Monolex CLI

monolex-cli is the automation surface for a running Monolex Tauri desktop app. It talks to the app’s local control boundary; it is not a substitute for starting the desktop app, the headless server, or the PTY daemon. Public OpenCLIs metadata: monolex-cli 0.2.1, registry build 2026-04-10-065301. The CDN artifact URL currently names build 2026-04-08-205635, and the published payload self-identifies as monolex-cli 0.2.0. The command inventory below was verified against that exact payload; these three release identities are not claimed to agree. The installed macOS binary is byte-identical to the CDN payload despite its different OpenCLIs build directory. Registry ownership: the public monolex-cli row points its canonical docs_url to this page, its product homepage to https://monolex.ai, and its relationships to Monopty, Monosystem, Monolex Headless, and OpenCLIs. Repository ownership remains monolex/monolex; no public source URL is advertised while that repository is private.

Quick Start

openclis install monolex-cli

monolex-cli --version
monolex-cli status --json
monolex-cli tab-list --json
monolex-cli command-list --json

Start the Monolex desktop app before running control commands. --json is a global machine-readable output switch and is also shown by every subcommand. The parser exposes 19 operational commands plus Clap’s generated help.

Release and Transport Identity

Proof surface	Current value	What it proves
OpenCLIs installed state	Version `0.2.1`, build `2026-04-10-065301`	Registry/install-directory identity
CDN `latest.json`	Version `0.2.1`, build `2026-04-10-065301`, path `0.2.1/2026-04-08-205635`	The public pointer intentionally contains a path/build mismatch
CDN `meta.json`	Version `0.2.1`, build `2026-04-08-205635`	Artifact-manifest identity
Executing payload	`monolex-cli 0.2.0`	The version compiled into the binary
Installed/CDN macOS payload	SHA-256 `4b5e190ecde6b6dc7abe81e275977ce3a7f1dc56f507e376417d9e03385b04dc` for the extracted executable	Installed and public macOS executables are byte-identical

The release contains darwin-aarch64, linux-x86_64, linux-aarch64, and windows-x86_64 artifacts. There is no published Intel macOS or Windows ARM64 artifact in this release. On Unix, the CLI discovers a live ~/.monolex/runtime/sockets/app/control-app-<PID>.sock; dead-PID socket files are removed during discovery. On Windows, it reads a control-app-<PID>.pid marker and connects to the monolex-control-app-<PID> named pipe. Version 0.2.0 has no --socket override and selects the first live discovered app endpoint.

Output Contract

With --json, a successful app reply stays wrapped as {"ok":true,"data":...}. Without it, most commands print only data; get-answer prints only extracted content. Connection, parse, and other transport failures exit non-zero. In JSON mode those transport failures are written to stderr as {"ok":false,"error":...}, so consumers must check both the exit status and output channel.

The published 0.2.0 payload has no initiate guide path: monolex-cli without a command prints Clap help to stderr and exits 2. Current source now owns an authored src/initiate/initiate.md and src/initiate/SKILL.md for the next packaged guide surface, but that source-ahead documentation does not retroactively change the public payload. Use monolex-cli --help for a successful read-only discovery call today.

