cli-jaw

One assistant, one memory, one dashboard for the AI coding CLIs you already pay for.
Claude, Codex, Cursor, Grok, Copilot, OpenCode, Kiro, Antigravity and Pi — working together as a team.

# existing users who want minimal changes: JAW_SAFE=1 npm install -g cli-jaw
npm install -g cli-jaw
jaw dashboard

Every agent in one place Start, stop and preview every running instance from the manager dashboard.
A board for the work Kanban lanes, a priority matrix and reminders track what each session is doing.
Notes that agents can read A built-in Markdown workspace with WYSIWYG editing, math and Mermaid diagrams.

English · 한국어 · 中文 · 日本語 · 📖 Website · Docs

What is CLI-JAW?

CLI-JAW unifies the AI coding CLIs you already use into one assistant with one memory and one dashboard. Your main CLI (the "Boss") calls the others as "employees", so you stop copy-pasting between apps and give orders from a single place.

• No API keys needed — routes through subscriptions you already pay for
• No per-token billing — flat monthly cost, same as what you already have
• Runs locally — your code never leaves your machine
• Reach it anywhere — Web, desktop app, terminal, Telegram, Discord or Slack

The native Code API (/api/code) provides isolated Codex, Claude, Cursor, and Grok sessions with durable transcripts and native resume. See native Code sessions.

Install

Safe install — for existing users who want minimal changes

# macOS / Linux
JAW_SAFE=1 npm install -g cli-jaw    # skips optional tool/runtime setup
jaw init                              # interactive setup later when you're ready

Windows support. WSL is the recommended, stable path. A native PowerShell installer also exists, but it is still beta:

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lidge-ai/cli-jaw/main/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

Requires Node.js 22.4+.

The manager dashboard runs on 24576, and each agent web UI on 3457. If a restrictive execution policy blocks jaw.ps1, use the .cmd entry point instead of loosening the policy:

jaw.cmd doctor

Native Windows autostart is registered through the windows-startup backend. jaw service install also covers macOS (launchd) and Linux (systemd).

Either way cli-jaw now tells the two apart precisely: jaw doctor --json reports platform as windows-native or wsl, and each gets its own diagnostics. Native Windows no longer receives "reinstall inside WSL" advice just because WSL interop is configured on the machine.

# macOS / Linux / WSL with Node.js 22+ already installed
npm install -g cli-jaw
jaw dashboard

npm 12+? npm now blocks dependency install scripts by default. If you see npm warn allow-scripts, install with the scripts approved:

npm install -g cli-jaw --allow-scripts=cli-jaw

Windows npm install recovery — npm 12+ blocked scripts or PowerShell execution policy

npm 12+ may finish a global install while blocking CLI-JAW's dependency postinstall. Approve only this package and reinstall, or save the approval for future upgrades:

npm install -g cli-jaw --allow-scripts=cli-jaw
npm config set allow-scripts=cli-jaw --location=user
jaw doctor

If PowerShell reports that jaw.ps1 cannot be loaded because script execution is disabled, choose one of these bounded workarounds:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser RemoteSigned
jaw.cmd doctor
node "$(npm prefix -g)\node_modules\cli-jaw\dist\bin\cli-jaw.js" doctor

jaw.ps1 is PowerShell's npm shim and is subject to execution policy; jaw.cmd is the equivalent cmd shim and does not use that policy. The direct node form bypasses both shims. jaw doctor reports a blocked/stale install, leftover npm staging directories, and the current PowerShell policy; it also prints the matching recovery guidance.

That's it. Open http://localhost:24576 for the manager dashboard. Per-instance agent Web UIs still run from http://localhost:3457 when you start jaw serve. Requires Node.js 22.4+.

First time? The default npm install initializes CLI-JAW and attempts native Claude setup. Other AI CLIs are optional; install them all during npm setup with CLI_JAW_INSTALL_CLI_TOOLS=1 npm install -g cli-jaw on macOS/Linux. On Windows, use the WSL install path below.

