CLI

The Nia CLI is a standalone command-line tool that gives terminal-based agents and developers direct access to the full Nia platform — indexing, search, research, and context sharing — without an MCP server or SDK.

Built for agents. Every command supports structured JSON output, async execution with status polling, and non-interactive operation. Agents can compose commands into multi-step pipelines without human intervention.

Installation

bunx nia-wizard@latest

The wizard handles authentication, configuration, and CLI setup. Once complete, the nia command is available globally.

Alternative installation methods

npx nia-wizard@latest        # npm
pnpx nia-wizard@latest       # pnpm
yarn dlx nia-wizard@latest   # yarn

Authentication

# Interactive login
nia auth login

# Non-interactive (CI/agents)
nia auth login --api-key "nk_your_api_key"

# Check auth status
nia auth status

You can also set NIA_API_KEY as an environment variable or pass --api-key to any command.

Command Reference

Index

Index repositories, documentation, papers, datasets, and local folders.

# GitHub repositories
nia repos index vercel/ai
nia repos index vercel/ai --branch canary

# Documentation sites
nia sources index https://docs.anthropic.com

# Research papers (arXiv)
nia papers index 2312.00752

# HuggingFace datasets
nia datasets index dair-ai/emotion

# Local folders
nia local add ~/dev/my-project
nia local watch

Check indexing status:

nia repos list
nia repos status <id>
nia sources list --status indexing

Search

Unified semantic + BM25 hybrid search across all indexed sources.

# Search with AI-generated response
nia search query "How does auth middleware work?" --repos vercel/ai

# Universal search (vector + BM25, no LLM)
nia search universal "streaming response" --include-repos

# Web search
nia search web "OpenTelemetry collector changes" --category github

# Deep research (Pro)
nia search deep "Compare RAG evaluation frameworks"

Read, Grep, Explore

Code-level access to any indexed source.

# Read a file
nia repos read vercel-ai packages/ai/core/generate-text/index.ts

# Regex search
nia repos grep vercel-ai "generateText.*stream" --lines-after 5

# Browse file tree
nia repos tree vercel-ai

# Same for documentation sources
nia sources read <id> path/to/page
nia sources grep <id> "pattern"
nia sources tree <id>

Research

Autonomous AI research with Oracle and Tracer.

# Oracle: deep research across indexed sources
nia oracle job "How does TurboPuffer handle vector quantization?" --repos turbopuffer/turbopuffer

# Stream real-time progress
nia oracle stream <job-id>

# Check status
nia oracle status <job-id>

# Tracer: live GitHub code search (no indexing needed)
nia tracer run "How does Hono handle error middleware?" --repos honojs/hono
nia tracer stream <job-id>

Save and retrieve context across agent sessions.

# Save context
nia contexts save "Auth refactor plan" \
  --summary "Migrating from JWT to session tokens" \
  --content "$(cat plan.md)" \
  --memory-type procedural

# Search contexts
nia contexts semantic "auth migration approach"

# Retrieve specific context
nia contexts get <id>

Memory types: scratchpad (temporary), episodic (session), fact (permanent), procedural (workflow).

Packages

Search public package registries without indexing.

# Regex search in package source
nia packages grep npm react "useState" --context-after 3

# Semantic + keyword hybrid search
nia packages hybrid npm react "state management hook"

Supported registries: npm, py_pi, crates_io, golang_proxy, ruby_gems.

GitHub (Live Access)

Read and search any public GitHub repository without indexing.

nia github tree vercel/ai
nia github read vercel/ai packages/ai/core/generate-text/index.ts
nia github search vercel/ai "streamText"
nia github glob vercel/ai "**/*.test.ts"

Usage

nia usage

View API usage summary, plan info, and operation breakdowns.

Global Flags

Flag	Description
`--api-key <key>`	Override API key for a single command
`--verbose`	Enable verbose output
`--no-color`	Disable colored output

CLI vs MCP vs Skill

Aspect	CLI	MCP Server	Agent Skill
Interface	Shell commands	Tool protocol	HTTP API calls
Best for	Terminal agents, pipelines, scripts	IDE-native agents	Lightweight setups
Setup	`bunx nia-wizard@latest`	Config file per IDE	Skill file + API key
Async support	Built-in (job IDs + streaming)	Handled by MCP	Manual polling
Background process	None	Optional (local server)	None

GitHub

View CLI source code

Get API Key

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Getting Started

Capabilities

Source Types

Explore

Examples & Guides

Enterprise

Privacy

Installation

Authentication

Command Reference

Index

Search

Read, Grep, Explore

Research

Packages

GitHub (Live Access)

Usage

Global Flags

CLI vs MCP vs Skill

Links

GitHub

Get API Key

​Installation

​Authentication

​Command Reference

​Index

​Search

​Read, Grep, Explore

​Research

​Context Sharing

​Packages

​GitHub (Live Access)

​Usage

​Global Flags

​CLI vs MCP vs Skill

​Links

GitHub

Get API Key

Installation

Authentication

Command Reference

Index

Search

Read, Grep, Explore

Research

Context Sharing

Packages

GitHub (Live Access)

Usage

Global Flags

CLI vs MCP vs Skill

Links