CLI Overview

Architecture at a glance

The Dreadnode CLI is an interactive shell. You start it once, then drive your workflow with slash commands and short flags. Think of it as a live workspace for conversations, sandboxes, capabilities, skills, and swarms.

Start the CLI

$ dreadnode
Connected to Dreadnode CLI v0.x
dreadnode>

Pick a model and endpoint up front

Use -m to select a model and -e to point the CLI at a custom OpenAI-compatible endpoint.

$ dreadnode -m anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-20250514
$ dreadnode -e http://localhost:11434/v1 -m openai/gpt-4.1-mini

Quick reference (all commands)

Chat & sessions

Command	Arguments	Description
/clear	—	Clear the current conversation history
/compact	[strategy]	Summarize history to keep context lean
/tokens	—	Show token usage for the current session
/export	[path]	Export the current conversation to a file
/save	[name]	Save the current session
/load	[name]	Load a saved session
/sessions	—	List available saved sessions
/delete	<name>	Delete a saved session

Models & configuration

Command	Arguments	Description
/model	[provider/model]	Switch the active model
/config	—	Show or edit CLI configuration
-m	<provider/model>	Select a model when starting the CLI
-e	<endpoint>	Set a custom API endpoint when starting

Server & sandboxes

Command	Arguments	Description
/connect	[url]	Connect to a Dreadnode server
/disconnect	—	Disconnect from the current server
/status	—	Show connection and environment status
/sandbox	[name]	Provision or select a sandbox
/eval	[suite]	Run an evaluation in the active sandbox

Capabilities

Command	Arguments	Description
/capabilities	—	List available capabilities
/caps	—	Shortcut for listing capabilities
load	<capability>	Load a capability bundle
reload	—	Reload the currently active capability
/cap-tools	—	Show tools exposed by the active capability

Skills

Command	Arguments	Description
/skills	—	List installed skills
reload	—	Reload the skill registry

Swarms

Command	Arguments	Description
/swarm	<config>	Start a swarm from a YAML config
/swarm list	—	List running swarms
/swarm stop	<swarm-id>	Stop a running swarm
/swarm status	<swarm-id>	Check swarm status
/swarm send	<swarm-id> <message>	Send a message to a swarm

Pre-1.0 note

The CLI is stable, but the project is still pre-1.0. Expect small UX refinements while the command surface stays backwards compatible.