Retired runtimes. Claude E (claude-e) and the AI-E multiplexer (ai-e) have been removed. A saved selection stays visible as retired and cannot execute; choose an available runtime. Details: runtime integration.

macOS one-click — don't have Node.js? This installs everything

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lidge-ai/cli-jaw/main/scripts/install.sh | bash
source "${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zshrc" 2>/dev/null || true
bash "$(npm root -g)/cli-jaw/scripts/verify-fresh-install.sh"

Windows (WSL — Windows Subsystem for Linux) — one-click from scratch

# 1. Install WSL (PowerShell as Admin)
wsl --install

Restart, open Ubuntu, then:

# 2. Install CLI-JAW + all dependencies
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lidge-ai/cli-jaw/main/scripts/install-wsl.sh | bash
source ~/.bashrc
jaw dashboard
bash "$(npm root -g)/cli-jaw/scripts/verify-fresh-install.sh"

From Windows PowerShell into WSL, run commands through a login shell so the WSL profile PATH is loaded:

wsl.exe -d Ubuntu -- bash -lc "jaw dashboard"

Native Windows (PowerShell beta) — detached server logs

jaw serve preserves the stdout and stderr streams it inherits and also appends both streams to <JAW_HOME>\logs\serve.log. At startup, a file already at 5 MiB is rotated once to serve.log.1. Native Windows still does not have a registered jaw service logging backend. PowerShell's Start-Process -RedirectStandardOutput/-RedirectStandardError creates or truncates its target files on every launch, so do not point those options at the instance-owned serve.log.

If separate operator-owned stdout/stderr files are needed, run the redirection inside a child PowerShell process instead. This example appends them under <JAW_HOME>\logs without the Start-Process truncate default:

$jawHome = 'C:\jaw\worker-a'
$port = 3458
$logDir = Join-Path $jawHome 'logs'
$outLog = Join-Path $logDir 'serve.out.log'
$errLog = Join-Path $logDir 'serve.err.log'
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $logDir -ErrorAction Stop | Out-Null
foreach ($path in @($outLog, $errLog)) {
    # OpenOrCreate preserves existing content while proving that the child can append.
    $probe = [IO.File]::Open($path, 'OpenOrCreate', 'Write', 'ReadWrite')
    $probe.Dispose()
}

$jaw = (Get-Command jaw.cmd -ErrorAction Stop).Source
$childCommand = "& '$jaw' --home '$jawHome' serve --port $port --no-open 1>> '$outLog' 2>> '$errLog'"
$encoded = [Convert]::ToBase64String([Text.Encoding]::Unicode.GetBytes($childCommand))
Start-Process -FilePath powershell.exe -ArgumentList '-NoProfile', '-EncodedCommand', $encoded -WindowStyle Hidden | Out-Null

Read each stream from a separate PowerShell terminal (Get-Content -Wait occupies its terminal). These commands use explicit paths because variables from the launch terminal are not available in a new PowerShell session:

# Terminal 1
Get-Content -LiteralPath 'C:\jaw\worker-a\logs\serve.out.log' -Tail 100 -Wait

# Terminal 2
Get-Content -LiteralPath 'C:\jaw\worker-a\logs\serve.err.log' -Tail 100 -Wait

Lifecycle commands are home-scoped and verify <JAW_HOME>\jaw.pid.json before signalling:

& $jaw --home $jawHome service stop --port $port
& $jaw --home $jawHome service restart --port $port

A standalone service restart safely relaunches the instance detached, but cannot recreate the operator's file redirection. To preserve file capture, stop, optionally rotate the closed logs, and run the launch block again:

$pidFile = Join-Path $jawHome 'jaw.pid.json'
$serverProcess = $null
if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $pidFile -PathType Leaf) {
    $record = Get-Content -LiteralPath $pidFile -Raw -ErrorAction Stop | ConvertFrom-Json
    $serverProcess = Get-Process -Id ([int]$record.pid) -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
}

& $jaw --home $jawHome service stop --port $port
if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
    throw "jaw service stop failed with exit code $LASTEXITCODE"
}
if ($serverProcess) {
    try {
        if (-not $serverProcess.WaitForExit(5000)) {
            throw "jaw serve pid $($serverProcess.Id) did not exit within 5000ms"
        }
    } finally {
        $serverProcess.Dispose()
    }
}

$stamp = Get-Date -Format 'yyyyMMdd-HHmmss'
foreach ($path in @($outLog, $errLog)) {
    if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $path) {
        Move-Item -LiteralPath $path -Destination "$path.$stamp" -ErrorAction Stop
    }
}
# Run the Start-Process launch block above again.

Do not use Get-Process node | Stop-Process; it can terminate unrelated cli-jaw instances and AI runtime processes.

Fresh-machine evidence — maintainer release check

Run this on a clean VM before publishing installer changes. It writes environment snapshots, installer logs, the exact collector/installer/verifier scripts that ran, their SHA-256 hashes, verifier logs, and new-shell PATH probes into ~/cli-jaw-fresh-install-evidence-*.

