Command

Last updated: 24 Sep 2025

Introduction #

The Command model represents a command in a note.

Basic usage #

To get a command by identifier, use the get method on the Command model manager:

from canvas_sdk.v1.data.command import Command

command = Command.objects.get(id="b80b1cdc-2e6a-4aca-90cc-ebc02e683f35")

Filtering #

Commands can be filtered by any attribute that exists on the model.

Filtering for commands is done with the filter method on the Command model manager.

By attribute #

Specify an attribute with filter to filter by that attribute:

from canvas_sdk.v1.data.command import Command

commands = Command.objects.filter(state="committed")

Command types and data #

When events are fired as part of Command Lifecycle Events, the self.target value that is available within a plugin will contain the id value of the command. For example:

from canvas_sdk.protocols import BaseProtocol
from canvas_sdk.effects import Effect
from canvas_sdk.events import EventType
from logger import log


class Protocol(BaseProtocol):
    RESPONDS_TO = [
        EventType.Name(EventType.REASON_FOR_VISIT_COMMAND__POST_UPDATE),
    ]

    def compute(self) -> list[Effect]:
        log.info(self.target) # logs the Command id

Using this value, the Command model can be queried to fetch additional data about the command. Two main fields to pay attention to here are the schema_key and data fields. The schema_key field contains the type of the command, while the data field contains a JSON object with command data as key/value pairs:

import json
from canvas_sdk.effects import Effect
from canvas_sdk.protocols import BaseProtocol
from canvas_sdk.v1.data.command import Command
from logger import log


class Protocol(BaseProtocol):
    def compute(self) -> list[Effect]:
        command_instance = Command.objects.get(id=self.target)
        log.info(command_instance.schema_key)
        log.info(json.dumps(command_instance.data, indent=2))

For example, for a Reason For Visit command, the preceding code would log the following lines:

reasonForVisit

{
  "coding": {
    "text": "Accident-prone",
    "extra": null,
    "value": "165002",
    "disabled": false,
    "annotations": null,
    "description": null
  },
  "comment": "Patient would like to discuss condition."
}

The following table shows the different command schema_key values with links to their respective Command Modules. The attributes shown in each corresponding entry contain the structure that will appear in the data JSON field of each Command.

Schema Key	Command Data
adjustPrescription	AdjustPrescription
allergy	Allergy
assess	Assess
changeMedication	ChangeMedication
closeGoal	CloseGoal
diagnose	Diagnose
familyHistory	FamilyHistory
followUp	FollowUp
goal	Goal
hpi	HistoryOfPresentIllness
imagingOrder	ImagingOrder
instruct	Instruct
labOrder	LabOrder
medicalHistory	MedicalHistory
medicationStatement	MedicationStatement
perform	Perform
plan	Plan
prescribe	Prescribe
questionnaire	Questionnaire
reasonForVisit	ReasonForVisit
refer	Refer
refill	Refill
removeAllergy	RemoveAllergy
resolveCondition	ResolveCondition
stopMedication	StopMedication
surgicalHistory	SurgicalHistory
task	Task
updateDiagnosis	UpdateDiagnosis
updateGoal	UpdateGoal
vitals	Vitals

PLEASE NOTE the Commands Module is under development and Canvas is working to migrate all commands to be available. This means that some commands are not able to emit events available in plugins, and historical commands created prior to their Commands Module availability may not be able to be queried using the data module. This product updates table shows the commands and their release statuses. If a command in a chart is not available by querying the Command data model, the data is still available to be queried using corresponding data models (i.e. Questionnaire, ImagingOrder, etc.).

Attributes #

Command #

Field Name	Type
id	UUID
dbid	Integer
created	DateTime
modified	DateTime
originator	CanvasUser
committer	CanvasUser
entered_in_error	CanvasUser
state	String
patient	Patient
note	Note
schema_key	String
data	JSON
origination_source	String