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FAQ

Every answer here was checked against the real CLI. Where a number could go stale, the command that measures it is given instead — run it rather than quoting a number.

Does elanous run with no API keys at all?​

Yes. elanous doctor exits 0 and names everything that is locked, in the form <capability> — unlock with <KEY>. Several resources also list a free fallback that works without a key.

To try it on a truly empty setup:

mkdir -p /tmp/empty-home /tmp/empty-cache
env -i PATH="$PATH" HOME=/tmp/empty-home ELANOUS_KEY_CACHE_DIR=/tmp/empty-cache \
  elanous doctor

Point ELANOUS_KEY_CACHE_DIR at an empty directory as well as emptying HOME. If you only empty HOME, the credential cache survives and you will see resolved (cache) lines, which means it did not really run with zero keys. Do not delete your real cache to test this; other work on the same machine uses it.

What happens when my Codex (ChatGPT) quota runs out?​

Automatic account rotation is on by default: elanous moves to the next Codex account that still has quota. Only if no account is usable does it fall back along the fallback chain. Falling back to Grok requires all three at once: no usable Codex account, grok in the chain, and Grok credentials present.

Do not assume the default; check your own instance:

elanous config get llm.fallbackChain
elanous usage          # remaining quota per account

See providers and Codex subscription.

Where do I send work to the harness?​

elanous harness say "add tests for this file"   # one line from the terminal
elanous harness ask docs/goals/MY-ASK.md        # if you already wrote a goal document

Inside the terminal UI, use /harness. To list every entrance, run elanous self entrances.

How big is the CLI?​

Dozens of top-level commands and several hundred subcommands. Rather than trust a number here, run elanous --help or see commands.

Is the terminal UI the main interface?​

No. The three-pane TUI was one stage in elanous's history. The core today is the harness, PTY control (reading and typing into live terminals), and the first principle of observation → self-awareness → self-healing. The TUI keeps running as one surface alongside the CLI, the NEXUS/PWA dashboard, MCP and chat channels. See how elanous works.

What needs a paid service, and what breaks without it?​

Much of elanous's view of the world depends on external services. catalog/resources.yaml records, for each resource, what still works without it in a free_fallback field.

Two caveats:

  • Many credentialed resources still have an empty free_fallback, meaning "not measured", not "nothing breaks".
  • The catalog only counts API keys. Dependencies that are installed binaries or browsers (the crawl skill, browser automation, Chrome/CDP) are not listed yet.

Treat only capabilities with a written free fallback as dependable without payment. elanous doctor shows what is unlocked on your machine.

How many steps from install to a first change?​

With a ChatGPT subscription and GitHub already signed in, three commands: elanous doctor, elanous login openai-codex, then elanous harness say "<what you want>" from your project. See install and quickstart.