# macOS Terminal
COLLECTOR=/tmp/cli-jaw-collect-fresh-install-evidence.sh
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lidge-ai/cli-jaw/main/scripts/collect-fresh-install-evidence.sh -o "$COLLECTOR"
bash "$COLLECTOR" --target macos

# Ubuntu inside WSL
COLLECTOR=/tmp/cli-jaw-collect-fresh-install-evidence.sh
bash "$COLLECTOR" --target wsl

From Windows PowerShell, enter the supported WSL path:

wsl.exe -d Ubuntu -- bash -lc 'COLLECTOR=/tmp/cli-jaw-collect-fresh-install-evidence.sh; curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lidge-ai/cli-jaw/main/scripts/collect-fresh-install-evidence.sh -o "$COLLECTOR"; bash "$COLLECTOR" --target wsl'

If the collector says powershell.exe is not available inside WSL, run this from Windows PowerShell before auditing:

wsl.exe -d Ubuntu -- bash -lc 'EVIDENCE_DIR="$(ls -dt ~/cli-jaw-fresh-install-evidence-* | head -1)"; { echo "command=wsl.exe -d Ubuntu -- bash -lc jaw --version"; jaw --version; } | tee "$EVIDENCE_DIR/33-powershell-to-wsl-probe.log"'

For an unmerged branch or local VM checkout, pass the local installer and verifier explicitly:

bash scripts/collect-fresh-install-evidence.sh --target macos --install-script scripts/install.sh --verifier-script scripts/verify-fresh-install.sh
bash scripts/collect-fresh-install-evidence.sh --target wsl --install-script scripts/install-wsl.sh --verifier-script scripts/verify-fresh-install.sh

Audit each collected directory before treating it as target evidence:

EVIDENCE_DIR="$(ls -dt ~/cli-jaw-fresh-install-evidence-* | head -1)"
AUDITOR="$(npm root -g)/cli-jaw/scripts/audit-fresh-install-evidence.mjs"
node "$AUDITOR" "$EVIDENCE_DIR" --target macos
node "$AUDITOR" "$EVIDENCE_DIR" --target wsl

# For a local checkout, audit with the checkout's auditor:
node scripts/audit-fresh-install-evidence.mjs "$EVIDENCE_DIR" --target macos
node scripts/audit-fresh-install-evidence.mjs "$EVIDENCE_DIR" --target wsl

Before publishing installer changes, run the matrix gate with both strict evidence directories:

GATE="$(npm root -g)/cli-jaw/scripts/verify-release-evidence.mjs"
node "$GATE" --macos /path/to/macos-evidence --wsl /path/to/wsl-evidence

# For a local checkout:
node scripts/verify-release-evidence.mjs --macos /path/to/macos-evidence --wsl /path/to/wsl-evidence

The matrix gate rejects evidence collected with stale collector, installer, or verifier scripts; archived evidence scripts must match the current package or checkout that runs the gate.

When scripts/promote-to-main.sh, scripts/release-preview.sh, or npm publish detects installer-sensitive changes since the previous tag, it runs this same matrix gate before any git push or npm publish. Set the evidence directories before starting a release:

CLI_JAW_MACOS_EVIDENCE_DIR=/path/to/macos-evidence \
CLI_JAW_WSL_EVIDENCE_DIR=/path/to/wsl-evidence \
bash scripts/promote-to-main.sh

scripts/promote-to-main.sh promotes only an already-certified preview head. It refuses to start unless a successful test.yml push run exists for that exact preview SHA. With no argument it promotes the live origin/preview head; an optional SHA argument must equal that same head, so it acts as an assertion rather than a way to promote an older commit.

The script dispatches the npm publish and then exits without checking whether the publish succeeded, and it cannot be re-run afterwards. Recovery for a partially completed release — npm publish missing, GitHub release missing, a bad version on latest, or a red commit on main — is documented in structure/infra.md § 릴리스 파이프라인과 부분 실패 복구.

