CLI reference

Install

curl -fsSL https://app.withmethod.ai/install.sh | sh
method --version

Or, with Node.js 22 or later: npm install -g https://app.withmethod.ai/downloads/method-ai-hq-sdk-latest.tgz. The package is served by Method, not by the npm registry.

Learn

method authoring              # the guide: rules for a first Method and a field reference
method authoring example ID   # one complete shipped example
method authoring all          # the full manual, offline
method schema                 # a short field reference
method COMMAND --help         # arguments, results, and one example

Your coding agent reads method authoring before it writes or edits a Method.

Commands

Command	Purpose
`browser connect`	Select a private browser connection.
`doctor`	Check Node and the installed local agents without running a Method.
`inspect`	Export saved execution evidence.
`prompt`	Print the Method as plain-text instructions.
`config`	Show or change this computer’s settings.
`new-id`	Make a copied Method file a new Method.
`bind`	Save a named input location or connection.
`state`	Read or explicitly enable shared account state.
`wait`	Reconnect to a local run, or get what a fix did with a correction.
`run-status`	Read worker status without waiting.
`cancel`	Stop a local run process.
`progress`	Report public progress from a running script or relay a child Codex JSON stream.
`authoring`	Read the installed authoring guide. Available offline.
`init`	Create a local YAML draft.
`show`	Read a draft or one field.
`set`	Add or replace one draft field.
`remove`	Remove one draft field.
`step add`	Add a complete operation.
`step update`	Change fields of an existing step.
`step remove`	Remove an operation.
`step move`	Change display order.
`check set`	Set the operation’s independent check.
`check remove`	Remove the operation’s check.
`check`	List the Method’s issues, or edit an operation’s check.
`validate`	Check the definition, its issues, and the local setup without running the work.
`models`	List the hosted models that work with the private options.
`diff`	Compare two documents.
`schema`	Read the format.
`get`	Read an online method; optionally make a local draft for editing.
`explain`	Explain each script step of the saved version in a script card.
`publish`	Mark a version as published, for sharing, schedules, and production runs. For a comparison file: save it as a draft for review.
`judge`	Record the person’s reaction to a run’s result. A wrong one starts a fix on this computer and returns at once.
`learned`	List the rules that the agent learned from corrections, or remove one.
`undo`	Undo Method’s last change to a Method: a fix, or a removed learned rule.
`changes`	List the changes that Method applied to a Method.
`secret`	Give this computer the values of a Method’s declared secrets.
`connect`	Connect an app to the Method in this folder, so the app runs it in production.
`answer`	Answer the question of a run that waits on an ask step (on this computer or a production run), or the question that a fix asked about a correction.
`worker`	Run production runs that an app started with the runs API.
`keys`	Manage the organization’s service keys for production runs.
`status`	Check installation and sign-in, and name the signed-in accounts, without listing Methods or starting login.
`list`	Find your online methods.
`steps`	Read all complete step definitions in a saved method.
`step`	Read one online step. For local edits use step add/update/remove/move.
`login`	Connect this computer to a Method account with browser approval, or add another account.
`logout`	Sign out of the current account on this computer.
`devices`	List authorized computers.
`revoke`	Revoke a computer’s Method access.
`runs`	Read saved run summaries.
`logs`	Read saved run evidence before a repair.
`sync`	Retry upload of records from an existing local run.
`run`	Run a local .method file, or a saved Method by ID or by its name in your workspace. When this computer is signed in, a run of a local file starts at once and saves in the background: the version of the file’s content and the run’s records go to the dashboard through the outbox (~/.cache/method/outbox), and the last line says Saved as version N, or Will save when online; without sign-in the records stay in .method-runs. Steps whose definition and inputs match an earlier accepted run on this computer are reused.
`observe`	Make the effect observations that are due for finished runs.
`test`	Replay recorded cases against this version of a Method. Every case must pass.
`case`	Keep a correction as a recorded case that every later version must pass.
`case new`	Turn a correction into a recorded case.
`case retire`	Retire a case whose rule no longer applies.
`case list`	List the cases of a Method.
`effect`	Use a reviewed observer for an external change.
`effect add`	Declare an effect with a reviewed observer.
`effect list`	List the reviewed observers.

Common commands

method validate task.method                          # issues; exit 1 only on errors
method run task.method --inputs inputs.json          # run; signed in, it saves a version
method publish task.method --reason 'First version'  # publish the current version
method config                                        # this computer's settings
method secret list                                   # declared secrets and where each value is

Exit codes of method run: 0 completed, 1 failed, 2 needs human input, 3 an observer could not confirm an external change (unconfirmed). METHOD_SERVER or --server URL selects another server. An installed CLI checks for a newer release once a day and installs it in the background, with no message; the next command uses it. METHOD_NO_UPDATE=1 turns this off. A resumed run uses the release that started it.

Several accounts on one computer

method login always opens the approval page. The account that approves becomes the current account: a new account is added, and an account that this computer already has gets a new credential. The other accounts stay signed in. To add another account, open the approval link where you are signed in to that account, for example in a private window. You do not switch accounts by hand. A Method or comparison file with an id: line always uses the account that owns it, whichever account is current. A new file with no id: line uses the current account. Its runs, judgments, fixes, publishes and comparisons all use the same account. method status names the current account (person and workspace) and lists the other signed-in accounts. method logout signs out of the current account only, and says which account is current after it.

Guides

Run and resume: run, bind, config.
Secrets: secret.
Publish and versions: publish, get, new-id.
The issue checker: validate, models.
Script cards: explain.
Review, cases, and tests: logs, case, test.
Improve from your judgments: judge, changes.
Production runs: connect, worker, answer, keys.

Start

Method lifecycle

Worked examples

Install

Learn

Commands

Common commands

Several accounts on one computer

Guides

​Install

​Learn

​Commands

​Common commands

​Several accounts on one computer

​Guides

Install

Learn

Commands

Common commands

Several accounts on one computer

Guides