CLI Command Reference

Complete reference for all user-facing nimi CLI commands. Commands are organized by category.

Runtime Lifecycle

`nimi start`

Start the runtime daemon in the background.

bash

nimi start

The daemon listens on gRPC at 127.0.0.1:46371 by default and continues running after your terminal session ends.

`nimi serve`

Start the runtime in the foreground with logs streaming to stdout.

bash

nimi serve

Useful for debugging. Press Ctrl+C to stop.

`nimi stop`

Stop the running daemon.

bash

nimi stop

`nimi status`

Check whether the daemon process is alive and reachable.

bash

nimi status

Reports process status and gRPC endpoint reachability.

`nimi doctor`

Run a full environment diagnostic.

bash

nimi doctor

Reports:

CLI version
Config file path
gRPC daemon health
Runtime mode
Process status
Local engine status
Provider status
Installed model count

For machine-readable output:

bash

nimi doctor --json

`nimi health`

Perform a targeted health check.

bash

nimi health --source grpc

Checks gRPC endpoint reachability directly.

`nimi version`

Print the installed CLI version.

bash

nimi version

`nimi logs`

View runtime logs.

bash

nimi logs --tail 100

Shows the most recent 100 lines of runtime log output.

Generation

`nimi run`

Generate AI text from a prompt.

Local generation (default):

bash

nimi run "What is Nimi?"

Uses the default local model. If the model is not installed, Nimi offers to pull it.

One-shot cloud provider:

bash

nimi run "What is Nimi?" --provider gemini

Routes the request through the specified cloud provider. If the API key is missing, Nimi prompts for it once and stores it.

Saved default cloud provider:

bash

nimi run "What is Nimi?" --cloud

Uses the provider previously saved with nimi provider set ... --default.

Auto-pull missing model:

bash

nimi run "What is Nimi?" --yes

Automatically pulls a missing local model without prompting.

Model Management

`nimi model list`

List all installed local models.

bash

nimi model list

For machine-readable output:

bash

nimi model list --json

`nimi model pull`

Download a specific model.

bash

nimi model pull --model-ref <ref>@latest

Replace <ref> with the model reference identifier. The @latest tag fetches the most recent version.

Provider Management

`nimi provider list`

List all configured cloud providers and their status.

bash

nimi provider list

For machine-readable output:

bash

nimi provider list --json

`nimi provider set`

Configure a cloud provider and optionally set it as the default.

bash

nimi provider set <provider> --api-key-env <ENV_VAR> --default

<provider> -- the provider name (e.g., gemini, openai, anthropic)
--api-key-env -- the environment variable that holds the API key
--default -- makes this provider the default for --cloud usage

`nimi provider test`

Test connectivity and authentication for a configured provider.

bash

nimi provider test <provider>

Sends a lightweight request to verify the provider is reachable and the API key is valid.

CLI Command Reference ​

Runtime Lifecycle ​

nimi start ​

nimi serve ​

nimi stop ​

nimi status ​

nimi doctor ​

nimi health ​

nimi version ​

nimi logs ​

Generation ​

nimi run ​

Model Management ​

nimi model list ​

nimi model pull ​

Provider Management ​

nimi provider list ​

nimi provider set ​

nimi provider test ​

See Also ​

CLI Command Reference

Runtime Lifecycle

`nimi start`

`nimi serve`

`nimi stop`

`nimi status`

`nimi doctor`

`nimi health`

`nimi version`

`nimi logs`

Generation

`nimi run`

Model Management

`nimi model list`

`nimi model pull`

Provider Management

`nimi provider list`

`nimi provider set`

`nimi provider test`

See Also