diff --git a/flux-cli/src/main/java/com/marklogic/flux/impl/AbstractCommand.java b/flux-cli/src/main/java/com/marklogic/flux/impl/AbstractCommand.java
index 7313f49a..dada155d 100644
--- a/flux-cli/src/main/java/com/marklogic/flux/impl/AbstractCommand.java
+++ b/flux-cli/src/main/java/com/marklogic/flux/impl/AbstractCommand.java
@@ -49,6 +49,11 @@ public void validateCommandLineOptions(CommandLine.ParseResult parseResult) {
         new ConnectionParamsValidator(false).validate(connectionParams);
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public Dataset<Row> read(SparkSession session) throws Exception {
+        return readDataset(session);
+    }
+
     @Override
     public final void execute(SparkSession session) {
         try {
diff --git a/flux-cli/src/main/java/com/marklogic/flux/impl/Command.java b/flux-cli/src/main/java/com/marklogic/flux/impl/Command.java
index 50f056c0..b8b3527b 100644
--- a/flux-cli/src/main/java/com/marklogic/flux/impl/Command.java
+++ b/flux-cli/src/main/java/com/marklogic/flux/impl/Command.java
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2024-2025 Progress Software Corporation and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2024-2026 Progress Software Corporation and/or its subsidiaries or affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
  */
 package com.marklogic.flux.impl;
 
+import org.apache.spark.sql.Dataset;
+import org.apache.spark.sql.Row;
 import org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession;
 import picocli.CommandLine;
 
@@ -13,6 +15,10 @@ public interface Command {
      */
     void execute(SparkSession session);
 
+    default Dataset<Row> read(SparkSession session) throws Exception {
+        throw new UnsupportedOperationException("read is not supported for this command");
+    }
+
     /**
      * With picocli, we don't have a JCommander-like facility for validating all the params before the command is
      * executed. This allows us to do that.