Commands you will use
elanous --help lists everything; elanous <command> --help shows the options of one command. This page covers the ones a user needs day to day.
Getting set up
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
elanous doctor | Report which credentials resolve and from where, plus a readiness section (provider, gh sign-in, PATH, background service version, Linux TMPDIR) — --json for machines |
elanous doctor --fix / --fix --yes | Show / apply the reversible repairs (the PATH block, key-cache permissions, the Linux TMPDIR block); startup files are backed up first |
elanous setup | Walk through missing setup steps (--non-interactive only reports) |
elanous login openai-codex | Sign in with a ChatGPT subscription |
elanous login status / elanous login logout <provider> | List / forget stored sign-ins |
elanous usage | How much each account has left (subscription and credit are shown separately) |
elanous where | Which instance this process uses, and why |
Getting work done
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
elanous harness say "<sentence>" | Turn one sentence into a change: goal → worktree → tests → review → PR or branch |
elanous harness ask <goal.md> | Same, from a goal document you wrote |
elanous harness plan "<sentence>" | Write the plan (an RFC) without running it |
elanous ask "<question>" | One question, one answer, new session |
elanous chat "<message>" | One message in the current session |
elanous agent "<task>" | One turn with file and shell tools |
elanous repl | Multi-turn session in the shell |
elanous | The terminal UI |
Useful harness say / harness ask options: --dry-run (plan only), --no-auto-merge (leave the PR for you), --target <dir> (work on another directory), --child-llm-provider <id> --child-llm-model <id> (pick the model that writes the code).
Keeping an eye on it
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
elanous logs --since 30m | Logs from every surface; filter with --category, --event, --grep |
elanous harness worktrees | Worktrees the harness made, and whether each is safe to remove |
elanous harness clean | Remove finished harness worktrees (dry run unless --yes; open PRs are always kept) |
elanous ops status | What the autonomous parts are doing right now |
Settings and models
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
elanous config get [path] / elanous config set <path> <value> | Read / change settings (secrets are hidden) |
elanous config path | Which config file is active |
elanous provider | The active model provider, model and sign-in state |
elanous tier | Which model each tier (budget … best) maps to per provider |
The background service
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
elanous nexus run | Start the service (web app, chat bots, remote control) |
elanous nexus status / elanous nexus stop | Check / stop it |
elanous nexus install --launchd (macOS) · --systemd-user (Linux) | Run it at login; API keys are read from the key cache, not written into the service file |
elanous nexus build | Build the web app (from a checkout — see install) |
elanous nexus restart-needed | Say whether the running service needs a restart, only a web-app build, or nothing (exit 0 none · 10 build · 11 restart · 2 unknown) |
elanous self-update [--restart] | Install the current checkout, then restart the service only if it is needed and you passed --restart |