@tryglen/cli

Glen CLI — shared team memory for coding agents.

Install

npm install -g @tryglen/cli
glen login

Commands

| Command | Description | | ---------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | glen login | Connect via browser sign-in; writes credentials and initial session state. | | glen logout | Sign out and remove credentials + session state. | | glen status | Show connection status, active org, incognito state, and CLI version. | | glen search "<query>" | Search the team's shared glen memory. | | glen takeover <code> | Redeem a transcript-page handoff into a fresh native Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or Pi session, then open it. The complete transcript must fit; Glen never truncates or summarizes it. | | glen import <path…> [--dry-run] | Import old local agent transcripts (Claude Code ~/.claude/projects, Codex ~/.codex/sessions, Cursor state.vscdb, Pi ~/.pi/agent/sessions) into glen memory. Idempotent — re-running skips already-imported turns. --dry-run previews without writing. | | glen incognito on\|off | Toggle incognito mode: while on, nothing is recorded (recall keeps working). | | glen org list | List your organizations; active one is marked with ✓. | | glen org switch [slug] | Switch the active organization for this machine (interactive picker without slug). | | glen ingest [--agent <name>] | Ingest a turn from stdin — used by agent hooks (claude-code, codex, cursor, or pi). | | glen install [--agent <claude\|codex\|cursor\|pi>] | Set up or update glen for detected coding agents (plugin + hooks); idempotent, so re-running repairs a broken setup. --claude-path <path> / --codex-path <path> / --pi-path <path> point at a binary when auto-detection fails. | | glen uninstall | Permanently remove Glen's local plugins, marketplaces, hooks, PATH entries, credentials, state, caches, and global npm CLI. | | glen update | Update the glen CLI and any installed glen plugins, and re-verify the Codex hook registration. Never installs a plugin that isn't already installed — that's glen install's job. | | glen doctor [--auto] | Print machine-readable status: lines (CLI version/latest/channel, login + org, per-agent plugin + hook state) plus → remedy lines — the setup skill branches on them. --auto runs background updates silently (used by hooks). | | glen statusline | Output a single status line for the agent's UI status bar — used by hooks. | | glen session-start [--agent <name>] | Output hook JSON for the agent's SessionStart event — used by hooks. | | glen version | Print the CLI version. |

Files

| File | Description | | -------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | ~/.glen/credentials.json | API key credential — mode 0600, never logged or sent to anyone but tryglen.com. | | ~/.glen/state.json | Client-owned session state: { activeOrgId, activeOrgSlug, activeOrgName, incognito }. Non-secret. |

The state file is what the CLI sends as x-glen-org-id / x-glen-incognito headers on every request. The server validates org membership on every call — no state is stored server-side.

Transcript takeover

Open a shared agent-session transcript in Glen, choose Take over, select the destination agent, and run the generated command from the destination project:

glen takeover <code>

The code is bound to the signed-in recipient and active organization and expires after 15 minutes. Glen checks the installed agent version, native history format, launcher, and a conservative context-window budget before it writes anything. It then stages a fresh session, parses that native session back, verifies the full message digest, installs it without overwriting an existing session, records the handoff, and launches the agent. The source transcript is never changed.

If any check fails, Glen prints what failed and how to retry. If installation succeeds but launch fails, it prints the native resume command. Cursor takeover requires Cursor 3.9.x to be fully closed and Node.js 22.5 or newer; Glen backs up both Cursor SQLite stores and updates them in one transaction. Claude Code 2.1.x, Codex CLI 0.143.x–0.144.x, and Pi v3 session trees are supported by this release. Unknown versions, schemas, models, or context capacities fail closed. Running tools, terminals, approvals, and other live runtime state do not transfer.

Uninstall

glen uninstall permanently removes Glen's local agent plugins, marketplaces, hooks, PATH entries, credentials, state, caches, and global npm CLI. It preserves source repositories, agent transcripts, and cloud account/team data.

Cursor plugins must be removed in Cursor's plugin settings because Cursor does not expose a supported plugin-removal CLI. If Cursor is detected, the command reports the exact manual step and exits nonzero until that editor-managed residue is addressed.

Environment variables

| Variable | Default | Description | | ----------------------- | -------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | GLEN_BASE_URL | https://app.tryglen.com | Override the glen server URL (useful for local dev). | | GLEN_CREDENTIALS_PATH | ~/.glen/credentials.json | Override credentials file location. | | GLEN_STATE_PATH | ~/.glen/state.json | Override state file location. | | GLEN_NO_AUTO_UPDATE | unset | Set to 1 to disable automatic background updates. Also disabled when CI=true. |

Update behavior

The CLI uses layered silent auto-update so you stay current without thinking about it:

1. Background TTL check (daily): once per 24 hours, when installed via npm globally, the CLI spawns a detached npm install -g @tryglen/cli@latest process that doesn't block your turn. A ~/.glen/update-check.json timestamp controls the cadence.
2. SessionStart hook (glen doctor --auto): on every agent session start, the hook also triggers background update + plugin upgrade hints. Same detached, non-blocking approach.
3. Server-driven 426 floor: if the server requires a newer CLI version (breaking API change), it responds with HTTP 426 Upgrade Required. The CLI then runs a synchronous self-update and re-execs your original command with GLEN_REEXEC=1 set to prevent infinite loops. If the update fails or you are below the minimum after re-exec, it exits with a message to run npm i -g @tryglen/cli@latest manually.

Escape hatches:

• GLEN_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1 disables all background update attempts.
• CI=true (set automatically in GitHub Actions and most CI systems) also disables them.
• The CLI only self-updates when installed globally via npm (it detects this by comparing the binary's real path against npm prefix -g). If you installed via another package manager, you get a hint to update with your own tooling instead.

Troubleshooting

glen status shows "not connected" Run glen login to authenticate via browser.

glen search / glen ingest prints "no active organization" Run glen org switch (or glen login if you've never connected) to pick an organization.

426 error in CI or non-npm installs The server requires a newer CLI version. Run npm i -g @tryglen/cli@latest (or equivalent for your package manager) and retry.

Stuck update lock If a previous update was interrupted, a stale lock can prevent future auto-updates:

rm -rf ~/.glen/update.lock

glen doctor for a full picture Run glen doctor to see your version, the latest available, install channel, and session state in one place.