Overview

CLI overview

The ast CLI — create, develop, and deploy agents from your terminal

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The Astro AI CLI (ast) is the primary tool for working with agents locally and pushing them to the Astro AI platform. It handles project scaffolding, local development, building containers, and deploying to the registry.

Installation

See Install the CLI for platform-specific installation instructions.

Verify your installation:

$ast --version

Configuration file

Most commands read astroai.yml in the current directory. This file defines your agent’s spec — its name, interface, models, tools, knowledge bases, and other configuration.

Override the file path with the global --file flag:

$ast --file path/to/astroai.yml <command>

Generate a JSON Schema for editor autocompletion:

$ast schema > .ast/schema.json

Global flags

These flags are available on all commands:

FlagShortDescription
--file <path>-fPath to spec file (default: astroai.yml)
--verbose-vVerbose output
--quiet-qMinimal output
--versionPrint the CLI version
--help-hHelp for the current command

Workflow overview

A typical development workflow uses these commands in sequence:

  1. ast create — scaffold a new agent project
  2. ast dev — run the agent locally with hot-reload
  3. ast validate — check astroai.yml for errors
  4. ast push — build and push to the Astro AI platform

Authentication is handled separately with ast login.

Next steps