Complete Command Reference

App, tabs, and terminal I/O

Command	What it does	Arguments and controls
`status`	Reports whether the app control surface is reachable and its current state.	Read-only; add `--json`.
`tab-list`	Lists PTY sessions visible to the desktop control boundary, including child PID and idle time.	Read-only; use the returned `id` as the PTY session id.
`tab-new`	Emits the same `control-tab-new` event used by the desktop UI path.	Accepts `--cols` 120, `--rows` 40, `--command`, `--cwd`, and `--provider` (`claude`, `gemini`, `codex`, `cursor`, `copilot`, `kiro`, `opencode`). The current app ignores cols/rows and owns final sizing. Success acknowledges event emission, not the eventual PTY id.
`tab-switch <pty-session-id>`	Requests a full grid update for one PTY session.	Returns `frameDispatched` and `channelHash`; it does not itself prove visible frontend focus changed.
`write <pty-session-id> <data>`	Writes raw terminal data.	Decodes `\r`, `\n`, `\t`, and `\x03`; can execute or interrupt terminal programs.
`wait-idle <pty-session-id>`	Waits until output has been quiet for a defined interval.	`--idle-ms` default 500; `--max-wait` default 30 seconds.
`get-answer <pty-session-id> <prompt>`	Finds the last exact prompt match and returns from that row to the bottom.	Extraction is screen/text based; use the exact prompt for a precise boundary.
`command-list`	Lists app-side control-protocol commands grouped with enabled/disabled state.	Always callable, but it is not the installed CLI parser inventory; see the protocol distinction below.

Projects, files, and gateway state

Command	What it does	Arguments and controls
`project-list`	Lists known projects with folder paths.	Read-only.
`open-file <path>`	Opens Markdown, MDX, code, or another supported file in the Monolex viewer.	Changes the desktop viewer; it does not edit the file.
`gateway-info`	Shows the desktop gateway `session_id` and policy token.	Treat policy tokens as credentials; avoid logs and public output.
`auth-login --api-key <key>`	Sends a raw API key to the app, which exchanges it using the app’s device id and installs the resulting gateway token.	Accepts `MONOLEX_API_KEY`; mutates shared authentication state. Never place the key on shared command lines or logs.

Remote desktop sessions

Command	What it does	Arguments and controls
`remote-connect <policy-token>`	Connects the app to one remote terminal session.	Optional `--label`; the policy token grants session access.
`remote-auto-connect`	Discovers and connects to all eligible other machines.	Potentially opens multiple live remote connections.
`remote-list`	Lists active remote connections.	Read-only.
`remote-disconnect <remote-id>`	Disconnects one remote session from the app.	Connection-state mutation; does not delete the remote machine.

OpenCLIs tools

Command	What it does	Arguments and controls
`tool-install [tool]`	Installs one OpenCLIs package through the desktop bridge.	Omitting the tool installs OpenCLIs itself.
`tool-list`	Lists OpenCLIs tools visible to the app.	Read-only registry/install view.
`tool-update`	Updates all installed OpenCLIs tools.	Network and executable mutation; verify resulting versions separately.

CLI Parser vs App Control Protocol

The shipped CLI and the current desktop app share a newline-delimited JSON socket, but their names are not a one-to-one catalog:

CLI surface	Wire request	Current boundary
`get-answer`	`extract-md`	CLI-friendly name for query-anchored Markdown extraction.
`auth-login`	`auth-login-key`	The CLI sends the raw API key; the app performs the device-bound exchange.
No 0.2.0 CLI command	`extract-screen`	Current app protocol supports viewport/full plain screen extraction. Use Monopty for a documented local headless screen command.
No 0.2.0 CLI command	`ws-status`, `set-session`, token-form `auth-login`	Current app-internal protocol entries; they are not public parser commands in this payload.
No 0.2.0 CLI command	`browser-open`, `browser-list`, `browser-navigate`, `browser-act`, `browser-status`, `browser-close`	Source-head app protocol for steering the visible Agent Browser tab; not part of the published CLI parser.

command-list is generated by the app, not by Clap. It currently includes 28 grouped entries, while the control request enum has 29 variants and the CLI has 19 operational commands. In particular, app dispatch implements remote-auto-connect, but the current grouped command-list omits it. Use root --help for the binary parser, command-list for current app access toggles, and source/gateway proof for remote exposure; none substitutes for the others.

