hostnames
Session visibility: See all active connections at a glance

Session Commands:

session-create quads-prod label prod      - Create new session with optional label
session prod                              - Quick switch to session by ID or label
session-switch                            - Toggle to previous session (like screen Ctrl+A Ctrl+A)
session-switch 2                          - Switch to specific session by ID
session-list                              - Show all active sessions with status
session-close 2                           - Close specific session
session-close-all                         - Close all inactive sessions

Tip

Quick Toggle: Use session-switch (or just session) with no arguments to toggle between your last two sessions, similar to GNU screen's Ctrl+A Ctrl+A behavior. Perfect for bouncing between two environments!

Quick Start Example:

# Connect to multiple servers with labels
> connect quads-prod.example.com session prod
OK: Connected to quads-prod.example.com as user@example.com (session 1)

> connect quads-dev.example.com session dev
OK: Connected to quads-dev.example.com as user@example.com (session 2)

# Prompt shows active sessions: [1:prod 2:dev*]
✓ [1:prod 2:dev*] (quads-dev) >

# Quick switch between environments
> session prod
Switched to session 1 (prod)
✓ [1:prod* 2:dev] (quads-prod) > cloud-list
[shows production clouds]

> session dev
Switched to session 1 (dev)
✓ [1:prod 2:dev*] (quads-dev) >

# View all sessions
> session-list
┏━━━━━━━━━━┳━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┳━━━━━━━━━┳━━━━━━━━━┳━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┳━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
┃ Session  ┃ Server                   ┃ Label   ┃ Version ┃ Status       ┃ Last Active  ┃
┡━━━━━━━━━━╇━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╇━━━━━━━━━╇━━━━━━━━━╇━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╇━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┩
│ 1        │ quads-prod.example.com   │ prod    │ 2.2.6   │ ● Idle       │ 2m ago       │
│ 2        │ quads-dev.example.com    │ dev     │ 2.2.6   │ ● Active ✓   │ now          │
└──────────┴──────────────────────────┴─────────┴─────────┴──────────────┴──────────────┘

Session Indicators in Prompt:

When you have multiple sessions, the prompt displays them for quick reference:

✓ [1:prod 2:dev* 3:stage] (quads-dev) >
   │       │       └─ Asterisk marks active session
   │       └───────── Session IDs with labels
   └─────────────────── SSL status indicator

Common Workflows:

Compare environments:

> connect quads-prod session prod
> connect quads-dev session dev
> session prod
> cloud-list cloud cloud05 detail  # Check prod state
> session-switch  # Toggle back to dev
> cloud-list cloud cloud05 detail  # Compare with dev
> session-switch  # Toggle back to prod

Work in dev, monitor prod:

> connect quads-dev session dev
> connect quads-prod session prod
> session dev
> schedule 3 description "Testing new feature"
> session-switch  # Quick toggle to production
> my-hosts      # Verify prod assignments
> session-switch  # Toggle back to development work

Tips:

Sessions remain authenticated even when inactive
Use session-close-all to clean up when switching projects
The status command shows all sessions when you have multiple connections
Configuration changes with config-reload update all active sessions

Managing Multiple Users on Same Server

You can configure multiple user accounts for the same QUADS server by using different "friendly names" in your configuration. This is useful for:

Admin + Regular User: Separate admin and self-schedule workflows
Multiple Team Members: Share a workstation with separate QUADS accounts
Testing: Different permission levels or testing scenarios

How It Works:

The same server URL can be added multiple times with different names and credentials:

# Add admin user account
> add-quads-server
Enter server name: admin-quads2-dev
Enter server URL: https://quads2-dev.rdu2.scalelab.example.com
Enable SSL verification? [Y/n]: Y

# Add regular user account  
> add-quads-server
Enter server name: quads2-dev
Enter server URL: https://quads2-dev.rdu2.scalelab.example.com  # Same URL!
Enable SSL verification? [Y/n]: Y

> config-reload

Configuration Result:

servers:
  admin-quads2-dev:
    url: https://quads2-dev.rdu2.scalelab.example.com
    username: admin+wfoster@example.com
    password: ""
    verify: true
    
  quads2-dev:
    url: https://quads2-dev.rdu2.scalelab.example.com  # Same server!
    username: wfoster@example.com
    password: ""
    verify: true

Usage Example:

# Connect as admin for administrative tasks
> connect admin-quads2-dev session admin
OK: Connected to admin-quads2-dev as admin+wfoster@example.com (session 1)

