CLI Reference

Run AI-powered workflows from your terminal.

Prerequisites

1. Clone the repository and install dependencies:

   git clone https://github.com/coleam00/Archon
   cd Archon
   bun install

2. Make CLI globally available (recommended):

   cd packages/cli
   bun link

   This creates an archon command available from anywhere.

3. Authenticate with Claude:

   claude /login

Note: Examples below use archon (after bun link). If you skip step 2, use bun run cli from the repo directory instead.

Quick Start

# List available workflows (requires git repository)
archon workflow list --cwd /path/to/repo

# Run a workflow (auto-creates isolated worktree by default)
archon workflow run assist --cwd /path/to/repo "Explain the authentication flow"

# Explicit branch name for the worktree
archon workflow run plan --cwd /path/to/repo --branch feature-auth "Add OAuth support"

# Opt out of isolation (run in live checkout)
archon workflow run assist --cwd /path/to/repo --no-worktree "Quick question"

Note: Workflow and isolation commands require running from within a git repository. Running from subdirectories automatically resolves to the repo root. The version, help, chat, setup, serve, and doctor commands work anywhere.

Commands

chat <message>

Send a message to the orchestrator for a one-off AI interaction.

archon chat "What does the orchestrator do?"

setup

Interactive setup wizard for credentials and configuration.

archon setup                      # writes ~/.archon/.env (home scope, default)
archon setup --scope project      # writes <cwd>/.archon/.env instead
archon setup --force              # overwrite instead of merging (backup still written)
archon setup --spawn              # open in a new terminal window

Flags:

Flag	Effect
--scope home	Write to ~/.archon/.env (default). Applies to every project.
--scope project	Write to <cwd>/.archon/.env. Overrides user scope for this repo only.
--force	Overwrite the target file wholesale instead of merging. A timestamped backup is still written.
--spawn	Open setup wizard in a new terminal window.

Write safety: archon setup never writes to <cwd>/.env — that file belongs to you. The wizard always targets one archon-owned file chosen by --scope, merges into existing content (so user-added keys survive), and writes a timestamped backup before every rewrite (e.g. ~/.archon/.env.archon-backup-2026-04-20T09-28-11-000Z).

doctor

Verify your Archon setup. Runs a checklist of common failure points: Claude binary spawn, gh CLI auth, Pi auth (when Pi is configured as default), database reachability, workspace writability, bundled defaults, telemetry state, AI credentials (connected provider count, best-effort), and adapter token pings (Slack/Telegram, best-effort).

archon doctor

Exit code 0 if all checks pass or are skipped; 1 if any critical check fails. Adapter pings degrade to skip on network errors — a flaky connection does not flip the result red.

Also runs automatically at the end of archon setup (optional).

auth github

Connect the current CLI user’s GitHub identity via the GitHub device flow, so workflow commits, PR comments, and pushes attribute to you instead of the bot.

archon auth github

Only meaningful on multi-user installs running GitHub App mode (GITHUB_APP_ID + GITHUB_APP_CLIENT_ID) with TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY set — solo GITHUB_TOKEN installs don’t need it and the command exits with an explanatory error. Your CLI identity is resolved from ARCHON_USER_ID (explicit override) or $USER / $USERNAME, mapped to a stable Archon user via the cli platform identity.

The command prints a verification_uri and a one-time user_code; visit the URL, enter the code, and authorize. On success the access/refresh tokens are stored encrypted (AES-256-GCM) in Archon’s database. Exit code 0 on success; 1 if per-user GitHub is disabled, the identity can’t be resolved, the code expires, or authorization is denied.

ai

Manage per-user AI-provider credentials (API keys + subscriptions) and model-tier config. CLI identity is resolved from ARCHON_USER_ID (explicit override) or $USER / $USERNAME, mapped to a stable Archon user via the cli platform identity — the same as auth github.

The credential subcommands (key set, login, list, logout) work on any install — the vault is auto-provisioned. CLI identity is resolved from ARCHON_USER_ID or $USER/$USERNAME. The config subcommands (tier, alias, default) are ungated — they write ~/.archon/config.yaml and need no identity.

