CLI Reference¶

smelt [MESSAGE]
smelt auth

When a message is provided, it auto-submits on startup. Running with no arguments and no config file launches the interactive setup wizard.

CLI flags always take precedence over config values.

Subcommands¶

Subcommand	Description
`smelt auth`	Manage provider authentication (add providers, Codex or GitHub Copilot login/logout)

Connection¶

Flag	Description
`--config <PATH>`	Path to a custom `init.lua`
`-m, --model <MODEL>`	Model to use. With configured providers, prefer `provider_name/model_name`; with `--api-base`, use the provider-native model name
`--api-base <URL>`	API base URL (overrides config)
`--api-key-env <VAR>`	Env var holding the API key
`--type <TYPE>`	Provider type: `openai-compatible`, `openai`, `codex`, `anthropic-compatible`, `anthropic`, `copilot` (auto-detected from URL when omitted)

Auto-detection:

URL contains	Detected type
anything else	`openai-compatible`
`api.openai.com`	`openai`
`chatgpt.com`	`codex`
`api.kimi.com/coding`	`anthropic-compatible`
`api.anthropic.com`	`anthropic`
`githubcopilot.com`	`copilot`

Behavior¶

Flag	Description
`--mode <MODE>`	Starting mode: `normal`, `plan`, `apply`, `yolo`
`--mode-cycle <MODES>`	Modes for `Shift+Tab` cycling (comma-separated)
`--reasoning-effort <LEVEL>`	Starting reasoning: `off`, `low`, `medium`, `high`, `max`
`--reasoning-cycle <LEVELS>`	Levels for `Ctrl+T` cycling (comma-separated)
`--no-tool-calling`	Disable tools (chat-only)
`--system-prompt <PROMPT>`	Override the system prompt (string or file path)
`--no-system-prompt`	Disable system prompt and AGENTS.md
`--set <KEY=VALUE>`	Override a config setting (repeatable; see Settings for valid keys)

Reasoning effort controls how deeply the model thinks before responding. Supported by Anthropic (thinking), OpenAI (reasoning), openai-compatible, and anthropic-compatible providers that support reasoning_effort. For OpenAI, max maps to xhigh. Models that don't support thinking ignore this setting.

Sampling¶

Flag	Description
`--temperature <TEMP>`	Sampling temperature
`--top-p <VALUE>`	Top-p (nucleus) sampling
`--top-k <VALUE>`	Top-k sampling

Sessions¶

Flag	Description
`-r, --resume [SESSION_ID]`	Resume a session (picker if no ID)

Runtime¶

Flag	Description
`--headless`	No TUI — requires a message argument. See Headless.
`--format <FORMAT>`	Headless output format: `text` (default) or `json` (JSONL events)
`-v, --verbose`	Show tool output in headless mode
`--color <WHEN>`	Color output: `auto` (default), `always`, `never`
`--log-level <LEVEL>`	`debug`, `info`, `warn`, `error` (default: `info`)
`--bench`	Print timing summary on exit