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 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 < i d > 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 < i d > path/to/page nia sources grep < i d > "pattern" nia sources tree < i d >
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-i d > # Check status nia oracle status < job-i d > # Tracer: live GitHub code search (no indexing needed) nia tracer run "How does Hono handle error middleware?" --repos honojs/hono nia tracer stream < job-i d >
Context Sharing 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 < i d >
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 View API usage summary, plan info, and operation breakdowns.
Global Flags Flag Description --api-key <key>Override API key for a single command --verboseEnable verbose output --no-colorDisable 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@latestConfig 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
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