# --- Provider credentials (any install — vault auto-provisioned) ---
archon ai key set <vendor>       # connect an API key (masked prompt or piped stdin — never argv)
archon ai login <vendor>         # connect a subscription via OAuth (anthropic, openai, or github-copilot)
archon ai list                   # list connected credentials (metadata only, no secrets)
archon ai logout <vendor>        # disconnect a credential

# --- Model tiers + aliases + default assistant (ungated config) ---
archon ai tier set <small|medium|large> <provider> <model> [--effort <effort>] [--scope user|install]
archon ai tier list [--json]     # show configured tiers (install + yours) vs built-in defaults
archon ai tier unset <small|medium|large> [--scope user|install]
archon ai alias set <@name> <provider> <model> [--effort <effort>] [--scope user|install]
archon ai alias list [--json]    # show @custom aliases (install + yours)
archon ai alias unset <@name> [--scope user|install]
archon ai default <provider> [--scope user|install]   # set the default assistant

Credential ids are vendor-keyed (anthropic, openai, github-copilot, plus the Pi backends like openrouter); legacy claude/codex/copilot are accepted and normalized with a printed notice. ai login supports subscription login for anthropic, openai (ChatGPT/Codex), and github-copilot. The openai login is an Archon-owned PKCE flow (#1924): authorize in the browser, then paste the authorization code or the full localhost:1455 redirect URL back at the prompt — nothing needs to listen on that port. The API key is never read from argv (it would leak into shell history): pipe it (echo "$KEY" | archon ai key set openrouter) or type it at the masked prompt.

ai tier, ai alias, and ai default edit the same tiers: / aliases: / defaultAssistant config you can hand-write in ~/.archon/config.yaml (see Configuration) or edit from the console AI Settings page. An unknown provider exits non-zero; tier unset removes the override so the tier falls back to its built-in preset. The full per-user setup walkthrough is in Per-user credentials and AI Settings.

--scope user (per-user overrides). On any of the config subcommands, --scope user writes your personal prefs row in Archon’s database instead of the shared config.yaml. Your tiers/aliases/default override the install config for runs and chats you start — nobody else’s. It needs a resolvable CLI identity (ARCHON_USER_ID or $USER) but no TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY (model names aren’t secrets). ai tier list / ai alias list show both scopes, marking your overrides with [just you]. The same scopes are editable in the console as the “This install / Just me” toggle on AI Settings.

telemetry status

Show the current anonymous telemetry state: whether it is enabled, the opt-out reason if not, the install UUID, the active PostHog host, and the key source.

archon telemetry status

Useful for verifying that an opt-out env var (DO_NOT_TRACK=1, ARCHON_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1, CI=true, POSTHOG_API_KEY=off) is being picked up. Inspecting status never creates a telemetry-id file while opted out.

telemetry reset

Rotate the persisted anonymous install UUID at ~/.archon/telemetry-id. The previous ID is overwritten and not recoverable.

archon telemetry reset

Exit code 0 on success; 1 if the ID file cannot be written.

workflow list

List workflows available in target directory.

archon workflow list --cwd /path/to/repo

# Machine-readable output for scripting
archon workflow list --cwd /path/to/repo --json

Discovers workflows from .archon/workflows/ (recursive), ~/.archon/workflows/ (global, home-scoped), and bundled defaults. See Global Workflows.

Flags:

Flag	Effect
--cwd <path>	Target directory (required for most use cases)
--json	Output machine-readable JSON instead of formatted text

With --json, outputs { "workflows": [...], "errors": [...] }. Optional fields (provider, model, modelReasoningEffort, webSearchMode) are omitted when not set on a workflow.

workflow run <name> [message]

Run a workflow with an optional user message.

# Basic usage
archon workflow run assist --cwd /path/to/repo "What does this function do?"

# With isolation
archon workflow run plan --cwd /path/to/repo --branch feature-x "Add caching"

Progress events (node start/complete/fail/skip, approval gates) are written to stderr during execution.