# Connect as regular user for self-scheduling
> connect quads2-dev session user
OK: Connected to quads2-dev as wfoster@example.com (session 2)

# Prompt shows both sessions to same server
✓ [1:admin 2:user*] (quads2-dev) >

# Toggle between admin and user sessions
> session-switch
Switched to session 1 (admin)
✓ [1:admin* 2:user] (quads2-dev) [ADMIN] >

# Admin work
> extend cloud05 weeks 2

# Back to user session
> session-switch
Switched to session 2 (user)
✓ [1:admin 2:user*] (quads2-dev) >

# Self-schedule work (SSM)
> schedule 3 description "Testing new feature"

Benefits:

Role Separation: Keep admin and user workflows clearly separated
Quick Switching: Toggle between accounts with session-switch
Visual Indicators: Prompt shows [ADMIN] badge for admin sessions
Command Visibility: Admin commands only visible in admin sessions
Credential Security: Each account's credentials stored separately

Use Cases:

Admin + SSM User: Test both admin and self-service workflows
Multi-User Workstation: Team members with separate accounts
Permission Testing: Compare admin vs user permissions
Training: Demonstrate different user experiences

Note

This works because the server name is the configuration key, while the URL can be reused. Each entry maintains separate credentials and session state.

Server Management

servers              - List all configured servers with status
add-quads-server     - Interactive wizard to add a new QUADS server
add-server quads3 https://quads3.example.com user@example.com password123 [noverify]  
                     - Add new server to configuration (advanced)
edit-server quads3 [url https://new.example.com] [username newuser@example.com] 
                   [password newpass] [verify true|false]
                     - Edit existing server configuration
rm-server quads3     - Remove server from configuration
config-reload        - Reload configuration from file

Adding a server (interactive method):

add-quads-server
# Follow the prompts:
#   1. Enter server name (e.g., quads1.example.com)
#   2. Enter server URL (e.g., https://quads1.example.com)
#   3. Enable SSL verification? [Y/n]
#   4. Do you have existing credentials? [y/N]
#      (If yes, enter username and password - they'll be saved to config)
# Then: connect and register (or just connect if credentials were provided)

Cloud Management

cloud-list                                         - List all clouds
cloud-list cloud cloud05 detail                    - Show detailed cloud info with hosts
mod-cloud <cloud_name> [OPTIONS]                   - Modify cloud attributes (admin only)
  cloud-owner <username>                           - Set cloud owner
  description <text>                               - Set cloud description
  cloud-ticket <ticket_id>                         - Set ticket ID
  cc-users <user1,user2>                           - Comma-separated CC users
  vlan <vlan_id>                                   - VLAN ID number
  qinq <0|1>                                       - QinQ setting
  wipe                                             - Enable host wiping
  nowipe                                           - Disable host wiping
find-free-cloud                                    - List clouds without active assignments
cloud-only <cloud_name>                            - List all hosts assigned to a specific cloud
ls-vlan                                            - List VLANs with assigned clouds

Examples:

# Modify cloud assignment properties
mod-cloud cloud05 description "Updated test environment"
mod-cloud cloud02 cloud-owner alice cloud-ticket JIRA-456
mod-cloud cloud17 cc-users bob@example.com,charlie@example.com wipe

# Find available clouds and check assignments
find-free-cloud
cloud-only cloud05

Note

The cloud-create and cloud-delete commands have been removed for safety. Use the unified schedule command which automatically creates assignments and manages cloud lifecycle.

Self-Scheduling Mode (SSM)

Self-Scheduling Mode allows regular (non-admin) users to schedule hosts without admin intervention. The QUADS server automatically creates assignments and clouds - no tickets required.

register <email> <password>                      - Register a new user
login                                            - Explicit login
whoami                                           - Show current user information
schedule <count|hostname[,hostname...]|host-list path> description <desc> [OPTIONS]
                                                 - Schedule hosts (SSM mode)
  nowipe                                         - Disable wipe (default: wipe enabled)
  vlan <id>                                      - VLAN ID
  qinq <0|1>                                     - QinQ mode
  model <model>                                  - Filter by model (count mode only)
  ram <GB>                                       - Minimum RAM in GB (count mode only)
my-assignments                                   - List all your assignments
my-hosts                                         - Show your currently scheduled hosts
available                                        - Show available hosts for self-scheduling
terminate <assignment-id> [hostname]             - Terminate assignment or release host

SSM Syntax:

# MODE 1: Count - just specify a NUMBER (QUADS picks hosts for you)
schedule 3 description "Dev testing"
schedule 5 description "Perf lab" model r640 ram 128  # With filters

# MODE 2: Specific hosts - comma-separated hostnames (NO SPACES!)
schedule host01.example.com,host02.example.com description "CI pipeline"

# MODE 3: Host list file - one hostname per line
schedule host-list ~/hosts.txt description "Batch test" vlan 1150 nowipe

# View and manage assignments
my-assignments
my-hosts
terminate 42
terminate 42 host03.example.com

Common Mistakes:

# ❌ WRONG - "hosts" is not a keyword!
schedule hosts 3 description "test"

# ✅ CORRECT - just the number
schedule 3 description "test"

SSM Server Requirements:

QUADS server must have self_serve_enabled: true in quads.yml
No ticketing system required for SSM mode
Server limits: max 10 hosts per assignment, max 3 active assignments per user
Auto-expiration: 5 days or Sunday 21:00 UTC (configurable server-side)

Host Management (Admin)

ls-hosts                         - List all hosts
mark-broken host01.example.com   - Mark a host as broken
mark-repaired host01.example.com - Mark a broken host as repaired
retire host01.example.com        - Mark a host as retired
unretire host01.example.com      - Mark a retired host as active
ls-broken                        - List all broken hosts
ls-retired                       - List all retired hosts

Schedule Management (Admin)

The unified schedule command combines cloud assignment creation and host scheduling into a single operation, providing feature parity with QUADS core CLI in a simpler workflow.

Syntax:

schedule <cloud> <hosts|host-list path> <start> <end> [OPTIONS]

Hosts:
  host01.example.com                 - Single hostname
  host01,host02,host03               - Comma-separated list
  host-list ~/hosts.txt              - File with hostnames (whitespace-separated)

Date/Time Formats:
  "2026-05-07 13:00"                 - Full date and time (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM, requires quotes)
  now                                - Immediate start (start date only)

Options:
  description <text>                 - Assignment description (required for new assignments)
  cloud-owner <username>             - Cloud owner (required for new assignments)
  cloud-ticket <ticket_id>           - Ticket ID (required for new assignments)
  cc-users <user1,user2>             - Comma-separated CC users
  vlan <vlan_id>                     - VLAN ID number
  qinq <0|1>                         - QinQ setting (default 0)
  nowipe                             - Don't wipe hosts (default: wipe=true)

Other Schedule Commands:
  ls-schedule [host <hostname>] [cloud <cloud>]             - List schedules
  mod-schedule id <id> [start <date>] [end <date>]          - Modify schedule dates
  rm-schedule <schedule_id>                                 - Remove a schedule
  extend <cloud|hostname> weeks <N>                         - Extend by weeks
  extend <cloud|hostname> date "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM"           - Extend to specific date
  shrink <hostname> weeks <N>                               - Shrink schedule by weeks

Unified Schedule Examples:

# Create new assignment and schedule hosts
schedule cloud02 host01,host02 "2026-05-15 22:00" "2026-06-15 22:00" \
  description "OpenStack Testing" \
  cloud-owner jdoe \
  cloud-ticket JIRA-456 \
  cc-users alice,bob \
  vlan 1234 \
  qinq 1 \
  nowipe

# Create assignment with specific date/time
schedule cloud03 host01,host02 "2026-05-07 13:00" "2026-05-08 22:00" \
  description "Test Environment" \
  cloud-owner jdoe \
  cloud-ticket JIRA-999

# Schedule hosts to existing assignment (simpler - no assignment options needed)
schedule cloud02 host03,host04 "2026-05-15 22:00" "2026-06-15 22:00"

# Use host list file with immediate start
schedule cloud17 host-list ~/hosts.txt now "2026-07-01 22:00" \
  description "Performance Lab" \
  cloud-owner alice \
  cloud-ticket JIRA-789

# Extend and shrink operations
extend cloud02 weeks 2
extend cloud02 date "2026-05-17 22:00"
extend host01.example.com weeks 1
shrink host01.example.com weeks 2

How Unified Schedule Works:

Checks for active assignment - If cloud has no assignment, creates one automatically
Pre-checks host availability - Validates hosts are available for the date range
Creates schedules - Links hosts to the assignment for specified dates
Server validates - All validation handled by QUADS server API

Date/Time Handling:

Full format ("2026-05-07 13:00") → Always include date and time with quotes
Immediate start (now) → Starts right away (for start date only)

