YAACLI CLI

TUI reference implementation for ya-agent-sdk.

Usage

Run with uvx:

uvx --from 'yaacli[rs]' yaacli

Install with uv:

uv tool install 'yaacli[rs]'
yaacli

[rs] installs the native Rust filesystem search binding. The equivalent extra-dependency form is:

uv tool install yaacli --with ya-ripgrep-core

ya-ripgrep-core is a library dependency, so --with is the matching uv form; --with-executables-from applies to companion packages that also expose CLI executables.

Update with uv:

uv tool upgrade yaacli

Install with pip:

pip install 'yaacli[rs]'
yaacli

Run as a module:

python -m yaacli

Headless and Saved Sessions

Run one prompt without the TUI:

yaacli -p "Fix the failing tests"
yaacli -p "Continue" --session <session-id> --profile <profile-id>
yaacli -p "Run an isolated worker task" --worker

Headless stdout is an NDJSON event stream. Human-readable diagnostics, fatal details, and resume hints are written to stderr so scripts can parse every stdout line as JSON. A successful headless run always saves its durable session turn, independent of session.auto_save_history; a failed or cancelled run emits its terminal event but does not save a recovery snapshot. --worker requires --prompt and disables synchronous delegate subagents for that run. --profile applies only to the current invocation; selecting a profile through /model persists it for future launches.

Inspect or delete durable sessions without starting the TUI:

yaacli sessions list
yaacli sessions show <session-id>
yaacli sessions delete <session-id>

Session IDs may be supplied by unique prefix. The configured session directory and retention controls live under [session] in config.toml; see spec/05-session-persistence.md.

TUI Interaction

The output viewport has priority over auxiliary UI. The task pane is hidden when empty, uses one summary row by default, and expands with F2. The model selector is an overlay and does not permanently consume output rows.

Enter submits while idle and sends guidance to the active run while an agent is running.
Ordinary text submitted during an active agent run is steering. The status bar shows how many steering messages are still waiting for a model request, without exposing their content. Registered slash commands and !shell remain local control syntax: safe busy commands execute and idle-only commands are rejected without clearing the draft. Other slash-prefixed text, including absolute paths such as /home/user/file, remains ordinary user input.
/cancel or Ctrl+C requests cancellation of cancellable foreground work. Once the TUI enters SAVING, persistence is allowed to finish and cannot be cancelled; Ctrl+C does not exit while the save is in progress.
/clear clears only the visible transcript; /new starts a fresh conversation and session, terminating and discarding background subagent and shell work owned by the previous session while keeping the runtime environment reusable.
Background results never modify or clear the compose area. When the foreground is idle, a deliverable async subagent or monitored-shell notification automatically starts a main-agent turn with a small provenance-aware system reminder; the notification is delivered through the message bus. During an active agent run, /integrate can deliver queued notifications to its next model request; otherwise, unread notifications automatically wake the main agent after that run finishes.
/agents shows running and recently completed background subagents; /process shows active background shell processes.
/attachments and /remove-image inspect or edit images queued for the next turn.
/tool <call-id> shows the complete retained result for a tool call.
/session <id> restores a saved session. The CLI equivalent is yaacli --session <id>.
Use /help for the complete built-in and configured command list. Slash commands and available skills complete while typing.
Prefix an idle prompt with one or more available skill names to request them explicitly: /lark-cli /agent-builder Build an agent that replies in Lark. Only the leading consecutive /skill-name tokens are selected. If the first token is also a built-in or configured command, command dispatch takes precedence.
The interactive TUI enables ask_user_question by default. When the agent needs clarification, YAACLI renders one to four structured questions and accepts an option number, comma-separated numbers for multi-select questions, or free text.
Long status text wraps to the available terminal width. Foreground elapsed time uses compact forms such as 42s, 3m 05s, and 1h 05m 09s.

Built-in Skills

YAACLI ships with building-agents from the repository canonical source skills/agent-builder/.

The YA Claw deployment skill lives in skills/ya-claw-deploy/ and is published as YA_CLAW_DEPLOY_SKILL.zip during release.

The repository sync script keeps bundled skill files under packages/yaacli/yaacli/skills/ aligned.

YAACLI refreshes and resolves /skill-name against the effective SDK skill catalog at submission time, including built-in, global, shared, and project skills after normal priority rules. The visible transcript and prompt history retain the original input; the model receives a catalog-grounded explicit-selection marker plus the remaining task. A slash prefix that matches neither a registered command nor an available skill is submitted as ordinary user input.

MCP Tool Exposure

MCP tools are exposed directly to the model by default. Configure the behavior globally in ~/.yaacli/tools.toml or per project in .yaacli/tools.toml:

[tools]
mcp_mode = "direct" # "direct" (default) or "proxy"

Direct mode registers each configured MCP server as a native toolset and exposes namespaced <server>_<tool> names. Proxy mode exposes the fixed mcp_search_tool and mcp_call_tool pair instead, which can improve prompt-cache stability when many MCP tools are configured. Servers marked "required": false remain optional in both modes.

Structured User Input

The interactive TUI opts into the SDK's deferred ask_user_question tool. Disable it globally in ~/.yaacli/tools.toml or for one project in .yaacli/tools.toml:

[tools]
enable_user_input = false

The field defaults to true. Headless mode does not expose this tool because it cannot collect interactive answers. The SDK also leaves it disabled unless a host explicitly registers it and implements deferred continuation. Project tools.toml replaces the global tool policy as a whole; if a project file exists, set enable_user_input = false in that project file as well rather than relying on the global value.

