Quick start with nextmv init

In this tutorial you will scaffold a new Nextmv application from a template using nextmv init, run it locally, and inspect the results. Complete this tutorial if you:

• Are new to Nextmv and want the fastest path to a working app.
• Are fluent using Python 🐍.

At a high level, this tutorial will go through the following steps:

1. Install the Nextmv CLI.
2. Scaffold an app with nextmv init.
3. Inspect the scaffolded files.
4. Run the app locally.
5. Get the results.

Let's dive right in 🤿.

1. Install the CLI

Install the Nextmv CLI:

pip install nextmv

To verify the installation, run:

nextmv --help

2. Run nextmv init

The nextmv init command interactively scaffolds a new Nextmv application. Run it from the directory where you want to create your app:

nextmv init

Walk through the prompts as follows:

1. Template — start from a pre-built template (vs. wrapping an existing model).
2. Python — the language for your app. Go and Java are also available.
3. JSON — the content format for input and output. Multi-file is also available for CSV/Excel workflows.
4. . — the path where files will be created (default is the current directory).

The command scaffolds the app, installs dependencies, and registers it as a local application.

3. Inspect the scaffolded files

After running nextmv init, you should see the following files:

.
├── .gitignore
├── README.md
├── app.yaml
├── input.json
├── main.py
├── visualizations.py
└── requirements.txt

The two most important files are:

• app.yaml — the app manifest. It tells the Nextmv CLI which files belong to your app, the runtime to use, and what options are available.
• main.py — the entrypoint. The default template reads data from input.json and returns a solution. Replace this logic with your own decision model.

4. Run locally

Use the Nextmv CLI to run your app locally. Make sure you are in the directory that contains app.yaml:

nextmv local run create --input input.json

{
  "run_id": "local-run-AbCdEfGh"
}

The CLI executes main.py with the provided input, stores the result locally, and returns a run ID.

5. Get results

Use the run ID from the previous step to retrieve the output:

nextmv local run get --run-id local-run-AbCdEfGh

{
  "options": { ... },
  "solution": { ... },
  "metrics": { ... },
  "assets": []
}

The output follows the standard Nextmv result schema:

• options — the configuration used for the run.
• solution — the result produced by your model.
• metrics — run metrics or KPIs about your result.
• assets — visualizations or other files produced by the run (see the custom visualizations tutorial).

6. Next steps

You now have a working Nextmv application running locally. From here you can:

• Replace the template logic in main.py with your own decision model.
• Sync local runs to the cloud with nextmv local app sync.
• Push your app to run remotely with nextmv cloud app push.

For more detailed walkthroughs, check out these tutorials:

• Connect your model with the Python SDK
• Explore a new model with the CLI
• Free local experience

🎉🎉🎉 Congratulations, you have finished this tutorial!