honcho/honcho-cli/README.md

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honcho-cli

A terminal for Honcho — memory that reasons.

Install

As a standalone tool (recommended):

uv tool install honcho-cli

Quick Start

honcho init        # confirm/set apiKey + Honcho URL in ~/.honcho/config.json
honcho start       # optional: local API + deriver + Postgres + Redis (Docker)
honcho doctor      # verify your config + connectivity
honcho             # show banner + command list

honcho init reads apiKey and environmentUrl from the top-level of ~/.honcho/config.json (the same file other Honcho tools — plugins, host integrations — share). If both are present, it confirms them with you; if either is missing (or you decline), it prompts for the missing value(s) and writes them back. Host-specific entries under hosts are left untouched.

Per-command scoping (workspace / peer / session) is handled via -w / -p / -s flags or HONCHO_* env vars — not persisted as CLI defaults.

Local stack

honcho start runs a personal Honcho server on your machine (API, deriver, Postgres, Redis) via Docker. Inference is cloud-side: set LLM_OPENAI_API_KEY, LLM_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, or LLM_GEMINI_API_KEY (env overrides config.toml). Stack files live under ~/.honcho/profiles/local/ and are not committed to a project.

On first start, the CLI pulls ghcr.io/plastic-labs/honcho:latest and pins that digest in profile.json, then copies the image's config.toml.example to config.toml in the same directory. honcho start never overwrites config.toml after that — including when you re-pin the image. Delete the file yourself if you want a fresh copy from a new image.

Pass --setup basic or --setup advanced for an interactive wizard that writes curated LLM/feature overrides into the profile .env (env wins over config.toml). TTY only; re-runnable. basic asks provider + chat model; advanced also covers embeddings, deriver/dialectic models, dreams, and snappy deriver flush. Everything else stays in config.toml.

honcho start does not change environmentUrl in ~/.honcho/config.json (that file is shared with plugins). To talk to the local stack for one command:

HONCHO_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8000 honcho workspace list

To make local the default, run honcho init --base-url http://127.0.0.1:8000.

LLM_OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-... honcho start
honcho start --setup basic
honcho start --setup advanced
honcho status
honcho stop            # keep data
honcho stop --wipe     # also delete volumes

Commands

Onboarding

Command	Description
honcho init	Confirm/set apiKey + environmentUrl in ~/.honcho/config.json
honcho start	Start a local Honcho stack (API, deriver, Postgres, Redis). Requires Docker and a cloud LLM key. --setup basic / --setup advanced runs an interactive config wizard (TTY only). Does not change environmentUrl.
honcho stop	Stop the local stack. --wipe also deletes volumes.
honcho status	Show every local stack (or --profile for one).
honcho doctor	Health check: config, connectivity, workspace, peer, queue

Workspaces

Command	Description
honcho workspace list	List accessible workspaces
honcho workspace create <id>	Create or get a workspace
honcho workspace inspect	Peers, sessions, config for a workspace
honcho workspace search <query>	Search messages across workspace
honcho workspace queue-status	Deriver queue status (filter with --observer / --sender)
honcho workspace delete <id>	Delete a workspace. Use --dry-run to preview, --cascade to also delete sessions, --yes to skip the confirm prompt

Peers

Command	Description
honcho peer list	List peers in the workspace
honcho peer create <id>	Create or get a peer
honcho peer inspect <id>	Card, session count, recent conclusions
honcho peer card <id>	Raw peer card content
honcho peer chat <query>	Query the dialectic about a peer (peer via -p / HONCHO_PEER_ID)
honcho peer representation <id>	Formatted representation
honcho peer search <query>	Search a peer's messages (peer via -p / HONCHO_PEER_ID)
honcho peer get-metadata <id> / set-metadata	Metadata operations

