New to the CLI? Start with the CLI overview to install and
authenticate first.
Run chief help or chief <command> --help for full, generated usage at any
time. This page summarizes the command tree and the most common flags.
chief
├── login Authenticate to a host and save credentials
├── doctor Diagnose local configuration and connectivity
├── project Manage the default project
│ ├── list
│ └── switch
├── chats Start and continue conversations
│ ├── create / send / get / list / update / delete
├── assets Upload and manage files
│ ├── upload / list / get / update / delete
├── actions Scheduled and triggered automations
│ ├── create / list / get / update / delete
│ └── enable / disable
├── labels Organize assets with labels
│ ├── create / list / get / update / delete
│ └── attach / detach
├── skills Reusable instructions for chat turns
│ ├── create / list / get / update / delete
│ └── enable / disable
├── memories Persistent context the assistant recalls
│ └── create / list / get / update / delete
├── sessions Inspect and manage sessions
│ └── list / get / update / delete
├── mcp Generate MCP server config for coding agents
│ └── config
└── api Make a raw authenticated API request
Chats, assets, and labels are available now. Actions, skills, memories, live
sessions, and projects require the latest Chief API release and are rolling
out.
Chats
Start a conversation, send follow-ups, and read transcripts. By default create
and send wait for the assistant’s response and render it as Markdown; pass
--no-wait to return as soon as the turn is accepted.
# Start a chat and wait for the answer.
chief chats create "Draft a release note from the latest commits"
# Continue an existing chat.
chief chats send chat_5f3c "Make it half as long"
# Tune the turn.
chief chats create "Research our top three competitors" \
--intelligence research \
--provider anthropic \
--skill competitor-analysis \
--public-data \
--label-id label_market
# Print the full transcript, or enqueue and poll later.
chief chats get chat_5f3c
chief chats create "Long-running analysis" --no-wait
create and send):
| Flag | Description |
|---|
--intelligence | Mode preset: auto, fast, expert, or research |
--provider | Provider bias: automatic, anthropic, openai, or google |
--skill | Enable a skill for the turn (repeatable) |
--public-data | Allow public-web search (otherwise follows the mode preset) |
--label-id | Scope to a label (repeatable) |
--asset-id | Scope to an asset (repeatable) |
--chat-id | Include a past chat as context (repeatable) |
--project-id | Scope to a project (repeatable) |
--concept-id | Scope to a concept (repeatable) |
--no-wait | Return once the turn is accepted instead of waiting |
--timeout | How long to wait for the response (default 5m) |
Assets
Upload a single file or a whole directory. Uploads run in parallel,
content-identical files are skipped server-side, and by default the CLI waits
for each file to finish ingesting.
chief assets upload ./report.pdf
chief assets upload ./docs --recursive --concurrency 8
chief assets upload ./big.csv --no-wait # don't block on ingest
chief assets list --limit 20
chief assets get asset_abc
chief assets update asset_abc --name "Q3 report" --description "Final"
chief assets delete asset_abc
| Flag | Default | Description |
|---|
--recursive | true | Descend into subdirectories |
--concurrency | 4 | Number of parallel uploads |
--no-wait | false | Return after upload without waiting for ingest |
--timeout | 15m | Per-file wait timeout |
Actions
Actions are automations that run a prompt on a schedule or in response to
events, optionally emailing the result. update replaces an action wholesale —
any schedule, trigger, scope, or email not passed as a flag is cleared.
# Every weekday at 07:00 UTC, summarize new assets and email the team.
chief actions create "Daily digest" \
--prompt "Summarize assets added in the last 24 hours" \
--hour 7 --weekday 1-5 --timezone UTC \
--email team@example.com --email-subject "Daily digest"
# Run whenever a new asset lands in a label.
chief actions create "Triage incoming" \
--prompt "Tag and route this document" \
--trigger new --label-id label_inbox
chief actions list
chief actions disable action_123
chief actions enable action_123
chief actions delete action_123
| Flag | Description |
|---|
--prompt | Instruction the action runs (required on create) |
--description | Human-readable description |
--hour | Cron hour field (unset positions default to *) |
--weekday | Cron weekday field |
--month-day | Cron day-of-month field |
--timezone | IANA timezone for the schedule (default UTC) |
--trigger | Event trigger: new or all |
--email | Email recipient (repeatable) |
--email-subject | Subject line for the email outcome |
--label-id | Scope the action to a label (repeatable) |
--asset-id | Scope the action to an asset (repeatable) |
Labels
chief labels create "Contracts" --color "#6b7280" --icon file
chief labels list
chief labels attach asset_abc Contracts # attach by name
chief labels detach asset_abc label_xyz # detach by id
chief labels delete label_xyz
Skills
Skills are reusable instructions (a prompt fragment, a persona, a procedure) you
enable per chat turn with chief chats … --skill <name>.
chief skills create competitor-analysis \
--content "When asked about competitors, produce a SWOT table and cite sources." \
--description "Structured competitor breakdowns" \
--scope project --category skill
chief skills list
chief skills disable competitor-analysis
| Flag | Description |
|---|
--content | Skill body (required on create) |
--display-name | Human-readable name |
--description | What the skill does |
--scope | project or user |
--category | skill or persona |
--icon | Icon name |
Memories
Memories are durable facts the assistant carries across conversations —
identity, preferences, standing instructions.
chief memories create \
--content "Always answer in metric units." \
--category instruction --importance 8
chief memories list
chief memories update mem_abc --content "Answer in metric units, 24h time."
identity, preference, fact, context, instruction. Scope is
empty (global) or project.
Sessions
chief sessions list --limit 20
chief sessions get session_abc
chief sessions update session_abc --name "Onboarding" --description "Notes"
chief sessions delete session_abc
Project
chief project list
chief project switch project_d8a4td4dib27i4beefb0
MCP
chief mcp config <harness> prints a ready-to-paste MCP server snippet for a
coding agent, prefilled with your current credentials. Supported harnesses:
claude, cursor, and codex. See MCP server for
details.
