stackbone-cli

Stackbone CLI skill

This skill tells you how to drive the stackbone CLI: the order of operations, the conventions every command obeys, and the loops you run. It holds no flag tables: every flag, output shape and exit code lives in the docs, one page per command.

Where the facts live

The docs are served over MCP as the stackbone-docs server (https://docs.stackbone.ai/mcp, public, tools search_docs, get_doc, list_docs). stackbone docs prints the connection details.

Start the session with list_docs (area cli). It returns every CLI page under its section with a one-line description. How to find the page below says which page a task needs; take its path from that list and get_doc it. Never type a path from memory: pages move, titles stay.
Before you run a command with a flag you have not verified in this session, read its page.
When you do not know which command does something, search_docs with the question in plain words and area: "cli".
stackbone <command> --help is the local truth for the installed version. When the docs and the binary disagree, the binary wins.

No stackbone-docs tools in your session? Fetch https://docs.stackbone.ai/llms.txt: the same index, one line per page with its title, its description and a link to its raw markdown. Pick the page by title and fetch that link. https://docs.stackbone.ai/llms-full.txt is every page in one file (~700 KB).

How to call the CLI

The binary is stackbone (pnpm dlx @stackbone/cli <command> without installing, or a global pnpm add -g @stackbone/cli). If stackbone --help fails, the CLI is not installed.
Pass --json on every call when you are the consumer: one { "schema_version": 1, … } line on stdout, or { "error": { "code", "message", "suggestion" } } on stderr.
Pass --yes to any destructive verb (retry, cancel, remove, rollback, approve, reject). Without it the verb exits 5 before any network call.
--json, --yes and CI=1 all turn prompting off. A command that would have asked (a value, a picker, a confirmation) errors out instead of hanging, so pass every required value as a flag.
Branch on the exit code: 0 ok, 1 generic, 2 not authenticated (stackbone login), 3 no project or stackbone dev not running, 4 not found or no registered deployment, 5 permission denied. error.code in the envelope is finer (dev_not_running, runtime_not_configured, …).
When a command fails, re-run it with --json and read error.suggestion: it is the next command to try. Then STACKBONE_LOG_LEVEL=debug for the CLI's own logs on stderr, then --verbose when a dev boot stage hangs.

Session start

Run these before anything else, and act on the exit code:

stackbone whoami --json     # exit 2 → stackbone login (device flow; --no-browser when headless)
stackbone metadata --json   # auth + linked project + agents in one payload; exit 3 → init or link

The loops

New workspace. stackbone login → stackbone init <dir> [--with agent|workflow|workflow-agent] [--name <ws>] → cd <dir> → stackbone dev. init links the workspace to the org and writes .stackbone/project.json, so it needs a signed-in session. It installs the workspace dependencies for you, so do not add an install step of your own; read the command's page when you need to skip or recover that. With a TTY it asks which coding agents to set up (skills + the docs MCP server); non-interactive runs set up none unless you pass --agents claude-code,cursor,….

Grow the workspace. stackbone add agent <name> / add workflow <name> [--calls <agent>] / add workflow-agent <name>. Offline, no login, writes only new files, never edits existing TypeScript; a name collision fails unless --force. Must run inside a workspace (exit 3 otherwise). Then write the code with the stackbone skill.

Dev loop. stackbone dev boots Postgres + Redis + MinIO, compiles and serves the workspace at http://127.0.0.1:4242 with hot reload, and opens a tunnel so cloud Studio can reach it. The first run on a fresh machine stops until a model provider is configured (a Studio link is printed; or export MODEL_PROVIDER_BASE_URL + MODEL_PROVIDER_API_KEY before booting). Then:

stackbone workflows list --json
stackbone workflows start <name> --input '{"…"}' --json   # validates against the declared schema → { runId }
stackbone runs get <runId> --json
stackbone logs tail --run <runId> --json                   # the per-step frames; --follow for a live run

Chat with an agent through Studio's Playground or POST http://127.0.0.1:4242/openai/v1/chat/completions with "model": "<agent-name>" and any non-empty bearer (Getting started (CLI › Guides)).

