CLI-Anything: Making ALL Software Agent-Native

Today's Software Serves Humans👨‍💻. Tomorrow's Users will be Agents🤖.
CLI-Anything: Bridging the Gap Between AI Agents and the World's Software

🌐 CLI-Hub: pip install cli-anything-hub then cli-hub install <name> — browse, install, and manage all community-built CLIs. Want to add your own? Open a PR — the hub updates instantly.

🎬 See Demos: Watch AI agents use generated CLIs to produce real artifacts — diagrams, gameplay, subtitles, and more.

🙋 [Become a Contributor, or Request a CLI]: Join us! Sign up to build a new CLI harness — once reviewed and merged, you'll gain access as one of our community contributors! Wish CLI-Anything supported a specific software or service? Submit a wishlist request!

One Command Line: Make any software agent-ready for Pi, OpenClaw, nanobot, Cursor, Claude Code, etc. 中文文档 | 日本語ドキュメント

📰 News

Thanks to all invaluable efforts from the community! More updates continuously on the way everyday..

2026-04-13 📓 Obsidian CLI merged (#211) — knowledge management harness via Local REST API, 48 unit + 7 E2E tests. ⛓️ Eth2-Quickstart CLI merged (#195) — Ethereum staking node management harness. 📚 Zotero CLI updated to v0.4.1 (#201) — now a standalone PyPI package with 52 MCP tools + 70 CLI commands.
2026-04-11 🔗 n8n CLI merged (#188) — workflow automation harness. 🔧 Exa CLI fix (#205) — added integration header for usage tracking. CLI-Hub auto-publish CI and PyPI package updates.
2026-04-10 📦 CLI-Hub package manager launched — pip install cli-anything-hub to browse, install, and manage all CLIs. Download tracking via Umami analytics. Hub frontend updated with new install flow and "Empower yourself" toolkit card.
2026-04-09 🧹 Cleanup and docs pass (#200) — fixed Openscreen test subtotals, added Openscreen to Chinese README and project structure.
2026-04-08 🎬 Openscreen CLI merged (#183) — screen recording editor harness with 101 tests. ☁️ CloudAnalyzer CLI merged (#181) — cloud cost analysis harness with 27 commands. 🌊 SeaClip / PM2 / ChromaDB harnesses merged (#129).
2026-04-07 🔄 Dify Workflow CLI merged (#191) — workflow automation wrapper. 🔧 Inkscape auto-save fix (#193, fixes #182). 🛡️ DomShell security hardening (#156) — URL validation and DOM sanitization for browser CLI. 🥧 Pi Coding Agent extension merged (#178).
2026-04-06 🔍 Exa CLI merged (#172) — AI-powered web search and answers harness. 🎮 Godot CLI merged (#140) — game engine harness with full demo-game E2E pipeline. CLI-Hub frontend improvements.
2026-04-03 🧪 WireMock CLI merged (#170) — HTTP mock server harness for API testing. Added CLI demo recordings to documentation.
2026-04-01 ⚔️ Slay the Spire II CLI merged (#148) — game harness for deck-building roguelike. 🎥 VideoCaptioner CLI merged (#166) — AI-powered video captioning harness. IntelWatch added to registry for B2B OSINT.

Earlier news (Mar 23–30)

2026-03-30 🏗️ CLI-Anything v0.2.0 — HARNESS.md progressive disclosure redesign. Detailed guides extracted into guides/ for on-demand loading. Phases 1–7 now contiguous. Key Principles and Rules merged into a single authoritative section.
2026-03-29 📐 Blender skill docs updated — enforce absolute render paths and correct prerequisites.
2026-03-28 🌐 CLIBrowser added to CLI-Hub registry for agent-accessible browser automation.
2026-03-27 📚 Zotero SKILL.md enhanced with agent-facing constraints; REPL config and executable resolution fixes.
2026-03-26 📖 Zotero CLI harness landed for Zotero desktop (library management, collections, citations). Draw.io custom ID bugfix (#132) and registry.json syntax fix.
2026-03-25 🎮 RenderDoc CLI merged for GPU frame capture analysis. FreeCAD updated for v1.1. Blender EEVEE engine name corrected. Zoom token permissions hardened.
2026-03-24 🏭 FreeCAD CLI added with 258 commands across 17 groups. iTerm2 and Teltonika RMS harnesses added to registry.
2026-03-23 🤖 Launched CLI-Hub meta-skill — agents can now discover and install CLIs autonomously. Krita CLI harness merged for digital painting.

