Command-line reference

Short answer: acrawl on its own opens the terminal UI. acrawl prompt "<goal>" runs one goal and exits. acrawl run <script> replays a saved script with no LLM. acrawl mcp starts the MCP server. Everything else, from auth and config to update, configures those four. acrawl --help prints the same reference from your installed version.

Commands

Command	What it does
acrawl	Start the interactive terminal UI. Needs a terminal; piped output is refused with a pointer to prompt.
acrawl prompt <goal>	Run one goal and exit. acrawl "<goal>" is a shorthand.
acrawl --resume <session.json> [/cmd ...]	Load a saved session and run resume-safe slash commands on it, without opening the UI.
acrawl run <name or file.json>	Replay a deterministic script. No model, no credentials.
acrawl mcp	Start the MCP server over stdio.
acrawl mcp install / uninstall	Add or remove acrawl in your editors’ MCP config.
acrawl auth <provider>	Set up a provider. Also auth status and auth list.
acrawl config get / set / unset / path	Read and write settings.
acrawl install-browser	Install CloakBrowser and download its browser binary.
acrawl update	Replace the binary with the latest release.
acrawl uninstall [--purge]	Remove acrawl. --purge also deletes settings, credentials and sessions.
acrawl system-prompt	Print the agent’s system prompt, for debugging.

Global flags

Flag	What it does
--model <provider/model>	Use this model for this run
--output-format text|json	Output format for prompt and --resume
--headed, --no-headless	Show the browser window
--headless[=true|false]	Force headless on or off
--allowedTools <a,b,...>	Only let the agent use these tools. Repeatable.
-V, --version	Print version and build details

--allowedTools is the way to lock a run down. For example, to let the agent read but never click or fill:

acrawl prompt "list the article titles on example.com" \
  --allowedTools navigate,read_content,page_map,screenshot

acrawl run flags

Flag	What it does
--format json|jsonl|result	json (default) prints the collected data as one array; jsonl prints one item per line; result prints the full envelope with status, error and data
--output <path>, -o	Write data to a file instead of stdout
--flatten	Unwrap one level of arrays, so one collect per page becomes one record per item
--max-steps N, --timeout SECS, --step-timeout SECS	Tighter limits for this run
--quiet	No progress on stderr

acrawl run mideast_headlines --format jsonl --flatten --output headlines.jsonl

acrawl auth

acrawl auth anthropic                              # interactive
acrawl auth openai --api-key "sk-..."              # non-interactive
acrawl auth amazon-bedrock --access-key AKIA... --secret-key ... --region us-east-1
acrawl auth azure --resource-name r --deployment-name gpt-4o --api-key ...
acrawl auth other --base-url http://localhost:11434/v1
acrawl auth status [--check <provider>] [--json]
acrawl auth list [--json]

acrawl mcp install

acrawl mcp install                                   # pick editors interactively
acrawl mcp install --client claude-code,cursor       # specific editors
acrawl mcp install --all --yes                       # every detected editor
acrawl mcp install --client opencode --scope project # project instead of user config
acrawl mcp install --client claude-code --skill      # also install the agent skill
acrawl mcp install --list-clients

Slash commands

Type / in the terminal UI to see these with tab completion. Commands marked resume-safe also work on the command line after --resume.

Command	What it does	Resume-safe
/help	List commands	✓
/status	Model, tokens and cost for this session	✓
/cost	Token use and cost in detail	✓
/compact	Compact the conversation now	✓
/clear	Start a fresh session	✓
/export [file]	Save the conversation as Markdown	✓
/config [model]	Show configuration	✓
/version	Version and build details	✓
/model [name]	Show or switch the model
/sessions	Pick a saved session
/auth [provider]	Set up a provider
/headed, /headless	Show or hide the browser
/extension [stop]	Use your own browser through the extension, or stop
/cloakbrowser	Go back to the bundled browser
/debug	Show the raw input and output of the last browser tool call
/exit	Save and quit

Sessions save automatically when you quit. To tidy one up from a script:

acrawl --resume session.json /compact /export notes.md

Keyboard shortcuts

Key	Action
Enter	Send
Shift+Enter, Ctrl+J	New line
Tab	Complete a slash command
PageUp, PageDown	Scroll the transcript
Ctrl+T	Cycle reasoning effort (high, medium, low)
Esc Esc	Interrupt the running task
Ctrl+C	Interrupt when busy, quit when idle

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success
1	Runtime or I/O error
2	Usage or configuration error, including an invalid script
3	A state check failed, such as auth status --check for an unconfigured provider
130	acrawl run was interrupted; data collected so far is still written

Using acrawl from CI or another agent

Everything the terminal UI does has a non-interactive form, so a CI job or coding agent can set acrawl up and check it is ready before relying on it:

acrawl auth anthropic --api-key "$ANTHROPIC_API_KEY"
acrawl config set model anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6
acrawl auth status --check anthropic || exit 1
acrawl prompt "collect the release notes from example.com/changelog" --output-format json