Sessions

Command	Description
honcho session list	List sessions in the workspace (filter with --peer/-p)
honcho session create <id>	Create or get a session (optionally --peers to add peers, --metadata)
honcho session inspect <id>	Peers, message count, summaries, config
honcho session view <id>	Transcript table (--last N, --page N --size M, --all, --reverse, --ids, -p)
honcho session context <id>	What an agent would see
honcho session summaries <id>	Short + long summaries
honcho session peers <id> / add-peers / remove-peers	Peer management
honcho session search <id> <query>	Search messages in a session
honcho session representation <id>	Peer representation in a session
honcho session get-metadata <id> / set-metadata	Metadata operations
honcho session delete <id>	Destructive; requires --yes

Messages

Command	Description
honcho message list	List messages in a session (session via -s / HONCHO_SESSION_ID)
honcho message create <content>	Create a message (requires --peer/-p, session via -s)
honcho message get <id>	Get a single message (session via -s / HONCHO_SESSION_ID)

Conclusions (observations)

Command	Description
honcho conclusion list	List conclusions (filter with --observer / --observed)
honcho conclusion search <query>	Semantic search (filter with --observer / --observed)
honcho conclusion create	Create a conclusion
honcho conclusion delete <id>	Delete a conclusion

Config

Command	Description
honcho config	Show current config (API key redacted)

Agent Usage

All commands output JSON when stdout isn't a TTY, or when --json is forced. Collection commands emit JSON arrays, and single-resource commands emit JSON objects:

honcho peer list --json
honcho workspace inspect --json | jq '.peers'
honcho doctor --json              # machine-parseable health checklist

Errors are structured:

{
  "error": {
    "code": "PEER_NOT_FOUND",
    "message": "Peer 'abc' not found in workspace 'my-ws'",
    "details": {"workspace_id": "my-ws", "peer_id": "abc"}
  }
}

Non-interactive onboarding:

# Pre-seed via flags / env vars; init still prompts for anything missing
HONCHO_API_KEY=hch-v3-xxx honcho init --base-url https://api.honcho.dev

Agent skill

honcho-cli ships with a skill that teaches agents the right commands and conventions for inspecting and debugging a Honcho deployment. Install it anywhere skills are accepted (Claude Code, other skill-aware agents):

npx skills add plastic-labs/honcho

The picker lists every skill for Honcho — select honcho-cli .

Environment Variables

All HONCHO_* env vars work at runtime — no config file required.

Precedence (highest first): flag → env var → config file → default.

Variable	Flag	Description
HONCHO_API_KEY	--api-key (init)	Admin JWT
HONCHO_BASE_URL	--base-url (init)	API URL
HONCHO_WORKSPACE_ID	-w / --workspace	Workspace scope
HONCHO_PEER_ID	-p / --peer	Peer scope
HONCHO_SESSION_ID	-s / --session	Session scope
HONCHO_JSON	--json	Force JSON output (1 / true)
HONCHO_PROFILE	--profile (start/stop/status)	Local stack profile (default: local)
LLM_OPENAI_API_KEY	—	Provider key for honcho start (also LLM_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, LLM_GEMINI_API_KEY)

# Per-command flags
honcho peer card -w prod -p user

# Or export once per shell
export HONCHO_WORKSPACE_ID=prod
export HONCHO_PEER_ID=user
honcho peer card

# One-off against a different server
HONCHO_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8000 honcho workspace list

# CI/CD — env vars only, no config file needed
export HONCHO_API_KEY=hch-v3-xxx
export HONCHO_BASE_URL=https://api.honcho.dev
honcho workspace list

Configuration

The CLI shares ~/.honcho/config.json with sibling Honcho tools. It owns two top-level keys: apiKey and environmentUrl (the full Honcho API URL, e.g. https://api.honcho.dev or http://localhost:8000). Everything else at the top level — hosts, sessions, saveMessages, sessionStrategy, etc. — is left untouched.

{
  "apiKey": "hch-v3-...",
  "environmentUrl": "https://api.honcho.dev",
  "hosts": { "claude_code": { "...": "..." } }
}

workspace_id / peer_id / session_id are per-command only — never persisted to the config file.

Development

Install from source in editable mode so changes are picked up live:

git clone https://github.com/plastic-labs/honcho
cd honcho
uv tool install --force --editable --from ./honcho-cli honcho-cli

Re-run any time — changes to honcho-cli/src/ are reflected immediately without reinstalling.

License

MIT