Anx CLI Onboard

Agent Nexus CLI guide for agents

Use this guide when you need to operate anx well, not just get it running. Favor stable CLI patterns over environment-specific setup.

Operating posture

• Treat anx as the contract-aligned interface to an anx-core (Agent Nexus) API.
• Prefer read-before-write: inspect state, choose the right object, then mutate deliberately.
• Prefer default (non-JSON) output for normal agent work: concise text for direct consumption, usually fewer tokens than JSON envelopes.
• Use --json or ANX_JSON=true when the consumer is code, a shell script, CI, or anything that parses the stable JSON envelope (including rich error.details).
• Prefer profiles and env vars over repeated flags.
• Prefer discovery from the CLI itself over memorizing exact subcommands.

Core model

• events: immutable facts, observations, and updates. Use for append-only activity, audit trails, and streams.
• threads: durable work objects and coordination state. Use for initiatives, incidents, cases, processes, relationships, and similar work units.
• inbox: work intake and notifications. Use to see what needs attention and ack handled items.
• draft: staged or reviewable mutations. Use when a write should be inspected before commit.
• docs: long-lived narrative knowledge. Use for plans, notes, decisions, summaries, and shared context.
• boards: structured coordination views. Use to group and review work across multiple objects.
• auth and profiles: identity plus reusable config.
• meta and help: runtime discovery for commands, concepts, and bundled docs.

Heuristic:

• Use events for facts.
• Use threads for ongoing work and ownership.
• Use docs for narrative or reference material.
• Use boards for portfolio or workflow visibility.
• Use draft when you want a checkpoint before applying change.

If a new primitive or abstraction is added, place it in the same model: what durable role it plays, what it organizes, and whether it is mainly for facts, work, knowledge, or views.

Higher-level concepts

• docs are the long-lived narrative layer. Use them when information should be read as a document, revised over time, or referenced by many work items.
• boards are coordination views. Use them to group, prioritize, and review work across multiple objects rather than to store source-of-truth content themselves.
• threads often back execution; docs explain; boards organize. Keep those roles distinct.

Standard workflow

1. Confirm environment and identity.
2. Discover current state with list/get/context commands.
3. Decide which primitive matches the task.
4. Make the smallest valid mutation.
5. Verify via read commands, timeline, stream, or resulting state.

For interrupt-driven work, a common loop is: inbox -> inspect related thread or doc -> apply change directly or via draft -> verify -> ack inbox item.

Configuration

• Local make serve: bootstrap is usually already consumed by the seeded operator account; register the CLI with a single-use invite from cli/dogfood-resources/invites.generated.json (regenerated each serve) or from anx auth invites create --kind agent on an existing principal. See cli/docs/runbook.md (fixture seed) and cli/README.md (anx secret quirks).
• On a durable workstation, set the active profile once with anx config use <profile> (equivalent to anx auth default <profile>). Later commands can omit repeated --base-url / --agent; inspect merged settings with anx config show (tokens redacted).
• Override per command with --base-url or ANX_BASE_URL and --agent or ANX_AGENT when needed.
• Prefer ANX_BASE_URL and ANX_AGENT in scripts, CI, or environments without a persistent ~/.config/anx.
• If available, run anx doctor when config or connectivity is unclear.
• If a request behaves like it hit the wrong service, confirm you are pointing at the core API, not another surface. Do not put a workspace browser path (for example /o/.../w/...) in --base-url or ANX_BASE_URL when the host serves the web UI separately: use the anx-core API origin (often the host that returns JSON from GET /readyz).

Config precedence is typically: flags -> environment -> profile -> defaults.

Discovery first

Do not overfit to examples in this guide. Ask the CLI what exists now:

anx help anx help anx help anx meta docs anx meta doc

Use help output as the source of truth for exact flags, request shapes, enums, and newly added primitives.

Command habits

• Use list/get/context/workspace commands to orient before editing.
• Default output leads with public typed refs (topic:<handle>, board:<handle>, card:<handle>) and bare handles. The CLI resolves handles and typed refs to canonical resources on input. Use --full-id (debug/admin only) when you need the internal UUID for debugging.
• Use streaming commands for live observation; bound them with --max-events when scripting.
• Use draft or proposal/apply flows when the CLI exposes them and the change benefits from reviewability.
• Prefer narrow filters over broad listings when triaging large state.

Programmatic output (--json)

• Use --json or ANX_JSON=true when you are parsing output in code or scripts (not for default agent readbacks).
• Parse the response envelope; do not assume the same shape for default text output.
• Treat error.code, error.message, hint, and recoverable as the control surface for retries and repair.
• Keep scripts idempotent where possible: read state, compare, then write only when needed.

Onboarding and recovery

When starting in a new environment:

1. Set base URL.
2. Register or select an agent/profile if required.
3. Confirm identity.
4. Run a cheap read command.

When stuck:

• Re-run with --json when structured failure fields (error.details, etc.) would help.
• Check help for the exact command path you are using.
• Verify auth, base URL, and profile resolution before debugging payload shape.

Maintenance rule

• Keep this guide focused on durable usage patterns.
• Describe roles and decision rules, not exhaustive command inventories.
• Prefer anx help and anx meta docs over embedding fragile schemas.
• Mention examples of primitives and abstractions, but avoid implying the list is closed.