Advantages over QUADS core CLI:

Single command instead of --define-cloud + --add-schedule
Automatic assignment creation when needed
Pre-flight availability checks
Flexible date/time formats
Clear error messages from server
Simpler syntax, fewer steps

Available Hosts

ls-available [OPTIONS]
  start YYYY-MM-DD        - Start date for availability
  end YYYY-MM-DD          - End date for availability
  model MODEL             - Filter by server model
  ram GB                  - Minimum RAM in GB
  gpu-vendor VENDOR       - GPU vendor (e.g., "NVIDIA Corporation")
  gpu-product PRODUCT     - GPU model (e.g., "Tesla V100")
  disk-size GB            - Minimum disk size in GB
  disk-type TYPE          - Disk type (nvme, ssd, sata)
  disk-count N            - Minimum number of disks
  interfaces N            - Minimum number of network interfaces

Examples:

ls-available model r640 ram 256
ls-available gpu-vendor "NVIDIA Corporation" gpu-product "Tesla V100"
ls-available disk-type nvme disk-count 2 interfaces 4
ls-available start 2026-06-01 end 2026-06-15 model r650

Other Commands

version             - Show quads-client version
help [command]      - Show help for command(s)
exit / quit         - Exit the shell

Authorization

quads-client is a thin wrapper around the QUADS API via python-quads-lib. All authorization is handled server-side by the QUADS server.

Server Roles

The QUADS server implements two roles:

admin: Full access to create/delete clouds, manage all schedules, and perform administrative operations
user: Can view and filter available resources; limited to self-scheduling for creating assignments

When a command requires elevated permissions, the server will return a 403 Forbidden error, which quads-client displays to the user.

User Registration & Assignments

Users can register accounts directly from the CLI:

Connect to a server (credentials can be blank in config)
Register with register <email> <password>
- If the account already exists, the client will auto-login and save credentials
- If auto-login fails (wrong password), guidance is shown to update credentials via edit-server
Credentials are automatically saved to your config file
Login with the login command or reconnect

SSM users can:

Schedule hosts with unified schedule command (count/hosts/host-list syntax)
View their own resources with my-assignments and my-hosts (ownership enforced)
Terminate assignments when done with terminate (own assignments only)
Duration: Server-controlled (5 days or Sunday 21:00 UTC, whichever first)
Limits: Max 10 hosts per assignment, max 3 active assignments per user

Command visibility:

SSM users see only allowed commands (no extend, no admin commands); edit-server is always visible since it modifies local config only
Admin users see all commands

The server controls which hosts can be self-scheduled via the can_self_schedule flag.

See docs/INTEGRATION_ANALYSIS.md for complete API integration details.

Architecture

quads-client/
├── src/quads_client/
│   ├── shell.py              - Main cmd2 shell
│   ├── config.py             - YAML configuration loader
│   ├── connection.py         - Server connection manager
│   ├── session_manager.py    - Multi-session management
│   ├── error_handler.py      - Error handling and auth retry
│   ├── arg_parser.py         - Command argument parsing
│   ├── history.py            - SQLite command history
│   ├── progress.py           - Provisioning progress tracker
│   ├── rich_console.py       - Rich terminal UI
│   ├── utils.py              - Shared utility functions (DRY helpers)
│   ├── auth.py               - Authentication utilities
│   ├── cli/
│   │   ├── __init__.py
│   │   └── main.py           - CLI entry point
│   ├── gui/                  - GUI application (MVC pattern, excluded from coverage)
│   │   ├── __init__.py       - GUI entry point
│   │   ├── main.py           - Main application window
│   │   ├── theme.py          - Dark/light theme manager
│   │   ├── controllers/
│   │   │   └── gui_shell.py  - Adapter between GUI and command classes
│   │   ├── views/            - Feature-specific views
│   │   │   ├── onboarding.py - First-time setup wizard
│   │   │   ├── connection.py - Server connection/auth view
│   │   │   ├── schedule.py   - Self-scheduling view (SSM users)
│   │   │   ├── my_hosts.py   - My hosts view
│   │   │   ├── assignments.py- Assignments view
│   │   │   ├── settings.py   - Settings/preferences view
│   │   │   └── about.py      - About dialog
│   │   └── widgets/          - Reusable custom widgets
│   │       ├── base.py       - Base widget classes
│   │       ├── dialogs.py    - Dialog helpers
│   │       └── server_list.py- Server connection list widget
│   └── commands/             - Command modules (business logic)
│       ├── __init__.py
│       ├── available.py      - Available hosts
│       ├── cloud.py          - Cloud management
│       ├── connection.py     - Connection commands
│       ├── host.py           - Host management (admin)
│       ├── schedule.py       - Schedule management (admin)
│       ├── server.py         - Server configuration (programmatic methods)
│       ├── session.py        - Session management
│       ├── user.py           - User registration & self-scheduling (programmatic methods)
│       └── version.py        - Version command
├── conf/
│   └── quads-client.yml.example - Example configuration
├── tests/                    - pytest test suite (691 tests, 74.81% coverage)
│   ├── test_commands_programmatic.py - Tests for GUI-supporting programmatic methods
│   └── ...                   - Other test files
├── rpm/
│   └── quads-client.spec     - RPM package specification
├── images/                   - Screenshots and documentation images
├── setup.py                  - Package setup configuration
├── pyproject.toml            - Modern Python project metadata
├── requirements.txt          - Production dependencies
├── requirements-dev.txt      - Development dependencies
├── pytest.ini                - pytest configuration
└── .coveragerc               - Coverage config (GUI excluded per MVC best practices)