Earlier news (Mar 11–22)

2026-03-22 🎵 MuseScore CLI merged with transpose, export, and instrument management.
2026-03-21 🔧 Infrastructure improvements — refined test harnesses and documentation across multiple CLIs. Enhanced Windows compatibility for several backends.
2026-03-20 🌐 Novita AI CLI added for OpenAI-compatible API access. Registry metadata improvements for better hub discovery.
2026-03-19 📦 Package structure refinements across harnesses. Improved SKILL.md generation with better command documentation.
2026-03-18 🧪 Test coverage expansion — additional E2E scenarios and edge case validation across multiple CLIs.
2026-03-17 🌐 Launched the CLI-Hub — a central registry where you can browse, search, and install any CLI with a single pip command.
2026-03-16 🤖 Added SKILL.md generation (Phase 6.5) — every generated CLI now ships with an AI-discoverable skill definition.
2026-03-15 🐾 Support for OpenClaw from the community! Merged Windows cygpath guard for cross-platform support.
2026-03-14 🔒 Fixed a GIMP Script-Fu path injection vulnerability and added Japanese README translation.
2026-03-13 🔌 Qodercli plugin officially merged as a community contribution with dedicated setup scripts.
2026-03-12 📦 Codex skill integration landed, bringing CLI-Anything to yet another AI coding platform.
2026-03-11 📞 Zoom video conferencing harness added as the 11th supported application.

🤔 Why CLI?

CLI is the universal interface for both humans and AI agents:

• Structured & Composable - Text commands match LLM format and chain for complex workflows

• Lightweight & Universal - Minimal overhead, works across all systems without dependencies

• Self-Describing - --help flags provide automatic documentation agents can discover

• Proven Success - Claude Code runs thousands of real workflows through CLI daily

• Agent-First Design - Structured JSON output eliminates parsing complexity

• Deterministic & Reliable - Consistent results enable predictable agent behavior

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

Python 3.10+
Target software installed (e.g., GIMP, Blender, LibreOffice, or your own application)
A supported AI coding agent: Claude Code | Pi | OpenClaw | OpenCode | Codex | Qodercli | GitHub Copilot CLI | More Platforms

Pick Your Platform

⚡ Claude Code

Step 1: Add the Marketplace

CLI-Anything is distributed as a Claude Code plugin marketplace hosted on GitHub.

# Add the CLI-Anything marketplace
/plugin marketplace add HKUDS/CLI-Anything

Step 2: Install the Plugin

# Install the cli-anything plugin from the marketplace
/plugin install cli-anything

That's it. The plugin is now available in your Claude Code session.

Note for Win Users: Claude Code runs shell commands via bash. On Windows, install Git for Windows (includes bash and cygpath) or use WSL; otherwise commands may fail with cygpath: command not found.

Step 3: Build a CLI in One Command

# /cli-anything <software-path-or-repo>
# Generate a complete CLI for GIMP (all 7 phases)
/cli-anything ./gimp

Older Claude Code 2.x releases also accepted /cli-anything:cli-anything; auxiliary commands still use the :subcommand form (e.g. /cli-anything:refine).

This runs the full pipeline:

🔍 Analyze — Scans source code, maps GUI actions to APIs
📐 Design — Architects command groups, state model, output formats
🔨 Implement — Builds Click CLI with REPL, JSON output, undo/redo
📋 Plan Tests — Creates TEST.md with unit + E2E test plans
🧪 Write Tests — Implements comprehensive test suite
📝 Document — Updates TEST.md with results
📦 Publish — Creates setup.py, installs to PATH

Step 4 (Optional): Refine and Improve the CLI

After the initial build, you can iteratively refine the CLI to expand coverage and add missing capabilities:

# Broad refinement — agent analyzes gaps across all capabilities
/cli-anything:refine ./gimp

# Focused refinement — target a specific functionality area
/cli-anything:refine ./gimp "I want more CLIs on image batch processing and filters"

The refine command performs gap analysis between the software's full capabilities and current CLI coverage, then implements new commands, tests, and documentation for the identified gaps. You can run it multiple times to steadily expand coverage — each run is incremental and non-destructive.

