servosity/msp-skills/cove

Cove Data Protection - Claude Code Skill

Prerequisites: Install the CLI

This skill drives the cove-cli binary. You must verify the CLI is installed before invoking any command from this skill. If it is missing, install it first:

1. macOS / Linux:

``bash bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Servosity/msp-skills/main/skills/cove/install.sh) ``

1. Windows (PowerShell):

``powershell iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Servosity/msp-skills/main/skills/cove/install.ps1 | iex ``

1. Verify: cove-cli --version
2. Ensure ~/.local/bin (macOS / Linux) or %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\msp-skills (Windows) is on $PATH.

The installer downloads the cove-cli and cove-mcp binaries into ~/.local/bin (macOS / Linux) or %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\msp-skills (Windows). It does not register the skill with your agent and writes no MCP client config - see mcp-install.md for that wire-up.

If --version reports "command not found" after install, the runtime cannot see the binary directory on $PATH. Do not proceed with skill commands until verification succeeds.

Cove's console scopes to one customer at a time and forgets yesterday. cove-cli speaks the whole JSON-RPC API: one command sweeps every partner for failed or stale backups with column codes decoded to human names, snapshot keeps timestamped SQLite history so storage growth and devices changes can answer trend questions nothing else can, and call reaches all 251 documented methods.

When to Use This CLI

Use cove-cli when a task touches N-able Cove Data Protection fleet state: which backups failed or went stale, per-customer health rollups, storage growth, month-end SKU/seat billing, partner/device/user/audit enumeration, or any of the 251 JSON-RPC methods via call. It is the right tool for cross-customer questions the backup.management console can only answer one partner at a time, and for trend questions that need the local snapshot history.

Anti-triggers

Do not use this CLI for:

• Restoring files or browsing backed-up data - restores run through the Backup Manager client or console, and per-device session detail lives on storage-node Reporting Service endpoints this CLI does not cover
• Installing or controlling the Backup Manager agent on endpoints - use deployment tooling (RMM) for that
• N-able N-central or RMM administration - this CLI only speaks the Cove (backup.management) API
• Accounts that only have interactive 2FA logins - the JSON-RPC API needs an API-enabled service account

Unique Capabilities

Local history that compounds

• `storage growth` - See which devices and customers are growing their backup storage fastest, from timestamped local snapshots.

_Reach for this when capacity planning or quota questions need a trend, not a point-in-time number._

``bash cove-cli storage growth --since 7d --agent ``

• `devices changes` - Devices whose backup status flipped between the two latest snapshots of the same partner tree: regressions and recoveries without re-sweeping the fleet.

_Answers 'what broke since last week' and 'did Friday's failures clear' in one command._

``bash cove-cli devices changes --since 7d --json ``

Fleet triage

• `devices failures` - Every device across all customers whose last backup session failed, aborted, errored, had no selection, never started or reported an unrecognised status, decoded to status names.

_The MSP morning ritual: run this first to build the day's ticket queue._

``bash cove-cli devices failures --since 24h --agent ``

• `devices stale` - Devices with no successful backup in N days, ranked by staleness and grouped by customer.

_Catches silent gaps: a device can report a fine last status while not having succeeded for days._

``bash cove-cli devices stale --days 3 --json ``

• `fleet health` - One-screen rollup: total devices, healthy, failed, stale, never-run and unknown status, with a per-customer breakdown.

_The at-a-glance number for standups and QBR prep._

``bash cove-cli fleet health --by partner --json ``

• `devices sources` - Which data sources each device protects (Files, System State, SQL, Hyper-V, Microsoft 365), decoded fleet-wide, with a filter for devices missing one.

_Reach for this when a restore plan assumes a data source is protected and you need to prove it across every customer._

``bash cove-cli devices sources --without "System State" --os server --agent ``

• `fleet activity` - Who did what in the Cove console: audit-trail actions grouped by user and operation across every sub-partner, with a breakdown by result.

_Reach for this for a weekly review of console activity or after an incident, to see which accounts changed what._

``bash cove-cli fleet activity --since 7d --agent ``

Billing

• `billing usage` - Per-device SKU, used storage, and M365 seat counts with column codes decoded - the month-end billing export in one command.

_Turns Cove usage into invoice lines without the column-code legend open in another tab._

``bash cove-cli billing usage --csv ``

• `billing changes` - Devices whose plan changed since last month - current SKU vs Cove's built-in previous-month SKU column.

