CLI-Anything: Making ALL Software Agent-Native

Today's Software Serves Humans👨‍💻. Tomorrow's Users will be Agents🤖.
CLI-Anything: Bridging the Gap Between AI Agents and the World's Software

🌐 CLI-Hub: Explore all community-built CLIs and install with one command at the CLI-Hub. Want to add your own? Open a PR — the hub updates instantly.

🎬 See Demos: Watch AI agents use generated CLIs to produce real artifacts — diagrams, gameplay, subtitles, and more.

One Command Line: Make any software agent-ready for OpenClaw, nanobot, Cursor, Claude Code, etc.  中文文档 | 日本語ドキュメント

📰 News

Thanks to all invaluable efforts from the community! More updates continuously on the way everyday..

• 2026-03-30 🏗️ CLI-Anything v0.2.0 — HARNESS.md progressive disclosure redesign. Detailed guides (MCP backend, filter translation, timecode, session locking, PyPI publishing, SKILL.md generation) extracted into guides/ for on-demand loading. Phases 1–7 now contiguous. Key Principles and Rules merged into a single authoritative section. Added Guides Reference routing table. Renamed "Critical Lessons Learned" to "Architecture Patterns & Pitfalls."

• 2026-03-29 📐 Blender skill docs updated — enforce absolute render paths and correct prerequisites.

• 2026-03-28 🌐 CLIBrowser added to CLI-Hub registry for agent-accessible browser automation.

• 2026-03-27 📚 Zotero SKILL.md enhanced with agent-facing constraints; REPL config and executable resolution fixes.

• 2026-03-26 📖 Zotero CLI harness landed for Zotero desktop (library management, collections, citations). Draw.io custom ID bugfix (#132) and registry.json syntax fix.

• 2026-03-25 🎮 RenderDoc CLI merged for GPU frame capture analysis (PSO compute, REPL capture cache). FreeCAD updated for v1.1 (new datum system, tapping, simulation). Blender EEVEE engine name corrected. Zoom token permissions hardened.

• 2026-03-24 🏭 FreeCAD CLI added with 258 commands across 17 groups. iTerm2 and Teltonika RMS harnesses added to registry. CLI-Hub frontend and README install URLs updated.

• 2026-03-23 🤖 Launched CLI-Hub meta-skill — agents can now discover and install CLIs autonomously via cli-hub-meta-skill/SKILL.md. Krita CLI harness merged for digital painting. DOMShell MCP parameter mismatches and connection model fixed.

🤔 Why CLI?

CLI is the universal interface for both humans and AI agents:

• Structured & Composable - Text commands match LLM format and chain for complex workflows

• Lightweight & Universal - Minimal overhead, works across all systems without dependencies

• Self-Describing - --help flags provide automatic documentation agents can discover

• Proven Success - Claude Code runs thousands of real workflows through CLI daily

• Agent-First Design - Structured JSON output eliminates parsing complexity

• Deterministic & Reliable - Consistent results enable predictable agent behavior

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+
• Target software installed (e.g., GIMP, Blender, LibreOffice, or your own application)
• A supported AI coding agent: Claude Code | OpenClaw | OpenCode | Codex | Qodercli | GitHub Copilot CLI | More Platforms

Pick Your Platform

# Add the CLI-Anything marketplace
/plugin marketplace add HKUDS/CLI-Anything

# Install the cli-anything plugin from the marketplace
/plugin install cli-anything

# /cli-anything:cli-anything <software-path-or-repo>
# Generate a complete CLI for GIMP (all 7 phases)
/cli-anything:cli-anything ./gimp

# Note: If your Claude Code is under 2.x, use "/cli-anything" instead.

# Broad refinement — agent analyzes gaps across all capabilities
/cli-anything:refine ./gimp

# Focused refinement — target a specific functionality area
/cli-anything:refine ./gimp "I want more CLIs on image batch processing and filters"

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/HKUDS/CLI-Anything.git

# Copy plugin to Claude Code plugins directory
cp -r CLI-Anything/cli-anything-plugin ~/.claude/plugins/cli-anything

# Reload plugins
/reload-plugins

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/HKUDS/CLI-Anything.git

# Global install (available in all projects)
cp CLI-Anything/opencode-commands/*.md ~/.config/opencode/commands/
cp CLI-Anything/cli-anything-plugin/HARNESS.md ~/.config/opencode/commands/

# Or project-level install
cp CLI-Anything/opencode-commands/*.md .opencode/commands/
cp CLI-Anything/cli-anything-plugin/HARNESS.md .opencode/commands/