Flags:

Flag	Effect
--cwd <path>	Target directory (required for most use cases)
--branch <name>	Explicit branch name for the worktree
--from <branch>, --from-branch <branch>	Override base branch (start-point for worktree)
--no-worktree	Opt out of isolation — run directly in live checkout
--resume	Resume from last failed run at the working path (skips completed nodes)
--quiet, -q	Suppress all progress output to stderr
--verbose, -v	Also show tool-level events (tool name and duration)
--detach	Run in a detached background child and return immediately. The child does all the work; find it later with workflow runs/workflow get. Child stdout/stderr is captured to ~/.archon/logs/detached-run-<id>.log. Combine with --json for a machine-readable ack.

Default (no flags):

• Creates worktree with auto-generated branch (archon/task-<workflow>-<timestamp>)
• Auto-registers codebase if in a git repo

With --branch:

• Creates/reuses worktree at ~/.archon/workspaces/<owner>/<repo>/worktrees/<branch>/
• Reuses existing worktree if healthy

With --no-worktree:

• Runs in target directory directly (no isolation)
• Mutually exclusive with --branch and --from

Name Matching:

Workflow names are resolved using a 4-tier fallback hierarchy. This applies consistently across the CLI and all chat platforms (Slack, Telegram, Web, GitHub, Discord):

1. Exact match - archon-assist matches archon-assist
2. Case-insensitive - Archon-Assist matches archon-assist
3. Suffix match - assist matches archon-assist (looks for -assist suffix)
4. Substring match - smart matches archon-smart-pr-review

If multiple workflows match at the same tier, an error lists the candidates:

Ambiguous workflow 'review'. Did you mean:
  - archon-review
  - custom-review

workflow status

Show active workflow runs (running and paused) across all worktrees. For full history (all statuses) scoped to the current project, use workflow runs.

archon workflow status
archon workflow status --json
archon workflow status --verbose   # add a per-node summary for each run

workflow runs

List recent runs of every status (completed, failed, cancelled, running, paused) for the current project. The project is resolved from cwd the same way workflow run does. Complements workflow status (which is active-only).

archon workflow runs
archon workflow runs --json
archon workflow runs --status failed   # filter to one status
archon workflow runs --limit 50        # cap rows (default 20)
archon workflow runs --all             # list across all projects (ignore cwd scope)

If cwd is not a registered project, the command falls back to a global list and says so — --json carries this as a scopeFallback: true field so a consuming agent never mistakes a global result for a project-scoped one.

workflow get

Show detail for a single run by ID, regardless of status (unlike status, which is active-only). Use it to answer “did that run pass?” for a completed/failed run. Exits non-zero when the run is not found.

archon workflow get <run-id>
archon workflow get <run-id> --json
archon workflow get <run-id> --verbose   # add the per-node event summary

workflow resume

Resume a failed workflow run. Re-executes the workflow, automatically skipping nodes that completed in the prior run.

archon workflow resume <run-id>
archon workflow resume <run-id> --json   # validate + ack only; does NOT re-execute inline

In --json mode the command is a non-blocking control-plane ack: it validates the run is resumable and reports its state but does not re-execute inline (execution streams output to stdout, which would corrupt the JSON). To actually drive a resumable run to completion, use the blocking form or workflow run <name> --resume --detach.

workflow abandon

Discard a workflow run (marks it as cancelled). Use this to unblock a worktree when you don’t want to resume — the path lock is released immediately so a new workflow can start.

archon workflow abandon <run-id>
archon workflow abandon <run-id> --json

workflow approve

Approve a paused workflow run at an interactive approval gate. Optionally provide a comment that is available to the workflow via $LOOP_USER_INPUT.

archon workflow approve <run-id>
archon workflow approve <run-id> "Looks good, proceed"
archon workflow approve <run-id> --comment "Looks good, proceed"
archon workflow approve <run-id> --json   # record approval + ack; does NOT auto-resume inline

