Command line (CLI)

Sign in from your terminal, check your setup, optimize drafts from files, create and revoke API keys with approval in the browser, and connect Claude Code, Codex or Cursor in one command.

The amdahl command line tool signs in to your workspace in the browser, then lets you check your setup, optimize drafts, manage API keys and connect your AI clients from a terminal. It never stores an API key, and it prints a secret only when you ask for one.

Install

Requires Node.js 20 or later. Run it once with no install:

bash

npx @amdahl/cli login

Or install the amdahl command, which the rest of this page uses:

bash

npm i -g @amdahl/cli
amdahl --version

bash

amdahl login

Your browser opens the Amdahl sign-in page. Enter your work email and the one-time code we send you. When the browser says "Signed in. You can close this tab.", the terminal is signed in too.

Several workspaces? Pick one with amdahl login --workspace <slug>. A member signs straight in to that workspace, with no consent screen.
No browser on this machine? amdahl login --no-browser prints the URL to open somewhere else. The sign-in still returns to this machine, so open it on the same computer, for example through an SSH port forward.
No workspace yet? The terminal tells you where to go. If you are approved for the beta, create a workspace at console.amdahl.ai/new. If not, join the waitlist at the same address, or try the optimizer meanwhile at console.amdahl.ai/try. Then run amdahl login again.

The sign-in grants three things only: searching and reading (data:read), reading your connections (connections:read) and optimizing drafts (messages:execute). Sign-in tokens live in your operating system's keychain (macOS Keychain or the Linux secret service). Where no keychain is available, they go in a file only you can read, and the CLI warns you once.

bash

amdahl whoami
amdahl logout

whoami shows who you are, which workspace, your role, and where the credential came from. logout revokes this sign-in and forgets it (--all for every workspace).

logout always forgets the sign-in on this machine. If the server cannot revoke a sign-in's tokens, it names that sign-in (not_revoked in --json output), and those tokens stay valid until they expire.

Check your setup

bash

amdahl status

It shows your workspace, your role, whether you can optimize drafts and how many optimizations are left this month, and any data connection that needs attention. When optimizing is blocked, it names the fix:

Blocker	Fix
`missing_scope`	Your credential cannot optimize. Sign in again with `amdahl login`, or use a Customer agent key.
`role_too_low`	You are a Viewer. Ask a workspace admin to make you an Editor or above.
`quota_exhausted`	The workspace used this month's optimizations. It shows when they reset.

Optimize drafts

bash

amdahl optimize draft.md
amdahl optimize step1.md step2.md step3.md --channel email
pbpaste | amdahl optimize -

Each file is one draft. Files run one after another, each with up to 180 seconds to finish. The output is the version Amdahl returns, exactly as returned, with one line on why it changed or why your draft was kept.

Flag	What it does
`--channel email\|linkedin`	Say what the draft is. Left out, it is inferred.
`--evidence workspace`	Also check the draft's claims against your own customer conversations. Slower.
`--on-unsupported flag\|remove`	What to do with a claim nothing backs: flag it (default) or remove it.
`--tries`	Also show every version the run scored on the way.
`--context <file.json>`	Your `rules`, `voice_examples` and `facts`, as a JSON file. See Keep your voice, rules and facts.

API keys for servers and CI

A server or a CI job cannot sign in through a browser, so it needs an API key. The CLI creates one without the key ever passing through a browser, and only after you approve it in the console:

bash

amdahl keys create --name "CI optimizer" --preset agent --expires 90d

The CLI makes the key on your machine and sends the server only a hash of it.
It shows a code such as BCDF-GHJK and opens the console approval page.
On that page, check the details (workspace, key name, access, expiry, device), type the code from your terminal and click Approve.
The terminal prints the key once. Store it in your secret manager as AMDAHL_KEY. The CLI does not keep a copy.

The request expires after 10 minutes. Five wrong codes deny it.

`--preset`	Access
`read-only` (default)	Read only: search and reads, no changes.
`agent`	Customer agent: reads, optimize, evals and chats.
`internal`, `admin`	The admin levels. Workspace admins only.

--expires is 30d, 90d (default) or 365d.

bash

amdahl keys list
amdahl keys revoke amdhl_1a2b3c4d

keys list shows your workspace's keys, without their secrets. keys revoke asks you to type the key name, then approve in the console.

Creating and revoking keys always needs your browser sign-in and an approval in the console. A key cannot create or revoke another key.

Connect your AI clients

bash

amdahl install claude-code
amdahl install codex
amdahl install cursor

Each adds the Amdahl MCP server (https://app.amdahl.ai/mcp) to that client. None of them writes a key or token: the client signs in over OAuth itself the first time it connects. For Codex the CLI also sets required = true. Add --print to see the change without making it.

Credentials and environment

The CLI uses the first credential it finds, in this order, and amdahl whoami says which one won:

--api-key <key>
AMDAHL_KEY
AMDAHL_API_KEY
AMDAHL_ACCESS_TOKEN
Your browser sign-in (--profile, then AMDAHL_PROFILE, then your default)

amdahl keys and amdahl auth token need the browser sign-in.

Variable	What it does
`AMDAHL_API_URL`	The API to talk to. Default `https://app.amdahl.ai`.
`AMDAHL_CONSOLE_URL`	The console that messages point you to, for example when you have no workspace yet. Default `https://console.amdahl.ai`.
`AMDAHL_PROFILE`	Which signed-in workspace to use.
`AMDAHL_NO_PROMPT=1`	Never ask a question; fail instead. Also on when input is not a terminal.
`AMDAHL_CREDENTIAL_STORE`	`keychain` or `file`, to force where sign-in tokens are kept.
`NO_COLOR`	Turn off colour.

One sign-in is one workspace. amdahl workspace list shows your sign-ins and amdahl workspace use <profile> picks the default.

Scripts and JSON

Add --json to any command. Data goes to standard output as one JSON object with "ok": true, and messages go to standard error. A failure prints {"ok": false, "error": {"code", "message"}}.

Exit code	Meaning
`0`	Success.
`1`	General failure, for example the sign-in timed out.
`2`	The command was used wrongly.
`3`	Not signed in, or the sign-in expired.
`4`	Not allowed: scope, role, or a command that needs the browser sign-in.
`5`	No workspace.
`6`	Rate limited, or out of quota.
`7`	The key request was denied, expired or locked.
`8`	Network error or a server error. Your sign-in is kept.

Command line (CLI)

Install

Sign in

Check your setup

Optimize drafts

API keys for servers and CI

Connect your AI clients

Credentials and environment

Scripts and JSON

See also