Dependencies

Python >= 3.13
cmd2 >= 2.0.0
quads-lib >= 0.1.9
PyYAML >= 6.0.0
argcomplete >= 3.1.2
tabulate >= 0.9.0
rich >= 13.0.0 (for enhanced terminal UI)

Development

Building from Source

python3 setup.py sdist

Building RPM

rpmbuild -bb rpm/quads-client.spec \
  --define "_sourcedir $(pwd)/dist" \
  --define "_builddir $(pwd)/build" \
  --define "_rpmdir $(pwd)/rpms"

Code Formatting

black --line-length 119 src/quads_client/

Testing

Run Tests

pytest tests/ -v

Run Tests with Coverage

pytest tests/ --cov=quads_client --cov-report=html --cov-report=term

Manual Testing

CLI (Interactive Shell):

PYTHONPATH=src python3 -c "from quads_client.shell import QuadsClientShell; shell = QuadsClientShell(); shell.cmdloop()"

GUI:

PYTHONPATH=./src python3 -m quads_client.gui

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on how to contribute to this project.

Screenshots

TUI CLI

quads TUI client

TUI CLI servers list

TUI CLI active sessions list

TUI CLI self-scheduling

TUI CLI one-shot self-scheduling

GUI

Setup Wizard

Login or Register

GUI one-shot self-scheduling

Self-scheduling filtering by capability and model

Self-scheduling in action

GUI Admin View

GUI Admin Adding Future Schedules

Links

QUADS Server: https://github.com/quadsproject/quads
About QUADS: https://quads.dev
Issues: https://github.com/quadsproject/quads-client/issues

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 281 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
conf		conf
desktop		desktop
images		images
rpm		rpm
src/quads_client		src/quads_client
tests		tests
.codecov.yml		.codecov.yml
.coveragerc		.coveragerc
.flake8		.flake8
.gitignore		.gitignore
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md		CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
MANIFEST.in		MANIFEST.in
README.md		README.md
pyproject.toml		pyproject.toml
pytest.ini		pytest.ini
requirements-dev.txt		requirements-dev.txt
requirements.txt		requirements.txt
setup.py		setup.py

Folders and files

Latest commit

History

Repository files navigation

quads-client

Features

Table of Contents

Installation

From PyPI (pip)

Mac Native Application (pip)

From RPM

From Source

Configuration

Configuration File Location

Quick Setup (Recommended)

Manual Configuration (Advanced)

SSL/TLS Security Indicator

Usage

GUI Mode

Interactive Mode

One-Shot Commands

How to Self-Schedule

Commands

Tab Completion

Connection Management

Multi-Server Session Management

Managing Multiple Users on Same Server

Server Management

Cloud Management

Self-Scheduling Mode (SSM)

Host Management (Admin)

Schedule Management (Admin)

Available Hosts

Other Commands

Authorization

Server Roles

User Registration & Assignments

Architecture

Dependencies

Development

Building from Source

Building RPM

Code Formatting

Testing

Run Tests

Run Tests with Coverage

Manual Testing

Contributing

Screenshots

TUI CLI

GUI

Links

About

Topics

Resources

License

Code of conduct

Contributing

Uh oh!

Stars

Watchers

Forks

Releases 23

Contributors

Uh oh!

Languages