Source-head Agent Browser wire family

Repository commit 7ca48fc1ba3e3266074a58c402b51955aa172b70 adds six app-control requests. They steer the same visible browser session the user is watching; they do not create a private headless browser:

Wire request	Input	Success contract
`browser-open`	Optional `url`	Emits `agent-browser-open`; success reports `opened` and the requested URL. The frontend still owns tab mounting and session creation.
`browser-list`	None	Returns live sessions with their id, URL, mode, and profile. Use the id for every request below.
`browser-navigate`	`id`, `url`	Navigates one existing session and echoes the id and resulting target URL.
`browser-act`	`id`, JSON string `action`	Runs the same action envelope as the frontend. Supported source kinds include `click`, `type`, `insert`, `key`, `mouse`, `viewport`, `wait`, and `eval`; MonoSurf read/write grants and the app entitlement gate still apply.
`browser-status`	`id`	Returns the session’s decoded URL, mode, and profile state. A malformed backend response fails instead of being passed through as success.
`browser-close`	`id`	Closes one browser session and returns `closed: true`; the tab retains its own teardown path.

This family is compiled only with the app’s web feature. A Base build returns browser commands require the web plugin (app-monolex --features web) for all six requests rather than an empty or synthetic success. The published monolex-cli 0.2.0 payload has no parser verbs for constructing these messages, so the table documents the current app protocol, not six newly released CLI commands. All local socket requests except command-list honor the app’s UI-managed disabled-command set. The Tauri control_socket_query bridge applies the same gate. Its current executable query map is project-list, tab-list, status, gateway-info, command-list, and start-headless. The Cloudflare control_query_v1 allowlist contains additional names, but an allowlisted name still returns unknown_query unless this Tauri map implements it. A local CLI command is therefore not automatically web-callable. The six Agent Browser wire requests are not in this query map either.

Automation Pattern

monolex-cli tab-new --provider codex --cwd "$PWD" --json
monolex-cli tab-list --json

# Select the newly observed .data.sessions[].id after it appears.
SESSION_ID=<pty-session-id>

monolex-cli write "$SESSION_ID" 'Explain this repository\r'
monolex-cli wait-idle "$SESSION_ID" --idle-ms 800 --max-wait 60
monolex-cli get-answer "$SESSION_ID" 'Explain this repository' --json

tab-new returns an event-emission acknowledgement before the frontend creates the PTY, so poll tab-list and compute/select the newly observed id. Creating a tab, observing idle, and extracting an answer are three different proof layers. An idle terminal may still contain a prompt for more input, and a successful write does not prove that an AI CLI completed.

Relationships

Tool	Ownership
Monolex desktop	Owns the Tauri app, visible tabs, viewer, and local control endpoint
Monopty	Controls local headless sessions and adds guarded/scenario workflows
Monosystem	Owns cross-machine estate transport, daemon presence, and remote PTY control
OpenCLIs	Owns package discovery, install, update, and registry metadata beneath the tool commands

Get Started

Articles

So Anthropic

User Guide

Philosophy

Applied Philosophy

Architecture

Gestalt Color

Transparency

Terminal Core

Features

VariableMD

Research

CodexMono

OpenCLIs

vpncli

MonoSurf

AI-CLIs

Quick Start

Release and Transport Identity

Output Contract

Complete Command Reference

App, tabs, and terminal I/O

Projects, files, and gateway state

Remote desktop sessions

OpenCLIs tools

CLI Parser vs App Control Protocol

Source-head Agent Browser wire family

Automation Pattern

Relationships

​Quick Start

​Release and Transport Identity

​Output Contract

​Complete Command Reference

​App, tabs, and terminal I/O

​Projects, files, and gateway state

​Remote desktop sessions

​OpenCLIs tools

​CLI Parser vs App Control Protocol

​Source-head Agent Browser wire family

​Automation Pattern

​Relationships

Quick Start

Release and Transport Identity

Output Contract

Complete Command Reference

App, tabs, and terminal I/O

Projects, files, and gateway state

Remote desktop sessions

OpenCLIs tools

CLI Parser vs App Control Protocol

Source-head Agent Browser wire family

Automation Pattern

Relationships