In human mode approve/reject auto-resume the run inline. In --json mode they record the decision and return an ack without resuming (the run is left resumable for a backgrounded resume/run --resume).

workflow reject

Reject a paused workflow run at an approval gate. Optionally provide a reason that is available to the workflow via $REJECTION_REASON.

archon workflow reject <run-id>
archon workflow reject <run-id> --reason "Needs more tests"
archon workflow reject <run-id> --json

workflow cleanup

Delete old terminal workflow run records from the database.

archon workflow cleanup        # Default: 7 days
archon workflow cleanup 30     # Custom threshold

workflow event emit

Emit a workflow event directly to the database. Primarily used inside workflow loop prompts to record story-level lifecycle events.

archon workflow event emit --run-id <uuid> --type <event-type> [--data <json>]

Flags:

Flag	Required	Description
--run-id	Yes	UUID of the workflow run
--type	Yes	Event type (e.g., ralph_story_started, node_completed)
--data	No	JSON string attached to the event. Invalid JSON prints a warning and is ignored.

Exit code: 0 on success, 1 when --run-id, --type is missing, or --type is not a valid event type. Event persistence is best-effort (non-throwing) — check server logs if events appear missing.

isolation list

Show all active worktree environments.

archon isolation list

Groups by codebase, shows branch, workflow type, platform, and days since activity.

isolation cleanup [days]

Remove stale environments.

# Default: 7 days
archon isolation cleanup

# Custom threshold
archon isolation cleanup 14

# Remove environments with branches merged into main (also deletes remote branches)
archon isolation cleanup --merged

# Also remove environments whose PRs were closed without merging
archon isolation cleanup --merged --include-closed

Merge detection uses three signals in order: git branch ancestry (fast-forward / merge commit), patch equivalence (squash-merge via git cherry), and GitHub PR state via the gh CLI. The gh CLI is optional — if absent, only git signals are used.

By default, branches with a CLOSED PR are skipped. Pass --include-closed to clean those up as well. Branches with an OPEN PR are always skipped.

validate workflows [name]

Validate workflow YAML definitions and their referenced resources (command files, MCP configs, skill directories).

archon validate workflows                 # Validate all workflows
archon validate workflows my-workflow     # Validate a single workflow
archon validate workflows my-workflow --json  # Machine-readable JSON output

Checks: YAML syntax, DAG structure (cycles, dependency refs), command file existence, MCP config files, skill directories, provider compatibility, and tier/alias model refs. For bundled and global workflows, validation rejects @custom model aliases because they are not portable across projects; use small, medium, large, or a literal provider model string instead. Returns actionable error messages with “did you mean?” suggestions for typos.

Exit code: 0 = all valid, 1 = errors found.

validate commands [name]

Validate command files (.md) in .archon/commands/.

archon validate commands                  # Validate all commands
archon validate commands my-command       # Validate a single command

Checks: file exists, non-empty, valid name.

Exit code: 0 = all valid, 1 = errors found.

complete <branch> [branch2 ...]

Remove a branch’s worktree, local branch, and remote branch, and mark its isolation environment as destroyed.

archon complete feature-auth
archon complete feature-auth --force  # bypass uncommitted-changes check

Flags:

Flag	Effect
--force	Skip uncommitted-changes guard

Use this after a PR is merged and you no longer need the worktree or branches. Accepts multiple branch names in one call.

serve

Start the web UI server. On first run, downloads a pre-built web UI tarball from the matching GitHub release, verifies the SHA-256 checksum, and extracts it. Subsequent runs use the cached copy.

Binary installs only — in development, use bun run dev instead.

# Start web UI server (downloads on first run)
archon serve

# Override the default port
archon serve --port 4000

# Download the web UI without starting the server
archon serve --download-only

Flags:

Flag	Effect
--port <port>	Override server port (default: 3090, range: 1–65535)
--download-only	Download and cache the web UI, then exit without starting the server

The cached web UI is stored at ~/.archon/web-dist/<version>/. Each version is cached independently, so upgrading the binary automatically downloads the matching web UI.

skill install [path]

Install the bundled Archon skills into both .claude/skills/ (Claude Code) and .agents/skills/ (Codex) directories of a project. Always overwrites existing files to ensure the latest version shipped with the current Archon binary is installed.