_Run at month-end to catch plan upgrades and downgrades that affect invoices._

``bash cove-cli billing changes --json ``

Command Reference

audit - Management console audit trail

• cove-cli audit - Enumerate audit actions in a time range (JSON-RPC EnumerateAuditActions)

backup-jobs - Backup/restore jobs

• cove-cli backup-jobs - Enumerate jobs for a partner (JSON-RPC EnumerateJobs)

columns - Statistics column metadata (pairs with the README column-code legend)

• cove-cli columns - Enumerate custom statistic columns visible to a partner (JSON-RPC EnumerateColumns)

devices - Backup devices (accounts) and their column-coded statistics

• cove-cli devices get - Get one device by id (JSON-RPC GetAccountInfoById)
• cove-cli devices list - Enumerate backup devices for a partner (JSON-RPC EnumerateAccounts)
• cove-cli devices stats - Query device statistics by column codes (JSON-RPC EnumerateAccountStatistics; see README column-code legend)

labels - Device labels

• cove-cli labels - Enumerate all device labels (JSON-RPC EnumerateAllLabels)

locations - Data-center locations

• cove-cli locations - Enumerate data-center locations (JSON-RPC EnumerateLocations)

partners - Customers and resellers in the partner hierarchy

• cove-cli partners get - Get one partner by id (JSON-RPC GetPartnerInfoById)
• cove-cli partners list - Enumerate partners under a parent (JSON-RPC EnumeratePartners)

products - Backup products available to a partner

• cove-cli products - Enumerate products (JSON-RPC EnumerateProducts)

server - Management service metadata

• cove-cli server - Get management server info (JSON-RPC GetServerInfo)

storage - Storage pools, statistics, and nodes

• cove-cli storage list - Enumerate storage pools for a partner (JSON-RPC EnumerateStorages)
• cove-cli storage nodes - Enumerate all storage nodes (JSON-RPC EnumerateAllStorageNodes)
• cove-cli storage stats - Storage usage statistics per location (JSON-RPC EnumerateStorageStatistics)

users - Console users

• cove-cli users - Enumerate users for partners (JSON-RPC EnumerateUsers)

billing

• cove-cli billing usage - Per-device SKU, used storage, and M365 seat counts with column codes decoded - the month-end billing export in one command.

• cove-cli billing changes - Devices whose plan changed since last month - current SKU vs Cove's built-in previous-month SKU column.

devices

• cove-cli devices failures - Every device across all customers whose last backup session failed, aborted, errored, or never started - decoded to status names.

• cove-cli devices stale - Devices with no successful backup in N days, ranked by staleness and grouped by customer.

• cove-cli devices changes - Devices whose backup status flipped between the two latest snapshots - regressions and recoveries without re-sweeping the fleet.

• cove-cli devices sources - Which data sources each device actually protects (Files and Folders, System State, MS SQL, Hyper-V, Microsoft 365 and more), decoded from Cove's active-sources column, with a fleet tally and a filter for devices missing a given source.

fleet

• cove-cli fleet health - One-screen rollup: total devices, healthy, failed, stale, never-run - with a per-customer breakdown.

• cove-cli fleet activity - Who did what in the Cove console over a window: audit-trail actions grouped by user and operation across every sub-partner, with non-successful results counted.

storage

• cove-cli storage growth - See which devices and customers are growing their backup storage fastest, from timestamped local snapshots.

Finding the right command

When you know what you want to do but not which command does it, ask the CLI directly:

cove-cli which "<capability in your own words>"

which resolves a natural-language capability query to the best matching command from this CLI's curated feature index. Exit code 0 means at least one match; exit code 2 means no confident match - fall back to --help or use a narrower query. --json (and other machine formats) keep that exit-2 contract and write {"matches":[]} on stdout so agents can inspect the envelope without treating a miss as success.

Recipes

Morning failure sweep for the ticket queue

cove-cli devices failures --since 24h --agent --select items.device_name,items.customer,items.status_name

Cross-customer failed/aborted/not-started list narrowed to the three fields a triage ticket needs.

Find silently stale devices

cove-cli devices stale --days 3 --json

Devices with no successful session in 3 days, ranked worst-first - catches gaps the last-status view hides.

Month-end billing export

cove-cli billing usage --csv

Per-device SKU, used storage, and M365 seats as CSV for the invoice model.

What broke since the last snapshot

cove-cli devices changes --since 7d --json

After two cove-cli snapshot runs some time apart: regressions and recoveries between them.

Call any of the 251 JSON-RPC methods

cove-cli call GetServerInfo --json

Generic escape hatch with automatic visa injection and typed vendor error mapping.

Auth Setup