Schema change. Edit src/schema.ts → stackbone db migrate create <name> → read the generated SQL under .stackbone/migrations/ → stackbone db migrate up → stackbone db migrate status. Never edit an applied migration; create a new one. No BEGIN / COMMIT in migration files.

Operate an installation. A verb with no --agent targets the local-dev installation and needs stackbone dev running (dev_not_running, exit 3, otherwise). stackbone agents list --json gives the installation ids; pass --agent <id> per call to target a deployed one. Approvals: stackbone hitl list --status pending --json → stackbone hitl approve|reject <id> --yes --json.

Ship. There is no publish command. stackbone package writes a deploy folder (compiled workspace + Dockerfile + compose + .env + README) someone runs with docker compose up -d; stackbone build writes only the bundle for an image you own. Then register the running box: stackbone link --agent <slug> --installation <id> --url <public-url> --secret <hmac-secret> --tag <image-tag> (the tag is the version; re-run link on every deploy). A box answers for one installation, so --installation is the id of a cloud row of that agent in stackbone agents list --json; link never creates an installation, so install the agent first. Read link (CLI › Reference) before the first link: it explains where the secret comes from.

After it ships, three skills take over. A box that nobody has wired reaches nothing and measures nothing, and each of these covers one sidebar group the CLI does not reach: stackbone-integrations connects a provider, arms a trigger so the agent receives on its own, and sends what it writes somewhere; stackbone-guardrails puts limits on a running agent — block a turn, mask data, hold it for a person; stackbone-evals turns a manual Playground poke into a suite you can run in CI.

CI / headless. Login is device-flow only (no token env var): run stackbone login once where a browser exists and carry ~/.stackbone/credentials.json (chmod 600) into CI. Then --json everywhere, --yes on destructive verbs, --agents <list> on init / link if you want the coding-agent setup.

Rules that hold everywhere

Never commit .stackbone/ (init gitignores it). Run stackbone dev in a clone without it and it asks which agent this project is, then writes the file. link cannot do that job: it needs a deployed box (--installation --url --secret --tag), and with no project file to remember an installation id it refuses.
Paginated lists take --limit + --cursor and return items + nextCursor; pass nextCursor back to walk forward. logs tail streams instead.
Secrets are never printed: secrets list masks values and there is no reveal verb. Do not try to read one from the CLI.
db query is a single read-only SELECT; schema changes go through db migrate create. The RAG schema is platform-provisioned; never migrate it by hand.
init takes no --starter / --template; passing one exits non-zero with a migration message. Per-piece templates live on add (stackbone add workflow <name> --template <t>).
Retired commands you may see in old material: publish, openrouter, connectors. They do not exist; use build / package + link, Gateway (Home › Features), and Studio's integrations page.
Interactive prompts protect humans typing ! stackbone …. When you are the consumer, --json --yes is the default.

How to find the page

A flag, a verb, an output shape or an exit code of one command: the page titled with the command's name under CLI › Reference (login / logout share Sign in and out; whoami / current / list / organization use / metadata share Account and organization).
A rule every command obeys (how a verb picks its target, the JSON envelope, pagination, the --yes gate, exit codes): Command conventions, and Configuration reference for global flags, env vars and on-disk state (both under CLI › Reference).
A dev boot that stops, or a command that refuses to target: Troubleshooting under CLI › Guides (or the stackbone-debug skill).
Anything else (the HTTP wire, shipping, setting up coding agents by hand): search_docs with the question in plain words and area cli, or area home for deployment and setup pages.

Other skills

stackbone: the code inside the workspace (defineDeepAgent, 'use workflow', the ambient stackbone client).
stackbone-debug: locate the cause of an error, a failed or stuck run, a parked approval.
stackbone-coder: start a new piece from a one-line idea through an interview.