Alternative: Manual Installation

If you prefer not to use the marketplace:

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/HKUDS/CLI-Anything.git

# Copy plugin to Claude Code plugins directory
cp -r CLI-Anything/cli-anything-plugin ~/.claude/plugins/cli-anything

# Reload plugins
/reload-plugins

⚡ Pi Coding Agent

Step 1: Install the Extension

The extension lives at .pi-extension/cli-anything/ in this repository. Install it globally so /cli-anything commands are available in all Pi projects:

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/HKUDS/CLI-Anything.git
cd CLI-Anything

# Install globally into Pi's extensions directory
bash .pi-extension/cli-anything/install.sh

To uninstall:

bash .pi-extension/cli-anything/install.sh --uninstall

How it works: install.sh copies the extension files (including HARNESS.md, commands, guides, scripts, and templates from cli-anything-plugin/) into ~/.pi/agent/extensions/cli-anything/, which Pi auto-discovers on startup. Run /reload in Pi or restart Pi to activate.

Step 2: Build a CLI in One Command

Once the extension is loaded, the following commands are available:

# Generate a complete CLI for GIMP (all 7 phases)
/cli-anything ./gimp

# Build from a GitHub repo
/cli-anything https://github.com/blender/blender

Step 3 (Optional): Refine and Improve the CLI

# Broad refinement — agent analyzes gaps across all capabilities
/cli-anything:refine ./gimp

# Focused refinement — target a specific functionality area
/cli-anything:refine ./gimp "batch processing and filters"

Available Commands

Command	Description
`/cli-anything <path-or-repo>`	Build a complete CLI harness
`/cli-anything:refine <path> [focus]`	Refine an existing CLI harness
`/cli-anything:test <path-or-repo>`	Run tests for a CLI harness
`/cli-anything:validate <path-or-repo>`	Validate a CLI harness
`/cli-anything:list [options]`	List all CLI-Anything tools

⚡ OpenCode (Experimental)

Step 1: Install the Commands

Note: Please upgrade to the latest OpenCode. Older versions may use a different commands path.

Copy the CLI-Anything commands and HARNESS.md to your OpenCode commands directory:

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/HKUDS/CLI-Anything.git

# Global install (available in all projects)
cp CLI-Anything/opencode-commands/*.md ~/.config/opencode/commands/
cp CLI-Anything/cli-anything-plugin/HARNESS.md ~/.config/opencode/commands/

# Or project-level install
cp CLI-Anything/opencode-commands/*.md .opencode/commands/
cp CLI-Anything/cli-anything-plugin/HARNESS.md .opencode/commands/

Note: HARNESS.md is the methodology spec that all commands reference. It must be in the same directory as the commands.

This adds 5 slash commands: /cli-anything, /cli-anything-refine, /cli-anything-test, /cli-anything-validate, and /cli-anything-list.

Step 2: Build a CLI in One Command

# Generate a complete CLI for GIMP (all 7 phases)
/cli-anything ./gimp

# Build from a GitHub repo
/cli-anything https://github.com/blender/blender

The command runs as a subtask and follows the same 7-phase methodology as Claude Code.

Step 3 (Optional): Refine and Improve the CLI

# Broad refinement — agent analyzes gaps across all capabilities
/cli-anything-refine ./gimp

# Focused refinement — target a specific functionality area
/cli-anything-refine ./gimp "batch processing and filters"

⚡ Goose (Desktop / CLI) ^Experimental ^Community

Step 1: Install Goose

Install Goose (Desktop or CLI) using the official Goose instructions for your OS.