Development

This package lives in the ya-mono workspace.

git clone git@github.com:YOUR_NAME/ya-mono.git
cd ya-mono
uv sync --all-packages
cp packages/yaacli/.env.example packages/yaacli/.env

YAACLI loads .env from packages/yaacli/.env and the current working directory without replacing variables already present in the process. The package file is loaded first and therefore wins duplicate keys; the working-directory file supplies only keys that remain unset. Provider API keys can live in that .env file or in ~/.yaacli/config.toml under [env]. SDK and tool variables such as YA_AGENT_* and search API keys can also live in that same .env file because YAACLI loads it into the process environment at startup. Use packages/ya-agent-sdk/.env.example as the reference list for SDK and tool variables.

The TUI detects the terminal's light or dark background at startup. For recognized local terminals such as VS Code's integrated terminal, it performs a short OSC 11 query; active queries are skipped over SSH to avoid delayed terminal responses. Detection then falls back to COLORFGBG, followed by the dark theme. Override detection in ~/.yaacli/config.toml when needed:

[display]
code_theme = "auto" # auto, dark, or light

The equivalent environment override is YAACLI_CODE_THEME=auto.

Terminal Bells

YAACLI emits a terminal bell by default after a successful interactive agent turn and whenever a turn pauses for HITL user input. Either notification can be disabled independently:

[notifications]
bell_on_turn_complete = false
bell_on_user_action_required = false

A run's elapsed timer is paused for the entire HITL wait and resumes after all requested user actions have been answered. The bell is emitted by the terminal, so it passes through SSH and is handled by the local terminal client. In VS Code Remote, configure the local VS Code User settings (not Remote or workspace settings) to show the visual bell and always play its terminal-bell accessibility signal:

{
  "terminal.integrated.enableVisualBell": true,
  "terminal.integrated.bellDuration": 1000,
  "accessibility.signals.terminalBell": {
    "sound": "on",
    "announcement": "off"
  }
}

Use "sound": "on" for unconditional playback; "auto" lets VS Code decide whether to play the accessibility signal. announcement controls screen-reader output and can remain "auto" when needed. VS Code plays its own accessibility sound through the local audio output; this is not an operating-system desktop notification.

To verify terminal support independently of YAACLI, run printf '\a' in the same integrated terminal. It should show VS Code's visual-bell indicator. Remote YAACLI processes cannot directly invoke the client machine's operating-system notification API.

Codex OAuth credentials can be created once and reused from YAACLI:

uvx ya-oauth login codex

Then set model = "oauth@codex:gpt-5.5" in a YAACLI model profile.

Model profiles are configured in ~/.yaacli/config.toml and selected with /model inside the TUI:

[general]
model = "anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-5"
model_settings = "anthropic_adaptive_high"
model_cfg = "claude_200k"
instructions = """
Prefer careful analysis and concise answers.
"""

[model_profiles.fast]
label = "Fast"
model = "openai-responses:gpt-5.6-luna"
model_settings = "openai_responses_luna"
model_cfg = "gpt5_270k"
instructions = """
Optimize for speed. Avoid broad exploration unless necessary.
"""

[model_profiles.pro]
label = "GPT-5.6 Pro"
model = "openai-responses:gpt-5.6"
model_settings = "openai_responses_pro"
model_cfg = "gpt5_270k"

[model_profiles.sol]
label = "GPT-5.6 Sol"
model = "openai-responses:gpt-5.6-sol"
model_settings = "openai_responses_max"
model_cfg = "gpt5_270k"

[model_profiles.codex_oauth]
label = "Codex OAuth"
model = "oauth@codex:gpt-5.5"
model_settings = "openai_responses_high"
model_cfg = "gpt5_350k"

instructions is an optional static model-instruction segment for the active main-agent profile. YAACLI evaluates it for every model request, alongside the built-in prompt (or general.system_prompt_file), project guidance, and user rules. Switching profiles with /model replaces the active profile instructions for later requests in the same session, including restored or compacted histories.

[general] is the startup fallback profile. The last selected profile is remembered in ~/.yaacli/state.json and restored on the next launch when that profile still exists.

Shell command review is configured in ~/.yaacli/config.toml under security.shell_review:

[security.shell_review]
enabled = true
model = "gateway@openai-responses:gpt-5.4-mini"
model_settings = "openai_responses_low"
on_needs_approval = "defer"
risk_threshold = "high"

When enabled, model is required. model_settings accepts SDK preset names or an inline TOML table. risk_threshold defaults to high and controls when the configured action triggers.

Run CLI tests from the workspace root:

make test-cli

Clipboard Image Paste

Plain terminal paste always inserts text into the input box. Use Ctrl+V or /paste-image to attach an image from the system clipboard. During an active agent run the image remains queued for the next turn and is never converted into steering text. Generated attachment chips are removed before registered commands, explicit skills, ! control syntax, or ordinary prompts are classified, so a visible chip cannot hide a command. If the user deleted the chip, its binary is removed before dispatch. On macOS terminal apps over SSH, map Command+Shift+V to send Ctrl+V if you want a native-feeling shortcut.

YAACLI reads clipboard images through Pillow first on macOS and Windows. macOS also reads Finder-copied image files through Cocoa pasteboard APIs via pyobjc-framework-Cocoa. Linux image paste still relies on wl-paste on Wayland or xclip on X11.

License

BSD 3-Clause License. See the repository license.

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