Commands Reference¶

Complete reference for all clinvk CLI commands.

Synopsis¶

clinvk [global-flags] [prompt]
clinvk [command] [subcommand] [flags]

Command Overview¶

Command	Description	Common Use
`[prompt]`	Execute a prompt (default command)	Daily AI tasks
`resume`	Resume a previous session	Continue conversations
`sessions`	Manage sessions	List, show, delete sessions
`config`	Manage configuration	View or change settings
`parallel`	Execute tasks in parallel	Run multiple tasks
`compare`	Compare backend responses	Evaluate different AIs
`chain`	Execute prompt chain	Multi-step workflows
`mcp`	Start MCP server	MCP integrations
`serve`	Start HTTP API server	Application integration
`version`	Show version information	Check installed version
`help`	Show help	Get command help

Global Flags¶

These flags work with all commands:

Flag	Short	Type	Default	Description
`--backend`	`-b`	string	`claude`	AI backend to use
`--model`	`-m`	string		Model to use
`--workdir`	`-w`	string		Working directory
`--output-format`	`-o`	string	`json`	Output format
`--config`		string		Config file path
`--dry-run`		bool	`false`	Show command only
`--ephemeral`		bool	`false`	Stateless mode
`--help`	`-h`			Show help

Prompt-Specific Flags¶

These flags work only with the default prompt command:

Flag	Short	Type	Default	Description
`--continue`	`-c`	bool	`false`	Continue the most recent session

Flag Details¶

--backend, -b¶

Select the AI backend to use:

clinvk --backend claude "prompt"
clinvk -b codex "prompt"
clinvk -b gemini "prompt"

Available backends: claude, codex, gemini

--model, -m¶

Override the default model for the selected backend:

clinvk -b claude -m claude-sonnet-4-20250514 "prompt"
clinvk -b codex -m o3-mini "prompt"

--workdir, -w¶

Set the working directory for the AI backend:

clinvk --workdir /path/to/project "analyze this codebase"

--output-format, -o¶

Control output format:

Value	Description
`text`	Plain text
`json`	Structured JSON (default)
`stream-json`	Streaming JSON events

clinvk --output-format json "prompt"
clinvk -o stream-json "prompt"

--config¶

Use a custom configuration file:

clinvk --config /path/to/config.yaml "prompt"

--dry-run¶

Show the command that would be executed without running it:

clinvk --dry-run "implement feature X"
# Output: Would execute: claude --model claude-opus-4-5-20251101 "implement feature X"

--ephemeral¶

Run in stateless mode without creating a session:

clinvk --ephemeral "quick question"

Command Categories¶

Core Commands¶

Commands for everyday use:

[prompt] - Execute prompts
resume - Continue sessions
sessions - Manage sessions

Configuration Commands¶

Commands for managing settings:

config - View and modify configuration

Execution Commands¶

Commands for advanced execution patterns:

parallel - Run multiple tasks concurrently
chain - Execute sequential pipelines
compare - Compare multiple backends

Server Commands¶

Commands for running the HTTP API:

mcp - Start the MCP server
serve - Start the API server

Usage Examples¶

Basic Usage¶

# Execute a prompt
clinvk "fix the bug in auth.go"

# Specify backend
clinvk -b codex "implement feature"

# Specify model
clinvk -b claude -m claude-sonnet-4-20250514 "quick review"

Session Management¶

# List sessions
clinvk sessions list

# Show session details
clinvk sessions show abc123

# Resume last session
clinvk resume --last

# Delete old sessions
clinvk sessions clean --older-than 30d

Configuration¶

# Show current config
clinvk config show

# Set a value
clinvk config set default_backend codex

Advanced Execution¶

# Run tasks in parallel
clinvk parallel --file tasks.json

# Compare backends
clinvk compare --all-backends "explain this code"

# Execute a chain
clinvk chain --file pipeline.json

Server¶

# Start server
clinvk serve --port 8080

Exit Codes¶

All commands return exit codes:

Code	Description
0	Success
1	General error
2	Backend not available
3	Invalid configuration
4	Session error

See Exit Codes for complete reference.

Getting Help¶

Get help for any command:

# General help
clinvk --help

# Command help
clinvk [command] --help

# Example
clinvk parallel --help