@aura-payments/cli

Stripe-style CLI for Aura Payments. Manage escrows, agents, mandates, and wallets from your terminal. Live mandate inbox with inline approve/reject keystrokes. The third leg of YC RFS #12's "APIs, MCPs, and CLIs".

Install

npm install -g @aura-payments/cli
# or
curl https://getaura.sh/install | sh

First-time setup

aura login
# Paste your pk_live_... or pk_test_... key when prompted.
# Optional: paste an operator HMAC secret to enable mandate approve/reject.

Config saved to ~/.aura/config.json (0600). AURA_API_KEY / AURA_BASE_URL / AURA_MANDATE_HMAC_SECRET env vars override the file.

Commands

aura login                         Interactive: paste API key + optional HMAC secret
aura logout                        Clear stored credentials
aura whoami                        Print account context

aura agents create                 Interactive: name, type, spending policy
aura agents list                   List agents (--status, --type, --limit)
aura agents show <id>              Show full agent record
aura agents freeze <id>            Kill switch + cascade-reject pending mandates
aura agents unfreeze <id>          Resume a frozen agent
aura agents balance <id>           Wallet balance (USDC, on-chain)

aura policies list <agentId>       List policies on an agent
aura policies show <agentId> <id>  Show full policy

aura escrow create                 Interactive: order, buyer, amount, splits
aura escrow fund <id>              Fund from buyer wallet (--wallet, --amount)
aura escrow release <id>           Release to recipients (--actor)
aura escrow show <id>              Show full escrow
aura escrow list                   List escrows (--state, --limit)

aura mandates list                 List mandates (defaults to pending)
aura mandates show <id>            Show full mandate
aura mandates approve <id>         Approve (HMAC-signed locally)
aura mandates reject <id>          Reject (--reason)
aura mandates watch                Live inbox: a=approve, r=reject, q=quit

aura wallet balance <id>           Wallet balance
aura events tail                   Live activity stream (--agent, --kind)

Add --json to any list/show/create command for raw JSON output (great for scripting and jq).

The killer demo

In one terminal:

aura mandates watch

In another:

# An agent attempts a transaction that exceeds its limit
aura agents create  # creates a Procurement Bot with $200 daily limit
# (your agent code attempts a $500 charge → policy returns requires_human_approval)

The first terminal lights up with a new pending mandate. Press a — locally HMAC-signed, sent to platform, mandate approved, escrow funds. Five-second loop, end-to-end agent-native payments.

Output

Default mode is human-readable: ANSI-colored tables (cli-table3 + chalk) with status icons. Pass --json for raw JSON pipeable to jq. Honors NO_COLOR=1 env var (a11y for color-blind users + dumb terminals).

Exit codes

| Code | Meaning | | ---- | ------------------------------- | | 0 | Success | | 1 | Generic error | | 2 | Auth / config error | | 3 | Resource not found | | 4 | Validation error | | 5 | Rate limited | | 6 | Network / timeout |

Security

• Config file at ~/.aura/config.json, 0600 perms
• Parent dir ~/.aura/ is 0700
• HMAC secret (if stored) used to sign mandate decisions locally; never sent over the wire. The platform recomputes the same HMAC and verifies before applying the decision. Same algorithm as lib/agents/mandate-signature.ts.
• API key prefix shown in aura whoami; full key never printed

License

MIT.