Docker

docker compose up -d       # → http://localhost:3457

Authenticate

You only need one. Pick whichever subscription you already have:

# Free options (no credit card needed)
copilot login        # GitHub Copilot (free tier available)
opencode             # OpenCode — free models available
kiro                 # AWS Kiro (free tier with AWS account)

# Paid (monthly subscription you already pay for)
claude auth login    # Anthropic Claude Pro or higher
codex login          # OpenAI ChatGPT Pro or higher
cursor-agent login   # Cursor
grok login --oauth   # xAI Grok / Grok Heavy

Check everything at once: jaw doctor

Example jaw doctor output

🦈 CLI-JAW Doctor — 13 checks

 ✅ Node.js        v22.15.0
 ✅ Claude CLI      installed
 ✅ Codex CLI       installed
 ✅ Cursor CLI      installed
 ✅ OpenCode CLI    installed
 ✅ Copilot CLI     installed
 ✅ Database        jaw.db OK
 ✅ Skills          29 active, 238 reference
 ✅ MCP (plugins)   3 servers configured
 ✅ Memory          structured/ exists
 ✅ Server          port 3457 available

What you get

Employees: your CLI calls the others

You talk to one AI (the "Boss"). When it needs specialized work, it dispatches tasks to employees — each running its own CLI and model — and reviews their output before answering you.

You: "Fix the frontend styling and update the API endpoint"

Boss (Claude)
  ├── Frontend employee (OpenCode) → "Fix the CSS grid layout in dashboard.tsx"
  ├── Backend employee (Codex)     → "Update /api/users to return pagination metadata"
  └── Synthesizes both results for you

jaw dispatch --agent "Backend" --task "Run read-only verification" --watch
jaw dispatch --virtual "security" --task "Review this branch for auth and secret leaks" --watch

PABCD: plan, audit, build, check, done

For complex tasks CLI-JAW runs a structured workflow. You approve every transition; read-only workers verify the plan and the result.

Phase	What happens
P — Plan	Boss writes a diff-level plan and stops for your review
A — Audit	A read-only worker checks the plan is feasible
B — Build	Boss implements; a read-only worker verifies
C — Check	Type-check, docs update, consistency check
D — Done	Summary of all changes, back to idle

State survives restarts. Start with jaw orchestrate or /pabcd, resume with /continue, and keep long objectives alive with /goal. See PABCD.

Memory, skills and MCP

• Three memory layers — recent session history, structured notes flushed from conversations, and a searchable soul/task snapshot: jaw memory search "how did we set up the API auth?"
• 200+ skills — office documents (PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, HWP), browser and desktop automation, media, GitHub, Notion and dev guides: jaw skill install <name>
• One MCP config for every engine — jaw mcp install @anthropic/context7 syncs Claude, Codex, Kiro, OpenCode, Copilot and Antigravity at once

Browser and desktop automation

Drive Chrome through the DevTools Protocol, click by description with jaw browser vision-click "Login button", control desktop apps through Codex Computer Use on macOS and Windows, and ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Grok web UIs with jaw browser web-ai.

Messaging

Chat with your agent from Telegram (voice messages, forum topics, scheduled heartbeat jobs), Discord and Slack (Socket Mode, threads, file relay, mention watching). Enable several channels at once; the home channel receives proactive sends.

Telegram setup (3 steps)

• Message @BotFather → /newbot → copy the token
• jaw init --telegram-token YOUR_TOKEN or use Web UI settings
• Send any message to your bot. Chat ID is auto-saved on first message

Slack setup (guided wizard)

• jaw slack setup — prints the app manifest, opens the Slack app page, validates both tokens live and writes the settings
• /invite @cli-jaw in each channel the bot should read, then restart jaw serve

Group DMs need the message.mpim event and mpim:history scope. For containers, SLACK_BOT_TOKEN, SLACK_APP_TOKEN, SLACK_TEAM_ID and SLACK_CHANNEL_IDS own their fields at runtime. Details: Slack tools.

Desktop app

The Electron app boots the manager dashboard, ships a bundled Node.js sidecar, and lives in your menu bar. Download it from GitHub Releases:

• macOS (Apple Silicon) — open the DMG and drag CLI-JAW into Applications. Builds are Developer ID signed, notarized and stapled, and update in-app.
• Windows (x64) — run the Setup .exe. It is unsigned, so SmartScreen may ask you to confirm.
• Linux (x64) — make the AppImage executable and run it.

After first launch, accept Install CLI command (or use the tray item Install CLI to Terminal) to get jaw in your terminal without a global npm install.

AI runtimes

No per-token API billing. Route through subscriptions you already pay for.

