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Usage

Running Acai

# Start interactive mode with default model
acai

# Specify a model
acai --model anthropic:sonnet

# CLI mode (one-shot execution)
acai -p "What files contain the term 'toolCallRepair'?"

# Disable skills discovery
acai --no-skills

# Add additional working directories
acai --add-dir /path/to/project1 --add-dir /path/to/project2

# Resume a previous session by selecting from a list
acai --continue

# Resume the most recent session
acai --resume

# Resume a specific session by ID
acai --resume a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-1234-567890abcdef

When exiting a session with messages, Acai displays a resume command with the session ID:

To resume this session call acai --resume <session-id>

Using -p/--prompt runs in CLI mode (one-shot execution), while running without a prompt starts interactive REPL mode.

Piped Input

You can pipe text directly to acai via stdin:

# REPL mode: piped text becomes the initial prompt
echo "What can you do?" | acai

# CLI mode: piped text becomes additional context
echo "Codebase overview: 50 files, TypeScript project" | acai -p "Summarize this project"

# Multiple inputs
echo "Large context file" | acai -p "Analyze and improve"

Input size limits:

  • Soft limit (50KB): Warning logged to stderr, processing continues
  • Hard limit (200KB): Error displayed, process exits with code 1

Empty input handling:

  • Empty stdin without -p flag: Prints message and exits with code 0
  • Empty stdin with -p flag: Proceeds normally (no context added)

Prompt Mentions & Special Syntax

Reference files and directories directly in your prompts:

> Explain the purpose of @source/index.ts
> What patterns do you see in @source/tools/ directory
> Check if `!ls -la` shows any suspicious files
> Analyze @README.md for typos

Supported syntax:

  • @filename - Include contents of a specific file
  • @dirname - Recursively include all files in a directory
  • @http://example.com - Fetch and include web content
  • !`command` - Execute shell command and include output

Interactive CLI Commands

  • /help - Shows usage information
  • /init - Generate or improve AGENTS.md
  • /paste - Add clipboard contents to the next prompt
  • /model [provider:model|category|provider] - List or switch models
  • /session - Show comprehensive session information including usage and costs
  • /clear - Clears the terminal screen for the current session
  • /generateRules - Analyze the current conversation and suggest project rules
  • /copy - Copy the last assistant response to the system clipboard
  • /list-tools or /lt - List all available tools
  • /add-dir <path> - Add additional working directory
  • /list-dirs - List all working directories
  • /remove-dir <path> - Remove a working directory
  • /health - Check system health and dependencies
  • /history - View and manage conversation history
  • /init-project - Initialize a new acai project in the current directory
  • /share - Share the current session as a GitHub Gist for viewing in a web browser
  • /resources or /res - List all active skills and AGENTS.md files
  • /shell - Execute shell commands

Use /help within the REPL to see the latest available commands.

Keyboard Shortcuts

These shortcuts work in the interactive TUI mode:

Global Shortcuts

Shortcut Action
Ctrl+C First press: clears the editor and shows exit confirmation. Second press within 1 second: exits the application.
Ctrl+D Exits the application only when the editor is empty.
Ctrl+N Starts a new chat session (saves current session first if not empty).
Ctrl+O Toggles verbose mode (shows detailed tool execution output).
Ctrl+R Opens the review view (equivalent to /review).
Ctrl+Z Backgrounds the process (POSIX only; use fg to resume).
Escape Closes active modal dialogs or interrupts ongoing processing.

Editor Shortcuts

Shortcut Action
Enter Creates a new line.
Shift+Enter / Ctrl+Enter / Option+Enter Submits the prompt.
Tab Triggers autocomplete suggestions.
Escape Cancels autocomplete or closes custom handlers.
Up / Down Navigates command history when the editor is empty.
Ctrl+A Moves the cursor to the start of the line.
Ctrl+E Moves the cursor to the end of the line.
Ctrl+K Deletes from the cursor to the end of the line.
Ctrl+U Deletes from the cursor to the start of the line.
Ctrl+W / Option+Backspace Deletes the word before the cursor.
Ctrl+Left / Ctrl+Right / Option+Left / Option+Right Navigates by words.
Ctrl+G Launches the external editor (configured via EDITOR or VISUAL env var).

Clipboard Operations

Platform Command
macOS pbcopy
Windows clip
Linux xclip (falls back to xsel if unavailable)