Step 2: Configure a CLI Provider

Configure Goose to use a CLI provider such as Claude Code, and make sure that CLI is installed and authenticated.

Step 3: Use CLI-Anything in a Goose Session

Once Goose is configured, start a session and use the same CLI-Anything commands described above for Claude Code, for example:

/cli-anything ./gimp
/cli-anything:refine ./gimp "batch processing and filters"

Note: When Goose runs through a CLI provider, it uses that provider's capabilities and command format.

⚡ Qodercli ^Community

Step 1: Register the Plugin

git clone https://github.com/HKUDS/CLI-Anything.git
bash CLI-Anything/qoder-plugin/setup-qodercli.sh

This registers the cli-anything plugin in ~/.qoder.json. Start a new Qodercli session after registration.

Step 2: Use CLI-Anything from Qodercli

/cli-anything ./gimp
/cli-anything:refine ./gimp "batch processing and filters"
/cli-anything:validate ./gimp

⚡ OpenClaw ^Community

Step 1: Install the Skill

CLI-Anything provides a native OpenClaw SKILL.md file. Copy it to your OpenClaw skills directory:

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/HKUDS/CLI-Anything.git

# Install to the global skills folder
mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/skills/cli-anything
cp CLI-Anything/openclaw-skill/SKILL.md ~/.openclaw/skills/cli-anything/SKILL.md

Step 2: Build a CLI

Now you can invoke the skill inside OpenClaw:

@cli-anything build a CLI for ./gimp

The skill follows the same 7-phase methodology as Claude Code and OpenCode.

⚡ Codex ^Experimental ^Community

Step 1: Install the Skill

Run the bundled installer:

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/HKUDS/CLI-Anything.git

# Install the skill
bash CLI-Anything/codex-skill/scripts/install.sh

On Windows PowerShell, use:

.\CLI-Anything\codex-skill\scripts\install.ps1

This installs the skill to $CODEX_HOME/skills/cli-anything (or ~/.codex/skills/cli-anything if CODEX_HOME is unset).

Restart Codex after installation so it is discovered.

Step 2: Use CLI-Anything from Codex

Describe the task in natural language, for example:

Use CLI-Anything to build a harness for ./gimp
Use CLI-Anything to refine ./shotcut for picture-in-picture workflows
Use CLI-Anything to validate ./libreoffice

The Codex skill adapts the same methodology used by the Claude Code plugin and OpenCode commands, while keeping the generated Python harness format unchanged.

⚡ GitHub Copilot CLI ^Community

Step 1: Install the Plugin

git clone https://github.com/HKUDS/CLI-Anything.git
cd CLI-Anything
copilot plugin install ./cli-anything-plugin

This installs the CLI-Anything plugin to GitHub Copilot CLI. The plugin should now be available in your GitHub Copilot CLI session.

Step 2: Use CLI-Anything from GitHub Copilot CLI

/cli-anything ./gimp
/cli-anything:refine ./gimp "batch processing and filters"
/cli-anything:validate ./gimp

🔮 More Platforms (Coming Soon)

CLI-Anything is designed to be platform-agnostic. Support for more AI coding agents is planned:

Codex — available via the bundled skill in codex-skill/
Cursor — coming soon
Windsurf — coming soon
Your favorite tool — contributions welcome! See the opencode-commands/ directory for a reference implementation.

Use the Generated CLI

Regardless of which platform you used to build it, the generated CLI works the same way:

# Install to PATH
cd gimp/agent-harness && pip install -e .

# Use from anywhere
cli-anything-gimp --help
cli-anything-gimp project new --width 1920 --height 1080 -o poster.json
cli-anything-gimp --json layer add -n "Background" --type solid --color "#1a1a2e"

# Enter interactive REPL
cli-anything-gimp

Each installed CLI ships with a SKILL.md inside the Python package (cli_anything/<software>/skills/SKILL.md). The REPL banner automatically displays the absolute path to this file so AI agents know exactly where to read the skill definition. No extra configuration needed — pip install makes the skill discoverable.

🤖 Empower Your Agents with CLI-Hub

CLI-Hub lets agents autonomously discover and install the CLIs they need — zero human intervention required.