CLI	Default model	Auth	Cost
Pi	grok-composer-2.5-fast	Settings profile API key, local proxy, or PI_CODING_AGENT_BIN	Local/API endpoints through an isolated profile
Claude	claude-opus-4-8	claude auth login	Claude Pro subscription or higher
Antigravity	AGY-selected	checked by agy at run time	Experimental print-mode runtime
Codex	gpt-5.5	codex login	ChatGPT Pro subscription or higher
Codex App	gpt-5.5	codex login	ChatGPT Pro subscription or higher
Cursor	composer-2.5	cursor-agent login or CURSOR_API_KEY	Cursor subscription
Grok	grok-build	grok login --oauth	Grok subscription
Kiro	registry-selected	kiro	AWS Kiro free tier
OpenCode	opencode-go/kimi-k2.6	opencode	Free models available
Copilot	claude-sonnet-4.6	copilot login	Free tier available

If one engine is rate-limited the next picks up (/fallback). Switch engines live with /cli codex and models with /model gpt-5.5 — from Web, Terminal, Telegram, Discord, or Slack.

CLI

# Core
jaw dashboard                     # launch manager dashboard
jaw serve                         # start an agent server (http://localhost:3457)
jaw chat                          # terminal chat UI
jaw ask "question"                # one prompt, one answer — no TTY needed
jaw doctor                        # installation and runtime diagnostics

# Instances
jaw clone ~/project                           # clone instance to new directory
jaw --home ~/project serve --port 3458        # run a second instance
jaw service install                           # auto-start on boot (macOS launchd / Linux systemd)
jaw --home ~/project service restart --port 3458  # restart only this instance

# Agents and workflow
jaw employee list
jaw dispatch --agent "Backend" --task "..." --watch
jaw orchestrate                   # PABCD workflow
jaw goal status                   # persistent goals

# Skills, MCP, memory, browser
jaw skill list
jaw mcp install <package>
jaw memory search <query>
jaw browser fetch "https://example.com" --json

Each instance created with jaw clone has its own settings, memory, database and MCP config, and the manager dashboard sees them all. Remote and headless hosts: structure/remote-headless.md. Full command reference: CLI docs.

Documentation

Topic	Where
Website and quickstart	lidge-ai.github.io/cli-jaw
Guides, concepts, reference	Developer docs
Architecture	docs/ARCHITECTURE.md · structure/
Slack tools and local API	docs/slack-tools.md
Runtime integration (including retired runtimes)	structure/runtime-integration.md

Development

npm run build          # tsc → dist/
npm run build:frontend # vite → public/dist/
npm run dev            # tsx server.ts (hot-reload)
npm test               # node:test driver (tests/run.mts)
npm run gate:all       # release/docs parity gates
npm run electron:dev   # desktop app with hot reload

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
cli-jaw: command not found	npm install -g cli-jaw again. macOS/Linux/WSL: check ~/.local/bin or npm prefix -g + /bin is in $PATH. From Windows PowerShell, invoke WSL through a login shell: wsl.exe -d Ubuntu -- bash -lc "jaw dashboard".
npm warn allow-scripts ...	npm >= 12 blocks dependency install scripts: npm install -g cli-jaw --allow-scripts=cli-jaw, or persist with npm config set allow-scripts=cli-jaw --location=user. Already installed? jaw init finishes setup.
pnpm/bun blocked build scripts	pnpm 11+: pnpm add -g --allow-build=cli-jaw cli-jaw. bun: bun add -g --trust cli-jaw.
Fresh install verifier fails	Fix the reported PATH or executable-bit issue, then rerun bash "$(npm root -g)/cli-jaw/scripts/verify-fresh-install.sh".
Error: node version	Upgrade to Node.js 22.4+: nvm install 22
NODE_MODULE_VERSION mismatch	npm run ensure:native
EADDRINUSE: port 3457	Another instance is running. Use --port 3458 or stop it first
Telegram / Discord / Slack auth fails	Run jaw doctor, check tokens, restart jaw serve
Employee dispatch hangs	jaw employee list, make sure the employee CLI is authenticated (jaw doctor), retry with jaw dispatch --watch

Contributing

Public code and product docs live here. Private planning and history live only in a separate sibling clone of cli-jaw-internal; request access through an issue. Do not create private records in this checkout, including devlog, _plan, _fin, or .jwc aliases, or include private record paths in public docs/source. Follow local pre-push setup and checks before uploading changes.

• Fork and branch from dev
• npm run build && npm run build:frontend && npm test
• For release-sensitive changes, also run npm run gate:all
• Submit a PR

MIT License · Built by developers who got tired of tab-switching between AI apps.