CLI Commands

LocalGPT provides a comprehensive command-line interface with several subcommands.

Overview

localgpt <COMMAND>

Commands:
  chat        Interactive multi-turn conversation
  tui         Launch terminal UI (TUI) with streaming display
  ask         Single question and response
  gen         Launch world generation mode (Bevy renderer)
  daemon      Manage the background daemon
  memory      Memory management operations
  search      Test web search provider
  auth        Authenticate with providers
  config      Configuration management
  md          Manage LocalGPT.md standing instructions
  sandbox     Shell sandbox diagnostics
  paths       Show resolved directory paths
  desktop     Launch desktop GUI
  completion  Generate shell completion scripts
  cron        Manage cron jobs
  hooks       Manage lifecycle hooks
  tool        Manage MCP tool servers
  plugin      Manage MCP tool servers (alias for 'tool')
  audit       View and verify compaction audit log
  help        Print help information

Global Options

localgpt [OPTIONS] <COMMAND>

Options:
  -c, --config <PATH>  Path to config file (default: ~/.config/localgpt/config.toml)
  -a, --agent <ID>     Agent ID (default: "main")
  -m, --model <MODEL>  Override the default model
  -v, --verbose        Enable verbose logging
  -h, --help           Print help
  -V, --version        Print version

Command Summary

Command	Description
chat	Interactive multi-turn conversation with session support
tui	Terminal UI with streaming responses and slash commands
ask	Single-turn question answering
gen	Launch world generation mode (Bevy renderer)
daemon	Start/stop/status of the background daemon
memory	Search, reindex, and manage memory
search	Test web search provider configuration
auth	Authenticate with providers (Gemini, etc.)
config	Init, show, get, and set configuration values
md	Sign, verify, and audit LocalGPT.md
sandbox	Inspect sandbox capabilities and run tests
paths	Show resolved XDG directory paths
desktop	Launch the native desktop GUI (egui)
completion	Generate shell completion scripts (bash, zsh, fish)
cron	Manage cron jobs (list, add, remove)
hooks	Manage lifecycle hooks
tool / plugin	Manage MCP tool servers (list, add, remove, enable, disable)
audit	View and verify compaction audit log (show, verify, stats)

Examples

# Start an interactive chat
localgpt chat

# Launch the terminal UI
localgpt tui

# Ask a single question
localgpt ask "What is the capital of France?"

# Use a specific model
localgpt -m anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5 chat

# Start the daemon
localgpt daemon start

# Search memory
localgpt memory search "project ideas"

# Show memory statistics
localgpt memory stats

# Configuration management
localgpt config init              # Create default config
localgpt config show              # Display loaded config
localgpt config get agent.default_model   # Get a specific value
localgpt config set agent.default_model "claude-cli/opus"

# Check sandbox capabilities
localgpt sandbox status

# Sign LocalGPT.md after editing
localgpt md sign

# View security audit log
localgpt md audit

# Launch world generation (separate binary)
localgpt-gen "create a solar system with planets"

# Test web search provider
localgpt search test

# Authenticate with Google Gemini
localgpt auth gemini

# Show resolved directory paths
localgpt paths

# Generate shell completion
localgpt completion bash > /etc/bash_completion.d/localgpt
localgpt completion zsh > "${fpath[1]}/_localgpt"
localgpt completion fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/localgpt.fish

# Manage cron jobs
localgpt cron list
localgpt cron add "0 */6 * * *" "Summarize recent memory and update MEMORY.md"
localgpt cron remove <job-id>

# Manage lifecycle hooks
localgpt hooks list
localgpt hooks set beforeToolCall "/path/to/hook.sh"

# Manage MCP tool servers
localgpt tool list                # List servers with enabled/disabled status
localgpt tool add myserver --command "npx" -- "@anthropic/mcp-searxng"
localgpt tool enable myserver     # Enable a disabled server
localgpt tool disable myserver    # Disable without removing
localgpt tool remove myserver     # Remove from config

# Compaction audit log
localgpt audit show               # Show recent compaction events
localgpt audit show --limit 5     # Show last 5 events
localgpt audit show --json        # JSON output
localgpt audit verify             # Verify hash chain integrity
localgpt audit stats              # Show compaction statistics

Built-in Chat Commands

When in interactive chat mode, these commands are available:

Command	Description
/help, /h, /?	Show help for chat commands
/quit, /exit, /q	Exit the chat session
/new	Start a fresh session
/sessions	List saved sessions
/resume <id>	Resume a saved session
/search <query>	Search across sessions
/memory <query>	Search memory for a term
/save	Force save current context to memory
/compact	Manually trigger session compaction
/model [name]	Show or switch the current model
/models	List available model prefixes
/context	Show context window usage
/status	Show session status (tokens, turns)
/export [file]	Export session as markdown
/attach <file>	Attach a file to the conversation
/clear	Clear the terminal screen
/skills	List available skills

Additionally, any installed skills can be invoked via /skill-name (e.g., /commit, /github-pr). See Skills System for details.

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success
1	General error
2	Configuration error
3	API/Provider error