We published a meta-skill that lets any AI agent freely explore the full catalog of community CLIs and pick the right one for the task.

Install in one command:

# OpenClaw
openclaw skills install cli-anything-hub

# nanobot
nanobot skills install cli-anything-hub

Then just prompt your agent:

Find appropriate CLI software in CLI-Hub and complete the task: <your task here>

The agent will browse the catalog, install whichever CLI fits the task, and use it — all autonomously.

How it works under the hood:

The meta-skill points to the live catalog at https://reeceyang.sgp1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/SKILL.md
The agent reads 20+ CLIs organized by category with one-line pip install commands
The agent installs whichever CLI fits the task, then reads that CLI's own SKILL.md for detailed usage

The catalog auto-updates whenever registry.json changes — new community CLIs show up automatically.

For Claude Code users: Copy cli-hub-meta-skill/SKILL.md into your project or skills directory for the same automatic CLI discovery.

💡 CLI-Anything's Vision: Building Agent-Native Software

• 🌐 Universal Access - Every software becomes instantly agent-controllable through structured CLI.

• 🔗 Seamless Integration - Agents control any application without APIs, GUI, rebuilding or complex wrappers.

• 🚀 Future-Ready Ecosystem - Transform human-designed software into agent-native tools with one command.

🔧 When to Use CLI-Anything

Category	How to be Agent-native	Notable Examples
📂 GitHub Repositories	Transform any open-source project into agent-controllable tools through automatic CLI generation	VSCodium, WordPress, Calibre, Zotero, Joplin, Logseq, Penpot, Super Productivity
🤖 AI/ML Platforms	Automate model training, inference pipelines, and hyperparameter tuning through structured commands	Stable Diffusion WebUI, ComfyUI, Ollama, InvokeAI, Text-generation-webui, Open WebUI, Fooocus, Kohya_ss, AnythingLLM, SillyTavern
📊 Data & Analytics	Enable programmatic data processing, visualization, and statistical analysis workflows	JupyterLab, Apache Superset, Metabase, Redash, DBeaver, KNIME, Orange, OpenSearch Dashboards, Lightdash
💻 Development Tools	Streamline code editing, building, testing, and deployment processes via command interfaces	Jenkins, Gitea, Hoppscotch, Portainer, pgAdmin, SonarQube, ArgoCD, OpenLens, Insomnia, Beekeeper Studio, iTerm2
🎨 Creative & Media	Control content creation, editing, and rendering workflows programmatically	Blender, GIMP, OBS Studio, Audacity, Krita, Kdenlive, Shotcut, Inkscape, Darktable, LMMS, Ardour
🎮 Game Development	Manage game projects, scenes, exports, and scripting through headless engine interfaces	Godot Engine
🔬 Scientific Computing	Automate research workflows, simulations, and complex calculations	ImageJ, FreeCAD, QGIS, ParaView, Gephi, LibreCAD, Stellarium, KiCad, JASP, Jamovi
🏢 Enterprise & Office	Convert business applications and productivity tools into agent-accessible systems	NextCloud, GitLab, Grafana, Mattermost, LibreOffice, AppFlowy, NocoDB, Odoo (Community), Plane, ERPNext
📞 Communication & Collaboration	Automate meeting scheduling, participant management, recording retrieval, and reporting through structured CLI	Zoom, Jitsi Meet, BigBlueButton, Mattermost
📐 Diagramming & Visualization	Create and manipulate diagrams, flowcharts, architecture diagrams, and visual documentation programmatically	Draw.io (diagrams.net), Mermaid, PlantUML, Excalidraw, yEd
🌐 Network & Infrastructure	Manage network services, DNS, ad-blocking, and infrastructure through structured CLI commands	AdGuardHome
🧪 Testing & Mocking	Control HTTP mock servers, manage test stubs, record and replay API traffic for integration testing	WireMock
🔬 Graphics & GPU Debugging	Analyze GPU frame captures, inspect pipeline state, export shaders, and diff rendering state	RenderDoc
🎬 Video & Subtitles	Transcribe speech, translate subtitles, burn styled captions into video — full captioning pipeline	VideoCaptioner
🔍 AI-Native Search	Neural and deep web search with structured content retrieval through embedding-based APIs	Exa
✨ AI Content Generation	Generate professional deliverables (slides, docs, diagrams, websites, research reports) through AI-powered cloud APIs	AnyGen, Gamma, Beautiful.ai, Tome

CLI-Anything's Key Features

The Agent-Software Gap

AI agents are great at reasoning but terrible at using real professional software. Current solutions are fragile UI automation, limited APIs, or dumbed-down reimplementations that miss 90% of functionality.

