Unlok CLI

The CLI ships as prebuilt binaries for macOS, Linux, and Windows (arm64 and x64), wrapped in a single npm package — no separate runtime required.

# Requires Node.js 22 or newernpm install -g unlok
unlok --help

Nightly builds are available on the nightly dist-tag: npm install -g unlok@nightly. The CLI checks for updates on every startup and installs them automatically once no other session is attached to your local hub — run unlok update to check manually.

There are two ways to connect a model — sign in with your Unlok account, or bring your own key.

unlok auth

With no flags, unlok auth opens an interactive setup screen. To skip straight to the browser sign-in:

unlok auth cline

(The provider id for Unlok's hosted account is cline internally — that's expected, and it's what routes you through Unlok's model gateway.)

unlok auth --provider anthropic --apikey sk-ant-xxxxx --modelid claude-sonnet-4-6

# OpenAI-compatible endpoints (including Azure) also workunlok auth --provider openai-compatible --apikey xxxx --modelid gpt-4o \
  --baseurl https://my-resource.openai.azure.com --azure-api-version 2024-10-21

Whatever you authenticate with is remembered for the next bare unlok run. Use --config <dir> to keep multiple separate configurations, or --data-dir <dir> to sandbox a run's local state entirely.

Once authenticated, drive the agent three ways:

unlok
unlok -i "fix the failing test in src/foo.ts"

unlok "add error handling to the parseConfig function"

git diff | unlok "review this diff for bugs"

Add --json to stream structured output instead of styled text, or -z, --zen to hand a task to the background hub and exit immediately — useful when you don't want to wait around for a long task. --worktree runs the task in a fresh, detached git worktree instead of your current one.

Install, list, and remove MCP servers from the terminal — or just ask the agent to do it for you in chat ("install the GitHub MCP server"), since the same install/uninstall/list actions are also available as agent tools.

unlok mcp install fs --yes -- npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem /tmp

unlok mcp install github --transport http --yes \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/

Drop --yes to open the install wizard instead of installing immediately — do this for a server that needs a browser OAuth flow rather than a static token. Re-run authorization any time from the wizard: unlok mcp → Authorize OAuth.

unlok mcp list
unlok mcp uninstall github

A curated set of ready-to-install servers — GitHub, Linear, Notion, Context7, Exa, Figma, Stripe — is also browsable from the extension's MCP marketplace.

unlok config is the read side of everything the CLI picks up automatically — rules, skills, agents, plugins, hooks, MCP servers, and the built-in tool catalog.

unlok config
# interactive browser
unlok config rules
unlok config tools --json

Plugins extend the CLI itself (custom tools, MCP bundles). Install from an npm package, a git repo, or a local path:

unlok plugin install my-org/my-plugin --git
unlok plugin install some-npm-plugin --npm
unlok plugin uninstall some-npm-plugin

Skills are reusable prompt/workflow packages, managed through the open-source skills CLI (run on demand via npx, no separate install):

unlok skill add owner/repo
unlok skill list
unlok skill remove

Bridge the agent into a chat platform so a conversation thread there becomes a coding session, each with its own working directory and history. Supported channels: Telegram, Slack, Discord, WhatsApp, Linear, and Google Chat.

Telegram is the simplest to set up — no public URL required, just a bot token:

# In Telegram, message @BotFather, send /newbot, copy the token it gives you

unlok connect telegram -k "$TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN"

unlok connect telegram -k "$TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN" \
  --cwd /path/to/repo --allowed-user-id 12345

By default, anyone who can message the bot can run tasks on your machine — set --allowed-user-id (or run unlok connect with no arguments for the setup wizard, which asks for it) before connecting anything beyond a private test. Stop a channel with unlok connect --stop telegram.

A local background hub daemon supervises connectors, scheduled runs, and cross-client session state so they keep running independent of any one terminal.

Run agent tasks on a cron schedule against the hub's scheduler.

unlok schedule create "Daily summary" \
  --cron "0 9 * * *" \
  --prompt "Summarize yesterday's activity in this workspace." \
  --workspace /path/to/repo

unlok schedule list --json
unlok schedule trigger <schedule-id>

Run unlok schedule with no arguments for an interactive wizard, or see pause, resume, history, and upcoming for managing runs already created.