Dify 1.18.0 overhauls difyctl commands and output; existing agents and CI scripts must migrate

Dify released 1.18.0 on October 23, bringing changes to difyctl that directly affect developers who operate AI workflows through the terminal. The new version gets commands and input fields from the server’s operation catalog. It supports creating Workflows and Chatflows, importing and exporting DSL, publishing and restoring versions, and using draft hashes to prevent imports from overwriting concurrent changes. This lets coding agents discover the operations available in a deployment, but existing scripts also need compatibility updates. Release notes

Migration requires changing specific invocation formats. The former run app command is replaced with an operation selected by app type; for example, use run console_app workflow for a Workflow. Pass the app ID with --app-id instead. Results are now always output as JSON, and the former options such as -o json and -o yaml have been removed. The status for waiting on human input has also changed from paused to suspended. Replacing only the executable while retaining old arguments or status checks may cause automation to fail. Official migration guide

Execution semantics have changed as well: the new version removes built-in failure retries and --http-retry, so scripts that rely on retries must implement their own strategy. The official documentation also explicitly states that the CLI does not ask for confirmation, even for destructive operations such as deletion. In practice, callers should check target IDs and handle operation approval themselves, rather than treating interactive prompts as a safeguard for agent execution. Migration guide, command operations guide

Login and agent skills also need attention. The new version does not carry over login state from the previous version, so users must log in again and reinstall the difyctl skill for each coding agent. If production remains on the older version, the official recommendation is to use separate executable and configuration directories. The technical value of this update is its discoverable operations interface; migration still requires validating JSON parsing, resuming after human input, and failure handling. The official documentation confirms the interface changes, but provides no independent measurements showing improved automation reliability. Official migration guide