Commands and shortcuts#

PacketCode has a small process-level command surface and a larger interactive slash-command surface.

CLI commands#

packetcode                 start the interactive interface
packetcode run             run one non-interactive turn and print the response
packetcode doctor          inspect configuration and runtime readiness
packetcode skills          list, install or remove skills
packetcode acp             run the optional ACP stdio server
packetcode sugar login     authorize with a Sugar service

Use packetcode --help and packetcode <command> --help for the flags supported by the installed version.

Run one turn without the interface#

packetcode run takes the prompt as positional arguments and prints the final response. It uses the same providers, sessions, tools and permission policy as the interactive interface.

packetcode run --permission-mode read-only "summarise this repository"
packetcode run --provider ollama --model qwen2.5-coder:14b "review the current diff"
packetcode run --resume <session-id> --json "continue with the next step"

Flag	Effect
`--provider NAME`	Override the configured provider.
`--model MODEL`	Override the configured model.
`--permission-mode MODE`	`ask`, `accept-edits`, `auto`, `read-only` or `bypass`.
`--resume ID`	Continue a saved session.
`--json`	Print one machine-readable result object instead of plain text.

run does not read the prompt from standard input, and has no --trust or --computer option. Because nobody is present to answer a prompt, an action that needs approval is refused and the command exits 3 — even if the model then produces a normal-looking answer without it. Choose a permission mode that allows the work, or run the task interactively.

Exit code	Meaning
`0`	The turn completed.
`1`	The run failed.
`2`	The command line was wrong, such as a missing prompt or an unknown permission mode.
`3`	An action required approval, which is unavailable here.
`130`	Cancelled with `Ctrl`+`C` or `SIGTERM`.

Plain output on standard output is the final response only; diagnostics and configuration warnings go to standard error. With --json, standard output carries one object with schema_version, ok, session_id, provider, model, output, elapsed_ms, usage, and error when the run failed. The current schema_version is 1.

Interactive commands#

Type /help for the live registry. Common actions include changing the model or provider, viewing tools, managing sessions and jobs, compacting context, inspecting MCP servers, and selecting a permission posture. Skills and command files may add more entries, so the live help is authoritative for the current installation.

Keyboard use#

Submit from the composer with the key shown in its footer.
Use the interface's cancel key to stop a streaming turn before retrying.
Open pickers and approval panels with the displayed shortcuts; terminal and platform bindings can affect key delivery.
When a shortcut conflicts with the terminal emulator, use the equivalent slash command.

Verify#

Run packetcode --help and confirm it lists run, doctor, skills, acp and sugar, then open the interface and compare /help with the features you configured. A command that does not appear belongs to a newer build than the one installed; check packetcode --version first.

For run, packetcode run --permission-mode read-only --json "list the files you can see" should exit 0 and print one JSON object with "ok": true.