Run and verify a FileMaker operation

Native FileMaker changes follow one pattern: inspect the current file, describe the intended result, apply related operations as a batch, and verify the committed file from a fresh read.

Describe the result

Tell the coding agent what should change and what must remain untouched:

Add a Status field to the Orders table using this project's standards. Preserve every existing field and verify the committed definition afterward.

The agent reads the live operation help for the requested catalog before building the operation input. Each input object names one operation and includes only the keys that operation accepts.

How batches behave

A batch contains one or more related operations against one FileMaker file. By default, ADT commits the complete batch only if every operation succeeds. Any error aborts the batch and discards all changes.

A batch can explicitly keep successful operations after another operation fails, but this is not the normal authoring pattern. Use that behavior only when partial completion is intentional and safe to verify.

Dry runs are optional

A dry run follows the same validation and execution path as a normal batch, then discards the changes instead of committing them. It is useful when you want to review whether a complex batch is accepted, but it is not required before a normal run.

An error causes the same abort during a dry run or a normal atomic batch. A successful dry run proves the proposed batch can execute in the state it inspected; it does not prove a later run will see the same unlocked file state.

Verify after the batch

The closing summary must show that the batch committed and did not roll back. The agent then opens the file in a fresh process and reads the changed object again. A read performed inside the same batch is not proof that the change reached disk.

If a run ends without a closing summary or times out while applying or committing an operation, treat the file state as unknown. Read the file before retrying so an operation is not applied twice.

See Operation syntax and NDJSON input, Dry runs and batch behavior, and Output and errors.