# Generate a complete CLI for GIMP (all 7 phases)
/cli-anything ./gimp

# Build from a GitHub repo
/cli-anything https://github.com/blender/blender

# Broad refinement — agent analyzes gaps across all capabilities
/cli-anything-refine ./gimp

# Focused refinement — target a specific functionality area
/cli-anything-refine ./gimp "batch processing and filters"

/cli-anything:cli-anything ./gimp
/cli-anything:refine ./gimp "batch processing and filters"

git clone https://github.com/HKUDS/CLI-Anything.git
bash CLI-Anything/qoder-plugin/setup-qodercli.sh

/cli-anything:cli-anything ./gimp
/cli-anything:refine ./gimp "batch processing and filters"
/cli-anything:validate ./gimp

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/HKUDS/CLI-Anything.git

# Install to the global skills folder
mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/skills/cli-anything
cp CLI-Anything/openclaw-skill/SKILL.md ~/.openclaw/skills/cli-anything/SKILL.md

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/HKUDS/CLI-Anything.git

# Install the skill
bash CLI-Anything/codex-skill/scripts/install.sh

.\CLI-Anything\codex-skill\scripts\install.ps1

Use CLI-Anything to build a harness for ./gimp
Use CLI-Anything to refine ./shotcut for picture-in-picture workflows
Use CLI-Anything to validate ./libreoffice

git clone https://github.com/HKUDS/CLI-Anything.git
cd CLI-Anything
copilot plugin install ./cli-anything-plugin

/cli-anything:cli-anything ./gimp
/cli-anything:refine ./gimp "batch processing and filters"
/cli-anything:validate ./gimp

Use the Generated CLI

Regardless of which platform you used to build it, the generated CLI works the same way:

# Install to PATH
cd gimp/agent-harness && pip install -e .

# Use from anywhere
cli-anything-gimp --help
cli-anything-gimp project new --width 1920 --height 1080 -o poster.json
cli-anything-gimp --json layer add -n "Background" --type solid --color "#1a1a2e"

# Enter interactive REPL
cli-anything-gimp

Each installed CLI ships with a SKILL.md inside the Python package (cli_anything/<software>/skills/SKILL.md). The REPL banner automatically displays the absolute path to this file so AI agents know exactly where to read the skill definition. No extra configuration needed — pip install makes the skill discoverable.

🤖 Empower Your Agents with CLI-Hub

CLI-Hub lets agents autonomously discover and install the CLIs they need — zero human intervention required.

We published a meta-skill that lets any AI agent freely explore the full catalog of community CLIs and pick the right one for the task.

Install in one command:

# OpenClaw
openclaw skills install cli-anything-hub

# nanobot
nanobot skills install cli-anything-hub

Then just prompt your agent:

Find appropriate CLI software in CLI-Hub and complete the task: <your task here>

The agent will browse the catalog, install whichever CLI fits the task, and use it — all autonomously.

How it works under the hood:

1. The meta-skill points to the live catalog at https://hkuds.github.io/CLI-Anything/SKILL.txt
2. The agent reads 20+ CLIs organized by category with one-line pip install commands
3. The agent installs whichever CLI fits the task, then reads that CLI's own SKILL.md for detailed usage

The catalog auto-updates whenever registry.json changes — new community CLIs show up automatically.

For Claude Code users: Copy cli-hub-meta-skill/SKILL.md into your project or skills directory for the same automatic CLI discovery.

💡 CLI-Anything's Vision: Building Agent-Native Software

• 🌐 Universal Access - Every software becomes instantly agent-controllable through structured CLI.

• 🔗 Seamless Integration - Agents control any application without APIs, GUI, rebuilding or complex wrappers.

• 🚀 Future-Ready Ecosystem - Transform human-designed software into agent-native tools with one command.

🔧 When to Use CLI-Anything

CLI-Anything's Key Features

The Agent-Software Gap

AI agents are great at reasoning but terrible at using real professional software. Current solutions are fragile UI automation, limited APIs, or dumbed-down reimplementations that miss 90% of functionality.

CLI-Anything's Solution: Transform any professional software into agent-native tools without losing capabilities.

🎯 What Can You Do with CLI-Anything?

✨ ⚙️ How CLI-Anything Works

🤖 SKILL.md Generation

Each generated CLI includes a SKILL.md file inside the Python package at cli_anything/<software>/skills/SKILL.md. This self-contained skill definition enables AI agents to discover and use the CLI through Claude Code's skill system or other agent frameworks.

