ADF CLI

Install

npm install -g @agentdocumentformat/cli

Requires Node.js 22 or newer. Native modules (SQLite, the OS keychain) install from prebuilt binaries for Windows, macOS (arm64, x64) and Linux (x64, arm64, glibc), so no compiler is needed.

If npm reports EEXIST for bin/adf, an older package named agent-document-format is installed. Remove it with npm uninstall -g agent-document-format and install again.

Part	Command	Description
Terminal app	`adf`	The whole fleet in one screen. Chat with any agent or loop, approve tool calls, edit files, watch live events.
CLI	`adf <command>`	One-shot commands for scripts and quick checks. `adf help` lists them.
ADF daemon	`adf daemon`	The background process that runs the agents and serves the Daemon API. `adf` starts it for you.

The terminal app and the one-shot commands are clients of the daemon. Quitting the app, or closing the terminal, leaves every agent running.

Documentation

Getting started: From nothing to an agent you can chat with.
Terminal app: Screens, keys and slash commands.
CLI reference: Every command, flag, environment variable and key.
ADF daemon: Run, configure and secure the daemon.
Daemon operations: Data directory, ports, token, logs and shutdown.
Daemon API: The HTTP API the daemon serves. OpenAPI 3.

Upgrade

npm install -g @agentdocumentformat/cli@latest
adf daemon restart

A running daemon keeps the old code until it restarts. adf --version prints the installed version,adf daemon status the one the running daemon reports.

Quick start

adf                       # terminal app, starts the daemon
adf identity new          # or: adf identity restore
adf auth login grok       # or add an API key in the app
adf new my-agent --start
adf agents
adf chat my-agent "hello"
adf daemon status         # also stop, restart, logs -f

The first launch shows a checklist: identity, model, first agent, channel. Step by step: Getting started.

Commands

Every command, flag, environment variable, slash command and key is in the reference. An<agent> argument can be an agent ID, handle or name. --json prints raw JSON.

Group	Commands
Agents	agents, status, start, stop, loops, chat, interrupt, abort, events
Agent resources	config, files, file, inbox, outbox, timers, identities
Approvals and questions	tasks, task, approve, deny, asks, answer
Owner identity and new agents	identity, identity new \| restore \| unlock \| lock, templates, new
Diagnostics	runtime, providers, settings, usage, mcp, adapters
Network	network, network mesh \| server \| tools \| lan \| runtimes
Sign-in	auth, auth login \| logout
Daemon	daemon, daemon start \| status \| stop \| restart \| logs \| token

Studio and the CLI

ADF Studio and the CLI share the settings file and owner identity on one machine, so providers, tracked folders and agents set up in one appear in the other. They must not run the same agents at the same time:adf does not start a daemon while Studio is running.

Run from source

For contributors. From a clone of the ADF repository, the npm scripts run the TypeScript source directly:

git clone https://github.com/christianbalevski/adf.git
cd adf
npm install
npm run adf                 # terminal app
npm run adf -- agents       # any command
npm run tui:mock            # terminal app against a mock daemon
npm run daemon              # the daemon in the foreground