CLI-Anything's Solution: Transform any professional software into agent-native tools without losing capabilities.

Current Pain Point	CLI-Anything's Fix
🤖 "AI can't use real tools"	Direct integration with actual software backends (Blender, LibreOffice, FFmpeg) — full professional capabilities, zero compromises
💸 "UI automation breaks constantly"	No screenshots, no clicking, no RPA fragility. Pure command-line reliability with structured interfaces
📊 "Agents need structured data"	Built-in JSON output for seamless agent consumption + human-readable formats for debugging
🔧 "Custom integrations are expensive"	One Claude plugin auto-generates CLIs for ANY codebase through proven 7-phase pipeline
⚡ "Prototype vs Production gap"	1,839+ tests with real software validation. Battle-tested across 16 major applications

🎯 What Can You Do with CLI-Anything?

🛠️ Let Agents Take Your Workflows

Professional or everyday — just throw the codebase at /cli-anything. GIMP, Blender, Shotcut for creative work. LibreOffice, OBS Studio for daily tasks. Don't have the source? Find an open-source alternative and throw that in. You'll instantly get a full CLI your agents can use.

🔗 Unify Scattered APIs into One CLI

Tired of juggling fragmented web service APIs? Feed the docs or SDK manuscripts to /cli-anything and your agents get a powerful, stateful CLI that wraps those individual endpoints into coherent command groups. One tool instead of dozens of raw API calls — stronger capabilities while saving tokens.

🚀 Replace or Supercharge GUI Agents

CLI-Anything can flat-out replace GUI-based agent approaches — no more screenshots, no brittle pixel-clicking. But here's the fun part: once you /cli-anything a GUI software, you can synthesize agent tasks, evaluators, and benchmarks entirely via code and terminal — fully automated, iteratively refinable, massively more efficient.

✨ ⚙️ How CLI-Anything Works

🏗️ Fully Automated 7-Phase Pipeline From codebase analysis to PyPI publishing — the plugin handles architecture design, implementation, test planning, test writing, and documentation completely automatically.	🎯 Authentic Software Integration Direct calls to real applications for actual rendering. LibreOffice generates PDFs, Blender renders 3D scenes, Audacity processes audio via sox. Zero compromises, Zero toy implementations.
🔁 Smart Session Management Persistent project state with undo/redo capabilities, plus unified REPL interface (ReplSkin) that delivers consistent interactive experience across all CLIs.	📦 Zero-Config Installation Simple pip install -e . puts cli-anything- directly on PATH. Agents discover tools via standard which commands. No setup, no wrappers.
🧪 Production-Grade Testing Multi-layered validation: unit tests with synthetic data, end-to-end tests with real files and software, plus CLI subprocess verification of installed commands.	🐍 Clean Package Architecture All CLIs organized under cli_anything.* namespace — conflict-free, pip-installable, with consistent naming: cli-anything-gimp, cli-anything-blender, etc.

🤖 SKILL.md Generation

Each generated CLI includes a SKILL.md file inside the Python package at cli_anything/<software>/skills/SKILL.md. This self-contained skill definition enables AI agents to discover and use the CLI through Claude Code's skill system or other agent frameworks.

What SKILL.md provides:

YAML frontmatter with name and description for agent skill discovery
Command groups with all available subcommands documented
Usage examples for common workflows
Agent-specific guidance for JSON output, error handling, and programmatic use

SKILL.md files are auto-generated during Phase 6.5 of the pipeline using skill_generator.py, which extracts metadata directly from the CLI's Click decorators, setup.py, and README. Because the file lives inside the package, it is installed alongside the CLI via pip install and auto-detected by the REPL banner — agents can read the absolute path displayed at startup.