What SKILL.md provides:

• YAML frontmatter with name and description for agent skill discovery
• Command groups with all available subcommands documented
• Usage examples for common workflows
• Agent-specific guidance for JSON output, error handling, and programmatic use

SKILL.md files are auto-generated during Phase 6.5 of the pipeline using skill_generator.py, which extracts metadata directly from the CLI's Click decorators, setup.py, and README. Because the file lives inside the package, it is installed alongside the CLI via pip install and auto-detected by the REPL banner — agents can read the absolute path displayed at startup.

🎬 Real-World Demos

AI agents using generated CLIs to produce complete, useful artifacts — no GUI needed.

Draw.io — HTTPS Handshake Diagram

Harness: cli-anything-drawio | Time: ~4 min | Artifact: .drawio + .png

An agent creates a full HTTPS connection lifecycle diagram from scratch — TCP three-way handshake, TLS negotiation, encrypted data exchange, and TCP four-way termination — entirely through CLI commands.

Contributed by @zhangxilong-43

Slay the Spire II — Game Automation

Harness: cli-anything-slay-the-spire-ii | Artifact: Automated gameplay session

An agent plays through a Slay the Spire II run using the CLI harness — reading game state, selecting cards, choosing paths, and making strategic decisions in real-time.

Contributed by @TianyuFan0504

VideoCaptioner — Auto-Generated Subtitles

Harness: cli-anything-videocaptioner | Artifact: Captioned video frames

An agent uses the VideoCaptioner CLI to automatically generate and overlay styled subtitles onto video content, with bilingual text rendering and customizable formatting.

Sub A	Sub B

Contributed by @WEIFENG2333

More CLI demos coming soon.

🎬 Demonstrations

🎯 General-Purpose

CLI-Anything works on any software with a codebase — no domain restrictions or architectural limitations.

🏭 Professional-Grade Testing

Tested across 16 diverse, complex applications spanning creative, productivity, communication, diagramming, AI image generation, AI content generation, network ad blocking, and local LLM inference domains previously inaccessible to AI agents.

🎨 Diverse Domain Coverage

From creative workflows (image editing, 3D modeling, vector graphics) to production tools (audio, office, live streaming, video editing).

✅ Full CLI Generation

Each application received complete, production-ready CLI interfaces — not demos, but comprehensive tool access preserving full capabilities.

100% pass rate across all 2,005 tests — 1,453 unit tests + 533 end-to-end tests + 19 Node.js tests.

📊 Test Results

Each CLI harness undergoes rigorous multi-layered testing to ensure production reliability:

================================ Test Summary ================================
gimp          107 passed  ✅   (64 unit + 43 e2e)
blender       208 passed  ✅   (150 unit + 58 e2e)
inkscape      202 passed  ✅   (148 unit + 54 e2e)
audacity      161 passed  ✅   (107 unit + 54 e2e)
libreoffice   158 passed  ✅   (89 unit + 69 e2e)
mubu           96 passed  ✅   (85 unit + 11 e2e)
obs-studio    153 passed  ✅   (116 unit + 37 e2e)
kdenlive      155 passed  ✅   (111 unit + 44 e2e)
shotcut       154 passed  ✅   (110 unit + 44 e2e)
zoom           22 passed  ✅   (22 unit + 0 e2e)
drawio        138 passed  ✅   (116 unit + 22 e2e)
mermaid        10 passed  ✅   (5 unit + 5 e2e)
anygen         50 passed  ✅   (40 unit + 10 e2e)
notebooklm     21 passed  ✅   (21 unit + 0 e2e)
comfyui        70 passed  ✅   (60 unit + 10 e2e)
adguardhome    36 passed  ✅   (24 unit + 12 e2e)
ollama         98 passed  ✅   (87 unit + 11 e2e)
sketch         19 passed  ✅   (19 jest, Node.js)
renderdoc      59 passed  ✅   (45 unit + 14 e2e)
cloudcompare   88 passed  ✅   (49 unit + 39 e2e)
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
TOTAL        2,005 passed  ✅   100% pass rate

🏗️ CLI-Anything's Architecture

🎯 Core Design Principles

1. Authentic Software Integration — The CLI generates valid project files (ODF, MLT XML, SVG) and delegates to real applications for rendering. We build structured interfaces TO software, not replacements.

2. Flexible Interaction Models — Every CLI operates in dual modes: stateful REPL for interactive agent sessions + subcommand interface for scripting/pipelines. Run bare command → enter REPL mode.