# Install into the current directory
archon skill install

# Install into a specific project
archon skill install /path/to/project

Two skills are installed: archon, which teaches the assistant how to work with Archon workflows, commands, and project conventions; and manage-run, a focused skill for inspecting and controlling workflow runs via the archon CLI. Each skill is written to both .claude/skills/<skill>/ (Claude Code) and .agents/skills/<skill>/ (Codex’s canonical project-level skill path). Both are also installed automatically during archon setup.

version

Show version, build type, and database info.

archon version

Global Options

Option	Effect
--cwd <path>	Override working directory (default: current directory)
--quiet, -q	Reduce log verbosity to warnings and errors only
--verbose, -v	Show debug-level output
--json	Output machine-readable JSON (workflow list, status, runs, get, and the write commands approve/reject/abandon/resume). Implies log suppression so stdout is exactly the JSON payload.
--help, -h	Show help message

Working Directory

The CLI determines where to run based on:

1. --cwd flag (if provided)
2. Current directory (default)

Running from a subdirectory (e.g., /repo/packages/cli) automatically resolves to the git repository root (e.g., /repo).

When using --branch, workflows run inside the worktree directory.

Commands and workflows are loaded from the working directory at runtime. The CLI reads directly from disk, so it picks up uncommitted changes immediately. This is different from the server (Telegram/Slack/GitHub), which reads from the workspace clone at ~/.archon/workspaces/ — that clone only syncs from the remote before worktree creation, so changes must be pushed to take effect there.

Environment

At startup, the CLI strips all Bun-auto-loaded CWD .env keys and nested Claude Code session markers from process.env, then loads two archon-owned env files with override: true. Keys in archon-owned files pass through to AI subprocesses — no allowlist filtering.

On startup, the CLI:

1. Strips <cwd>/.env* keys + CLAUDECODE markers from process.env (via stripCwdEnv). Emits [archon] stripped N keys from <cwd> (...) when N > 0.
2. Loads ~/.archon/.env (user scope). Emits [archon] loaded N keys … when N > 0 and ARCHON_VERBOSE_BOOT=1 or LOG_LEVEL=debug/trace is set.
3. Loads <cwd>/.archon/.env (project scope, overrides user scope). Same verbosity gate as step 2.
4. Auto-enables global Claude auth if no explicit tokens are set.

<cwd>/.env is never loaded — it belongs to the target project. See Configuration Reference: .env File Locations for the full three-path model.

Database

• Without DATABASE_URL (default): Uses SQLite at ~/.archon/archon.db — zero setup, auto-initialized on first run
• With DATABASE_URL: Uses PostgreSQL (optional, for cloud/advanced deployments)

Both work transparently. Most users never need to configure a database.

Examples

# One-off AI chat
archon chat "How does error handling work in this codebase?"

# Interactive setup wizard
archon setup

# Quick question (auto-isolated in archon/task-assist-<timestamp>)
archon workflow run assist --cwd ~/projects/my-app "How does error handling work here?"

# Quick question without isolation
archon workflow run assist --cwd ~/projects/my-app --no-worktree "How does error handling work here?"

# Plan a feature (auto-isolated)
archon workflow run plan --cwd ~/projects/my-app "Add rate limiting to the API"

# Implement with explicit branch name
archon workflow run implement --cwd ~/projects/my-app --branch feature-rate-limit "Add rate limiting"

# Branch from a specific source branch instead of auto-detected default
archon workflow run implement --cwd ~/projects/my-app --branch test-adapters --from feature/extract-adapters "Test adapter changes"

# Approve or reject a paused workflow
archon workflow approve <run-id> "Ship it"
archon workflow reject <run-id> --reason "Missing test coverage"

# Check worktrees after work session
archon isolation list

# Clean up old worktrees
archon isolation cleanup