🎬 Real-World Demos

AI agents using generated CLIs to produce complete, useful artifacts — no GUI needed.

Draw.io — HTTPS Handshake Diagram

Harness: cli-anything-drawio | Time: ~4 min | Artifact: .drawio + .png

An agent creates a full HTTPS connection lifecycle diagram from scratch — TCP three-way handshake, TLS negotiation, encrypted data exchange, and TCP four-way termination — entirely through CLI commands.

Final artifact

Contributed by @zhangxilong-43

Slay the Spire II — Game Automation

Harness: cli-anything-slay-the-spire-ii | Artifact: Automated gameplay session

An agent plays through a Slay the Spire II run using the CLI harness — reading game state, selecting cards, choosing paths, and making strategic decisions in real-time.

Contributed by @TianyuFan0504

VideoCaptioner — Auto-Generated Subtitles

Harness: cli-anything-videocaptioner | Artifact: Captioned video frames

An agent uses the VideoCaptioner CLI to automatically generate and overlay styled subtitles onto video content, with bilingual text rendering and customizable formatting.

Sub A	Sub B

Contributed by @WEIFENG2333

More CLI demos coming soon.

🎬 Demonstrations

🎯 General-Purpose

CLI-Anything works on any software with a codebase — no domain restrictions or architectural limitations.

🏭 Professional-Grade Testing

Tested across 16 diverse, complex applications spanning creative, productivity, communication, diagramming, AI image generation, AI content generation, network ad blocking, and local LLM inference domains previously inaccessible to AI agents.

🎨 Diverse Domain Coverage

From creative workflows (image editing, 3D modeling, vector graphics) to production tools (audio, office, live streaming, video editing).

✅ Full CLI Generation

Each application received complete, production-ready CLI interfaces — not demos, but comprehensive tool access preserving full capabilities.

Software	Domain	CLI Command	Backend	Tests
🎨 GIMP	Image Editing	`cli-anything-gimp`	Pillow + GEGL/Script-Fu	✅ 107
🧊 Blender	3D Modeling & Rendering	`cli-anything-blender`	bpy (Python scripting)	✅ 208
✏️ Inkscape	Vector Graphics	`cli-anything-inkscape`	Direct SVG/XML manipulation	✅ 202
🎵 Audacity	Audio Production	`cli-anything-audacity`	Python wave + sox	✅ 161
🌐 Browser	Browser Automation	`cli-anything-browser`	DOMShell MCP + Accessibility Tree	✅ New
📄 LibreOffice	Office Suite (Writer, Calc, Impress)	`cli-anything-libreoffice`	ODF generation + headless LO	✅ 158
⚡ n8n	Workflow Automation	`cli-anything-n8n`	n8n REST API v1.1.1	✅ 55+ cmds
📚 Zotero	Reference Management	`cli-anything-zotero`	Local SQLite + connector + Local API	✅ New
📝 Mubu	Knowledge Management & Outlining	`cli-anything-mubu`	Local Mubu data + sync logs	✅ 96
📹 OBS Studio	Live Streaming & Recording	`cli-anything-obs-studio`	JSON scene + obs-websocket	✅ 153
🎞️ Kdenlive	Video Editing	`cli-anything-kdenlive`	MLT XML + melt renderer	✅ 155
🎬 Shotcut	Video Editing	`cli-anything-shotcut`	Direct MLT XML + melt	✅ 154
🎬 Openscreen	Screen Recording Editor	`cli-anything-openscreen`	ffmpeg backend	✅ 101
📞 Zoom	Video Conferencing	`cli-anything-zoom`	Zoom REST API (OAuth2)	✅ 22
🎵 MuseScore	Music Notation	`cli-anything-musescore`	mscore CLI (MSCX/MusicXML)	✅ 56
📐 Draw.io	Diagramming	`cli-anything-drawio`	mxGraph XML + draw.io CLI	✅ 138
⛓️ ETH2 QuickStart	DevOps / Ethereum	`cli-anything-eth2-quickstart`	eth2-quickstart shell automation + JSON health checks	✅ 18
🧜 Mermaid Live Editor	Diagramming	`cli-anything-mermaid`	Mermaid state + mermaid.ink renderer	✅ 10
✨ AnyGen	AI Content Generation	`cli-anything-anygen`	AnyGen REST API (anygen.io)	✅ 50
🧠 NotebookLM	AI Research Assistant	`cli-anything-notebooklm`	NotebookLM CLI wrapper (experimental)	✅ 21
🧩 Dify Workflow	Dify DSL Editing	`cli-anything-dify-workflow`	Wrapper around the open-source dify-workflow CLI	✅ 11
🖼️ ComfyUI	AI Image Generation	`cli-anything-comfyui`	ComfyUI REST API	✅ 70
🛡️ AdGuard Home	Network-wide Ad Blocking	`cli-anything-adguardhome`	AdGuard Home REST API	✅ 36
🦙 Ollama	Local LLM Inference	`cli-anything-ollama`	Ollama REST API	✅ 98
🎬 VideoCaptioner	AI Video Captioning	`cli-anything-videocaptioner`	videocaptioner CLI (PyPI)	✅ 26
🎨 Sketch	UI Design	`sketch-cli`	sketch-constructor (Node.js)	✅ 19
🎮 Godot Engine	Game Development	`cli-anything-godot`	Godot 4.x headless subprocess	✅ 24
🔍 Exa	AI-Native Web Search	`cli-anything-exa`	exa-py SDK	✅ 40
☁️ CloudAnalyzer	Point cloud / trajectory QA	`cli-anything-cloudanalyzer`	CloudAnalyzer (Python API)	✅ 14
Total				✅ 2,130