3. Consistent User Experience — All generated CLIs share unified REPL interface (repl_skin.py) with branded banners, styled prompts, command history, progress indicators, and standardized formatting.

4. Agent-Native Design — Built-in --json flag on every command delivers structured data for machine consumption, while human-readable tables serve interactive use. Agents discover capabilities via standard --help and which commands.

5. Zero Compromise Dependencies — Real software is a hard requirement — no fallbacks, no graceful degradation. Tests fail (not skip) when backends are missing, ensuring authentic functionality.

📂 Project Structure

cli-anything/
├── 📄 README.md                          # You are here
├── 📁 assets/                            # Images and media
│   ├── icon.png                          # Project icon
│   └── teaser.png                        # Teaser figure
│
├── 🔌 cli-anything-plugin/               # The Claude Code plugin
│   ├── HARNESS.md                        # Methodology SOP (source of truth)
│   ├── README.md                         # Plugin documentation
│   ├── QUICKSTART.md                     # 5-minute getting started
│   ├── PUBLISHING.md                     # Distribution guide
│   ├── repl_skin.py                      # Unified REPL interface
│   ├── commands/                         # Plugin command definitions
│   │   ├── cli-anything.md               # Main build command
│   │   ├── refine.md                     # Expand existing harness coverage
│   │   ├── test.md                       # Test runner
│   │   └── validate.md                   # Standards validation
│   └── scripts/
│       └── setup-cli-anything.sh         # Setup script
│
├── 🤖 codex-skill/                      # Codex skill entry point
├── 🎨 gimp/agent-harness/               # GIMP CLI (107 tests)
├── 🧊 blender/agent-harness/            # Blender CLI (208 tests)
├── ✏️ inkscape/agent-harness/            # Inkscape CLI (202 tests)
├── 🎵 audacity/agent-harness/           # Audacity CLI (161 tests)
├── 🌐 browser/agent-harness/            # Browser CLI (DOMShell MCP, new)
├── 📄 libreoffice/agent-harness/        # LibreOffice CLI (158 tests)
├── 📚 zotero/agent-harness/             # Zotero CLI (new, write import support)
├── 📝 mubu/agent-harness/               # Mubu CLI (96 tests)
├── 📹 obs-studio/agent-harness/         # OBS Studio CLI (153 tests)
├── 🎞️ kdenlive/agent-harness/           # Kdenlive CLI (155 tests)
├── 🎬 shotcut/agent-harness/            # Shotcut CLI (154 tests)
├── 📞 zoom/agent-harness/               # Zoom CLI (22 tests)
├── 🎵 musescore/agent-harness/          # MuseScore CLI (56 tests)
├── 📐 drawio/agent-harness/             # Draw.io CLI (138 tests)
├── 🧜 mermaid/agent-harness/            # Mermaid Live Editor CLI (10 tests)
├── ✨ anygen/agent-harness/             # AnyGen CLI (50 tests)
├── 🖼️ comfyui/agent-harness/            # ComfyUI CLI (70 tests)
├── 🧠 notebooklm/agent-harness/         # NotebookLM CLI (experimental, 21 tests)
├── 🛡️ adguardhome/agent-harness/       # AdGuard Home CLI (36 tests)
├── 🦙 ollama/agent-harness/             # Ollama CLI (98 tests)
├── 🎨 sketch/agent-harness/             # Sketch CLI (19 tests, Node.js)
├── 🔬 renderdoc/agent-harness/          # RenderDoc CLI (59 tests)
└── 🎬 videocaptioner/agent-harness/     # VideoCaptioner CLI (26 tests)
└── ☁️ cloudcompare/agent-harness/       # CloudCompare CLI (88 tests)

Each agent-harness/ contains an installable Python package under cli_anything.<software>/ with Click CLI, core modules, utils (including repl_skin.py and backend wrapper), and comprehensive tests.

🎯 Plugin Commands

Examples

# Build a complete CLI for GIMP from local source
/cli-anything /home/user/gimp

# Build from a GitHub repo
/cli-anything https://github.com/blender/blender

# Refine an existing harness — broad gap analysis
/cli-anything:refine /home/user/gimp

# Refine with a specific focus area
/cli-anything:refine /home/user/shotcut "vid-in-vid and picture-in-picture compositing"

# Run tests and update TEST.md
/cli-anything:test /home/user/inkscape

# Validate against HARNESS.md standards
/cli-anything:validate /home/user/audacity

🎮 Demo: Using a Generated CLI

Here's what an agent can do with cli-anything-libreoffice:

# Create a new Writer document
$ cli-anything-libreoffice document new -o report.json --type writer
✓ Created Writer document: report.json

# Add content
$ cli-anything-libreoffice --project report.json writer add-heading -t "Q1 Report" --level 1
✓ Added heading: "Q1 Report"

$ cli-anything-libreoffice --project report.json writer add-table --rows 4 --cols 3
✓ Added 4×3 table

# Export to real PDF via LibreOffice headless
$ cli-anything-libreoffice --project report.json export render output.pdf -p pdf --overwrite
✓ Exported: output.pdf (42,831 bytes) via libreoffice-headless

# JSON mode for agent consumption
$ cli-anything-libreoffice --json document info --project report.json
{
  "name": "Q1 Report",
  "type": "writer",
  "pages": 1,
  "elements": 2,
  "modified": true
}

REPL Mode

$ cli-anything-blender
╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗
║       cli-anything-blender v1.0.0       ║
║     Blender CLI for AI Agents           ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════╝

blender> scene new --name ProductShot
✓ Created scene: ProductShot

blender[ProductShot]> object add-mesh --type cube --location 0 0 1
✓ Added mesh: Cube at (0, 0, 1)

blender[ProductShot]*> render execute --output render.png --engine CYCLES
✓ Rendered: render.png (1920×1080, 2.3 MB) via blender --background

blender[ProductShot]> exit
Goodbye! 👋

📖 The Standard Playbook: HARNESS.md

HARNESS.md is our definitive SOP for making any software agent-accessible via automated CLI generation.

It encodes proven patterns and methodologies refined through automated generation processes.

The playbook distills key insights from successfully building all 16 diverse, production-ready harnesses.

Critical Lessons

See the full methodology: cli-anything-plugin/HARNESS.md

📦 Installation & Usage

For Plugin Users (Claude Code)

# Add marketplace & install (recommended)
/plugin marketplace add HKUDS/CLI-Anything
/plugin install cli-anything

# Build a CLI for any software with a codebase
/cli-anything <software-name>

For Generated CLIs

# Install any generated CLI
cd <software>/agent-harness
pip install -e .

# Verify
which cli-anything-<software>

# Use
cli-anything-<software> --help
cli-anything-<software>                    # enters REPL
cli-anything-<software> --json <command>   # JSON output for agents

Running Tests

# Run tests for a specific CLI
cd <software>/agent-harness
python3 -m pytest cli_anything/<software>/tests/ -v

# Force-installed mode (recommended for validation)
CLI_ANYTHING_FORCE_INSTALLED=1 python3 -m pytest cli_anything/<software>/tests/ -v -s

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! CLI-Anything is designed to be extensible:

• New software targets — Use the plugin to generate a CLI for any software with a codebase, then submit your harness via cli-anything-plugin/PUBLISHING.md.
• Methodology improvements — PRs to HARNESS.md that encode new lessons learned
• Plugin enhancements — New commands, phase improvements, better validation
• Test coverage — More E2E scenarios, edge cases, workflow tests

Limitations

• Requires strong foundation models — CLI-Anything relies on frontier-class models (e.g., Claude Opus 4.6, Claude Sonnet 4.6, GPT-5.4) for reliable harness generation. Weaker or smaller models may produce incomplete or incorrect CLIs that require significant manual correction.
• Relies on available source code — The 7-phase pipeline analyzes and generates from source code. When the target software only provides compiled binaries that require decompilation, harness quality and coverage will degrade substantially.
• May require iterative refinement — A single /cli-anything run may not fully cover all capabilities. Running /refine one or more times is often needed to push the CLI's performance and coverage to production quality.

Roadmap

• Support for more application categories (CAD, DAW, IDE, EDA, scientific tools)
• Benchmark suite for agent task completion rates
• Community-contributed CLI harnesses for internal/custom software
• Integration with additional agent frameworks beyond Claude Code
• Support packaging APIs for closed-source software and web services into CLIs
• Produce SKILL.md alongside the CLI for agent skill discovery and orchestration

📖 Documentation

Each generated harness also includes:

• <SOFTWARE>.md — Architecture SOP specific to that application
• tests/TEST.md — Test plan and results documentation

⭐ Star History

If CLI-Anything helps make your software Agent-native, give us a star! ⭐

📄 License

MIT License — free to use, modify, and distribute.

CLI-Anything — Make any software with a codebase Agent-native.

_{A methodology for the age of AI agents | 16 professional software demos | 1,839 passing tests}

Thanks for visiting ✨ CLI-Anything!