mvt/docs/development/custom_commands.md

# Custom CLI Commands

MVT can load additional top-level commands into `mvt`, `mvt-ios` and
`mvt-android`. A command package chooses which of the three each of its
commands is added to.
Custom commands are different from [custom forensic modules](index.md#custom-modules):
commands add new CLI operations, while modules add analysis steps to existing
`check-*` commands.

!!! warning

    Custom commands run as trusted Python code inside the MVT process. Install
    or load commands only from sources you trust. MVT does not sandbox
    third-party commands, and the MVT maintainers do not maintain them.

## Install a Command Package

Python packages can register a Click command or group on one or more of the MVT CLIs.
A minimal package can expose this command from `my_mvt_plugin.py`:

```python
import click


@click.command()
@click.argument("path", type=click.Path(exists=True))
def summarize(path):
    """Summarize an acquisition."""
    click.echo(f"Summarizing {path}")
```

Log through `get_plugin_logger(__name__)` from `mvt.plugin`. Records logged
through `logging.getLogger(__name__)` do not reach `command.log`, and MVT's
console handler does not show them.

Register the object in the package's `pyproject.toml`. The entry-point name is
the command users invoke:

```toml
[project.entry-points."mvt.ios.cli_plugins"]
summarize = "my_mvt_plugin:summarize"

[project.entry-points."mvt.android.cli_plugins"]
summarize = "my_mvt_plugin:summarize"
```

Each entry-point group adds the command to one CLI: `mvt.ios.cli_plugins` to
`mvt-ios`, `mvt.android.cli_plugins` to `mvt-android` and `mvt.cli_plugins` to
`mvt`. Register the command in the group of every CLI which should offer it: a
platform-specific command belongs in one platform group, and a command which
handles acquisitions of both platforms, as above, in both. After installing the
package in the same environment as MVT, the command appears directly in those
CLIs:

```bash
mvt-ios summarize ./ios-backup
mvt-android summarize ./androidqf-output
```

For a `pipx` installation of MVT, inject the plugin into MVT's environment:

```bash
pipx inject mvt my-mvt-plugin
```

When MVT is installed in an active virtual environment, install the plugin with
`pip` in that environment. `mvt plugins list` shows the installed packages and
the commands they add, see [Managing Plugins](plugins.md).

Command packages that need their own settings, such as an API key, should store
them in a namespaced [plugin configuration file](plugin_configuration.md)
rather than in MVT's own `config.yaml`.

### Commands on `mvt`

A MVT plugin command can also add sub-commands to the base `mvt` command. This can be used for commands which are not tied to a particular forensic platform:

```toml
[project.entry-points."mvt.cli_plugins"]
my-plugin = "my_mvt_plugin:my_plugin"
```

Commands in this group are added to `mvt` only, so this one is invoked as
`mvt my-plugin`. A command on `mvt` has nothing but its name to say which
plugin it belongs to, so name it after the plugin, and make it a Click group
when the plugin has several operations to offer, such as
`mvt my-plugin configure`.

## Developing a Command Locally

A package is how a command is distributed. While a command is being written,
MVT can load it straight from its file instead, so the package need not be
reinstalled after every change; an editable install of the package does the
same through its entry points. Create a Python file that exports one Click
command or group named `cli`:

```python
import click


@click.command("case-summary")
@click.argument("path", type=click.Path(exists=True))
def cli(path):
    """Summarize a case directory."""
    click.echo(f"Summarizing {path}")
```

Pass the file before the custom command name:

```bash
mvt-ios --load-command ./case_summary.py case-summary ./ios-backup
```

`--load-command` can be repeated and also accepts a folder. MVT loads
non-hidden top-level `*.py` files in sorted order and skips `__init__.py`.
Every loaded file must export one `cli` object.

To load a file or folder on every invocation, set the environment variable of
the CLI the commands belong on. Like the entry-point groups, each variable adds
its commands to one CLI only:

```bash
export MVT_CUSTOM_COMMANDS=./commands
export MVT_IOS_CUSTOM_COMMANDS=./ios_commands
export MVT_ANDROID_CUSTOM_COMMANDS=./android_commands
```

## Building a Module-Running Command

A command which runs forensic modules over an acquisition subclasses `Command`.
`Command` creates the output folder and writes `command.log`. It orders the
modules, resolves their dependencies and runs them. It writes the result files,
`alerts.json` and `info.json`. The subclass sets `platform`, `name` and
`modules`:

```python
from mvt.plugin import Command, MVTModule, convert_unix_to_iso, get_plugin_logger

log = get_plugin_logger(__name__)


class APKManifest(MVTModule):
    supported_commands = (("android", "check-apks"),)

    def run(self):
        self.results = [{"checked_at": convert_unix_to_iso(0)}]


class CmdCheckAPKs(Command):
    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
        self.platform = "android"
        self.name = "check-apks"
        self.modules = [APKManifest]
```

`platform` and `name` are the pair the modules declare in
`supported_commands`. `modules` lists the module classes the command runs,
imported directly. A command which runs modules of another plugin depends on
that package in `pyproject.toml` and imports them the same way. `init()`,
`module_init(module)` and `finish()` are optional hooks. `run()` calls them
before the run, before each module and after the run.

Wrap the command in a Click command with an `--output` option. Run it, then
print the alert summary:

```python
import click


@click.command("check-apks")
@click.option("--output", "-o", type=click.Path(exists=False))
@click.argument("TARGET_PATH", type=click.Path(exists=True))
def cli(output, target_path):
    cmd = CmdCheckAPKs(target_path=target_path, results_path=output)
    log.info("Checking APK files at path: %s", target_path)
    cmd.run()
    cmd.show_alerts_brief()
```

The `--verbose` option of `mvt`, `mvt-ios` and `mvt-android` applies to the
command. The command defines no `--verbose` option of its own. The pair a
plugin command adds is not listed anywhere in MVT. Name it in the plugin's
README.

## Naming and Errors

Built-in MVT commands cannot be replaced. External command names must also be
unique on each CLI; when installed packages or environment paths collide, MVT
keeps the first command and logs a warning. The environment path of a CLI is
registered before its installed packages, so a command loaded from there wins a
collision with a package. A collision from an explicit `--load-command` is a
usage error.

A package entry point or environment command that cannot be imported appears
as a marked broken command without preventing other MVT commands from working.
Invoke that command to see its package or file source and the underlying error.
An invalid command supplied explicitly with `--load-command` fails immediately
with a usage error.

Installed command packages use the entry-point name as the CLI command name.
The entry point must resolve to a `click.Command` or `click.Group`.