> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://shoppinpal.gitbook.io/docs-shoppinpal-com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://shoppinpal.gitbook.io/docs-shoppinpal-com/3.-the-backend/loopback-console.md).

# Loopback Console

Using the `API Explorer` in the browser is all right but if you're looking for something a bit slicker then the [loopback-console](https://github.com/GovRight/loopback-console) can be your goto tool.

As of this writing, it is developed and maintained by [Heath Morrison](https://github.com/doublemarked), his GitHub handle is `doublemarked` and you can [reach out to him](https://gitter.im/doublemarked) to express your gratitude if you like, in a gitter.im chat room, if you feel so inclined.

`loopback-console` has many advanced uses and it is even used in production alongside deployed loopback solutions for some very clever reasons that I do not fully understand ... so we will stick to one of its simpler uses: command line interface (CLI) for exploring the API.

Lets get cracking:

a) Install it in your loopback project:

```
$ cd ~/workspace/loopback-zero-to-hero
$ npm install --save loopback-console
loopback-console@0.1.0 node_modules/loopback-console
├── repl.history@0.1.3
├── app-root-path@1.0.0
└── lodash@3.10.0
```

b) Set it up for easy access. Update your [package.json](https://github.com/shoppinpal/docs-shoppinpal-com/tree/8cdd099563d11c1fe1df4d584b504337850c59eb/loopback/open_file%20loopback-zero-to-hero/package.json%20panel=1;) file. **FROM**:

```
  "scripts": {
    "pretest": "jshint ."
  },
```

**TO**:

```
  "scripts": {
    "console": "$(npm bin)/loopback-console .",
    "pretest": "jshint ."
  },
```

c) Take it for a spin:

c.1) `npm run console`

c.2) Let's try to list all users: `var allUsers = UserModel.find({include:'roles'},cb)`

c.3) Results will be something like:

```
loopback > [ { username: 'admin',
    password: '$2a$10$R.LFPzD7Ov3KZOyw9unS2.drCAbBI7IEVLCK.qX7H/28oKhVME0vq',
    email: 'admin@admin.com',
    firstName: 'Admin',
    lastName: 'User',
    id: 1,
    roles: [ [Object] ] },
  { username: 'user',
    password: '$2a$10$ZXi51B8JH2Su48XA5P/Y7eUrgqiUbnvfyBiJa1dTFlupeKct9X9ei',
    email: 'user@user.com',
    firstName: 'Guest',
    lastName: 'User',
    id: 2,
    roles: [ [Object] ] } ]
```

press `ctrl+c` once to kill this command so that you may enter the next one.

c.4) To unpack the `roles: [ [Object] ]` piece, let's look at a specific result from the array: `result[0]`

```
loopback > result[0]
{ username: 'admin',
  password: '$2a$10$R.LFPzD7Ov3KZOyw9unS2.drCAbBI7IEVLCK.qX7H/28oKhVME0vq',
  email: 'admin@admin.com',
  firstName: 'Admin',
  lastName: 'User',
  id: 1,
  roles:
   [ { name: 'admin',
       created: Sun Jul 05 2015 03:06:07 GMT+0000 (UTC),
       modified: Sun Jul 05 2015 03:06:07 GMT+0000 (UTC),
       id: 1 } ] }
```

now you can clearly see the roles.

You can let your imagination go wild for all the ways you might use this power, for now we'll just move on.