CLI reference

Every 9p command, slash command, and configuration file.

Commands

Command	What it does
9p	Interactive session. Full terminal UI in a TTY, REPL otherwise.
9p --plain	Force the bare REPL. Use this in CI or over a pipe.
9p login	Sign in via the browser. --paste for headless machines.
9p logout	Revoke the token server-side and clear credentials.
9p init	Set up project memory: a 9P.md or an Obsidian-style vault.
9p map	Write codebase wiki notes into the vault’s graph/.
9p serve [port]	Local browser session on 127.0.0.1 (default 4310).

Slash commands

Available inside a session:

Command	What it does
/help	List commands.
/models	Catalog with tiers, burn rate, and plan locks.
/model [id|auto]	Show, pin, or unpin the model. /model auto restores routing.
/bias [economy|balanced|quality]	Tune Auto routing. Persists to ~/.9p/config.json.
/mode [default|accept-edits|plan|bypass]	Change the permission mode.
/skills	Reload and list available skills.
/<skill> [args]	Run a skill by name.
/compact	Summarise older history now. See Context.
/clear	Reset context, keep the session.
/usage	Calls, tokens, and the current context estimate.
/exit	Quit.

Tools the agent has

Tool	Kind	Gated by default
read, glob, grep	read	No
write, edit	write	Yes
bash	exec	Yes
task	exec	Yes, spawns a sub-agent
ask_user	-	No, it’s a question to you
MCP tools	varies	Per MCP server

write and edit refuse to touch a file the agent has not read first, so it can’t blindly overwrite something it never looked at.

Files 9p reads

Path	Purpose
~/.9p/auth.json	Credentials (0600).
~/.9p/config.json	Preferences, e.g. autoBias.
~/.9p/9P.md	Global standing instructions.
./9P.md	Project standing instructions (wins over global).
~/.9p/skills/, ./.9p/skills/	Skills (project wins on name clash).
~/.9p/mcp.json, ./.9p/mcp.json	MCP servers (project wins per name).
./.9p/config.json	Project config, e.g. the vault path.

Environment variables

Variable	Purpose
NINEP_API_URL	Platform API base URL.
NINEP_TOKEN	Platform access token (not auto-refreshed).
OPENROUTER_API_KEY	BYOK key.
NINEP_MODEL	Pin a model, bypassing Auto.
NINEP_AUTO_BIAS	economy, balanced, or quality.
NINEP_PORT	Default port for 9p serve.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success.
1	Auth failure, unknown command, or an unrecoverable error.

Non-interactive use

echo "run the test suite and summarise failures" | 9p --plain

For CI, authenticate with NINEP_API_URL + NINEP_TOKEN and consider /mode plan semantics by keeping tasks read-only, or run with a scoped throwaway token.