@agent-dev-lab/cli

The adl CLI for Agent Dev Lab — scaffold a project, run agents and workflows from the terminal, and launch the inspection UI. Type-safe CLI built with Stricli. Runs on Node 22+ (SQLite via better-sqlite3) or Bun (SQLite via bun:sqlite) — neither is required over the other to use ADL. Bun is the default toolchain for the monorepo and for the scaffold's dev/dashboard scripts, but npm / Node work fine too.

Usage

bunx @agent-dev-lab/cli@latest init my-research
# or: npx @agent-dev-lab/cli@latest init my-research
cd my-research
bun install
# or: npm install
cp .env.example .env   # then set OPENAI_API_KEY
bunx adl workflow run demo-counter --input '{"steps":3}'
bunx adl agent run assistant --input "What is Agent Dev Lab?"
bunx adl dashboard      # inspection UI

adl init scaffolds a project depending on @agent-dev-lab/core (and @agent-dev-lab/web for adl dashboard) — this package is not meant to be used standalone without those. After install, bunx adl, npx adl, or node_modules/.bin/adl all work (the "bin" entry is adl, not this package's own name) — bunx/npx resolve the local node_modules/.bin copy first, so no global install is needed.

Commands

| Command | Description | | ------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | adl init <dir> (adl i) | Scaffold a new ADL project (no VCS; --git / -g runs git init) | | adl workflow run <id> --input '{}' | Run a registered workflow (adl w r); --input / -i is JSON | | adl workflow list | Print workflow ids (adl w l) | | adl agent list | Print agent ids (adl a l); ToolProvider agents get (tool-context) | | adl agent run <id> --input "…" | Run a registered agent (adl a r); --input is a string, --tool-context / -c is JSON | | adl dashboard (adl d, adl dash) | Inspection UI for the nearest adl.config.* | | adl dashboard --serve (-s) | Do not reload agents, workflows, or templates from disk | | adl dashboard --project <path> | Explicit ADL project root (-p; -P is --port, since -p is taken) | | adl dashboard --strictPort | Fail if --port is already bound instead of using the next free port |

Development

bun run dev:cli
cd apps/cli && bun run dev -- workflow list

Framework UI development against apps/playground uses bun run dev:web. adl dashboard --prebuilt uses the shipped UI build from this checkout instead of the live UI source.

adl init does not create a Git (or jj) repository. Pass --git to run git init in the new project. .gitignore is still written either way — jj uses it too.

From the source checkout, adl init --local pins @agent-dev-lab/* to this repo with file: + overrides so a throwaway project can bun install without npm. The flag is hidden in published CLI help.

bun apps/cli/src/bin/cli.ts init /tmp/my-research --local

Build

bun run build verifies @agent-dev-lab/web/.output exists before compiling the CLI.

bun run build
./dist/cli.js --help