CLI Commands

Last updated 2026-11-15

Top-level dispatch

agen parses os.Args[1] and dispatches to one of the subcommands below. With no subcommand it attaches the TUI (and fork-execs a daemon if none is running); with a non-TTY stdin it serves MCP JSON-RPC over standard I/O instead. Since v1.2.0 the TUI runs no agents itself: it sends every request to the daemon over ~/.config/agenvoy/daemon.sock and reconnects every 5 seconds while the daemon is down.

agen                       # Attach TUI; spawn daemon if not running
agen stop                  # Stop the daemon
agen update                # Download the latest release and rebuild
agen --daemon              # Start the daemon directly
agen -p <prompt> [flags]   # Send one prompt through POST /v1/send (v1.3.9)

That is the whole surface. Any other first argument that does not start with - prints the usage block and exits 1. The one-shot agen cli <input> / agen run <input> forms were removed; since v1.3.9 agen -p covers that use as a thin client of POST /v1/send.

One-shot prompt (agen -p)

agen -p <prompt> starts the daemon when needed (and waits up to 30 s for its port), sends one request to POST /v1/send in a new temp- session, and prints the reply. With an empty -p the prompt is read from stdin; arguments left after -p <prompt> are rejected (exit 2), so quote the prompt. It always sends enable_edit and enable_sandbox, so the run is in API auto mode and never prompts.

--skip-sandbox is dangerous: the run reaches paths outside $HOME, sudo and sandbox: false with no confirmation. Since v1.3.11 the help text marks it DANGEROUS and local only, and the daemon accepts enable_sandbox:false only from a loopback connection (403 otherwise).
With --stream, model, tool and thinking lines go to stderr as ⏵ Model(...), ⏵ <Tool>(...) and ✻ ..., and the reply streams to stdout. An error exits 1, a cancel (Ctrl+C) exits 130, and a stream that closes before the run finishes exits 1. A cancel stops only the client; the daemon still finishes the task.
agen --enable-claude-code was Removed in v1.2.3: the claude-code provider is enabled whenever the daemon finds the claude binary on its PATH.
The short-lived agen startup <enable|disable> subcommand was removed; toggle launch-on-login with Startup on login in the TUI /config.
Model, session, and MCP management live in the TUI (/model, /session, /new, /mcp), the web dashboard at http://127.0.0.1:17989, and the local HTTP API — there are no agen model / agen session / agen mcp subcommands.

agen stop

SIGTERM every running agen --daemon process (found through the process list, plus the one in the runtime record), not only the recorded one, then clear the runtime record. Prints No daemon running. and exits 0 when nothing is alive; a stale PID record is cleared instead of killed.

agen update

Always-overwrite update to the latest release. Downloads https://agenvoy.com/scripts/update.sh into agenvoy-update-*.sh in the system temp directory ($TMPDIR), executes it with bash, and removes the temp file on completion (SIGINT / SIGTERM also clean up). The running daemon keeps the old binary inode — run agen stop and re-attach to pick up the new build.

Modes

Press Shift+Tab in the TUI to toggle auto mode (safe ↔ auto), Shift+F for fast mode, Shift+G for CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md injection (v1.2.0), and Shift+P to set the work directory (v1.3.0). A line starting with ! runs as a shell command in that directory and its result goes to the agent (v1.3.0). Auto mode is session-local: the TUI starts in auto when its working directory is a subdirectory of $HOME (not $HOME itself, not a denied or sensitive path) and in safe otherwise. POST /v1/send has no allow_all field; auto mode is a TUI toggle only. See the TUI Guide for the full shortcut and slash-command list.

Configuration

Runtime limits live in ~/.config/agenvoy/config.json under limits; there are no environment-variable overrides. See the Configuration page.