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CLI

Manage, deploy, and run agents without leaving your terminal - query resources, chat with agents, and launch autonomous tasks from a full developer toolkit that fits your existing workflow.

ChatBotKit's CLI is more than a resource manager. It is a full developer toolkit that lets you query platform resources, deploy infrastructure-as-code solutions, chat interactively with agents, and run autonomous agent tasks locally with file and shell access.

Key Features

  • Query any platform resource: List, fetch, delete, and manage bots, datasets, skillsets, files, secrets, integrations, and more using cbk api <resource> <action>.
  • Deploy like Terraform: Define solutions as code and sync them to the platform with cbk solution sync.
  • Chat with agents: Start interactive multi-turn conversations from your terminal with cbk chat.
  • Run autonomous agents: Execute goal-driven agents locally with file read/write, shell access, and skill loading via cbk agent.
  • Run scripts with zero setup: Execute JavaScript files with all ChatBotKit packages pre-installed using cbk run.
  • Pipe and automate: All commands support JSON/YAML/JSONL output for integration with jq, grep, CI/CD pipelines, and shell scripts.

Getting Started

Install the CLI globally or run it directly with npx:

npm install -g @chatbotkit/cli

Query resources

# List all bots (output as JSON)
cbk api bot list --output json

# Fetch a specific dataset
cbk api dataset fetch <datasetId>

# List Slack integrations
cbk api integration slack list

# Export skillset abilities
cbk api skillset ability export <skillsetId>

Deploy solutions

# Create a solution and sync it to the platform
cbk solution create my-support-agent
cbk solution sync my-support-agent

Chat with an agent

# Interactive chat with a bot
cbk chat --bot <botId>

# Chat using a local agent definition file
cbk chat --agent ./agents/support.md --skills ./skills

Run an autonomous agent

# Run a local agent with file and shell tools
cbk agent -p "Refactor the utils folder" --skills ./skills

# Run with a specific model and iteration limit
cbk agent -p "Analyze logs and write a report" \
  --model claude-sonnet-4-6 --max-iterations 50

For CI/CD environments, set the CHATBOTKIT_API_TOKEN environment variable. The CLI also loads .env.local, .env, and ~/.cbk/env automatically.

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