SAI CLI

Earn sponsor-funded AI credits or cash-out eligible balance while Claude Code and Codex wait. SAI is a local-first terminal wrapper and desktop overlay; your prompts, code, logs, and output stay on your machine.

Open-source client (AGPL-3.0): https://github.com/TheSacud/sponsoredai-public

Install SAI from npm:

npm install -g @sponsoredai/cli

Then run your agent through SAI:

sai codex
sai claude
sai overlay both

You do not need to run sai login first. SAI creates its local install state when it is needed. sai login is only useful if you explicitly want to print or refresh the local SAI API key used by the local gateway/dashboard flow.

Common Commands

sai codex
sai claude
sai overlay codex
sai overlay claude
sai overlay both
sai run -- npm test
sai wallet
sai config show
sai --help

Trust Boundary

SAI measures the wait, not the work.

SAI does not upload prompts, source code, terminal output, model responses, screenshots, window titles, window contents, full file paths, repository URLs, commands, or shell history.

The terminal runner measures output timing. The desktop overlay checks local window visibility and recent input before a placement can qualify. Only the allowlisted placement event reaches the backend.

Inspect the local event schema:

sai privacy schema

Read the public trust boundary:

https://sponsoredai.dev/trust

How The npm Package Works

@sponsoredai/cli is a small launcher. npm also installs one matching optional binary package for your machine:

macOS arm64 -> @sponsoredai/cli-darwin-arm64
Linux x64   -> @sponsoredai/cli-linux-x64
Windows x64 -> @sponsoredai/cli-win32-x64

When you run sai, the launcher finds that platform package and executes the bundled binary. There is no separate binary download during install.

The launcher package does not run npm lifecycle scripts during installation. It does not use preinstall, install, or postinstall; platform support is checked by the sai launcher when you run it.

Requirements

• Node.js 18 or newer.
• npm optional dependencies enabled.
• macOS arm64, Linux x64, or Windows x64.

The desktop overlay release has been tested locally on Windows x64 and macOS arm64 with Claude Desktop and the Codex app. Linux remains supported for the terminal CLI package, but the desktop overlay is not claimed as a tested Linux surface for this release.

Avoid installing with --omit=optional or --no-optional, because that skips the platform binary package.

Troubleshooting

If sai says missing optional dependency, reinstall normally:

npm uninstall -g @sponsoredai/cli
npm install -g @sponsoredai/cli

If it still fails, check that npm is not omitting optional dependencies:

npm config get optional
npm config get omit

optional should not be false, and omit should not include optional.