100% pass rate across all 2,130 tests — 1,551 unit tests + 560 end-to-end tests + 19 Node.js tests.

📊 Test Results

Each CLI harness undergoes rigorous multi-layered testing to ensure production reliability:

Layer	What it tests	Example
Unit tests	Every core function in isolation with synthetic data	`test_core.py` — project creation, layer ops, filter params
E2E tests (native)	Project file generation pipeline	Valid ODF ZIP structure, correct MLT XML, SVG well-formedness
E2E tests (true backend)	Real software invocation + output verification	LibreOffice → PDF with `%PDF-` magic bytes, Blender → rendered PNG
CLI subprocess tests	Installed command via `subprocess.run`	`cli-anything-gimp --json project new` → valid JSON output

================================ Test Summary ================================
gimp          107 passed  ✅   (64 unit + 43 e2e)
blender       208 passed  ✅   (150 unit + 58 e2e)
inkscape      202 passed  ✅   (148 unit + 54 e2e)
audacity      161 passed  ✅   (107 unit + 54 e2e)
libreoffice   158 passed  ✅   (89 unit + 69 e2e)
mubu           96 passed  ✅   (85 unit + 11 e2e)
obs-studio    153 passed  ✅   (116 unit + 37 e2e)
kdenlive      155 passed  ✅   (111 unit + 44 e2e)
shotcut       154 passed  ✅   (110 unit + 44 e2e)
zoom           22 passed  ✅   (22 unit + 0 e2e)
drawio        138 passed  ✅   (116 unit + 22 e2e)
eth2-quickstart 18 passed ✅   (18 unit + 3 e2e skipped)
mermaid        10 passed  ✅   (5 unit + 5 e2e)
anygen         50 passed  ✅   (40 unit + 10 e2e)
notebooklm     21 passed  ✅   (21 unit + 0 e2e)
comfyui        70 passed  ✅   (60 unit + 10 e2e)
adguardhome    36 passed  ✅   (24 unit + 12 e2e)
ollama         98 passed  ✅   (87 unit + 11 e2e)
sketch         19 passed  ✅   (19 jest, Node.js)
renderdoc      59 passed  ✅   (45 unit + 14 e2e)
cloudcompare   88 passed  ✅   (49 unit + 39 e2e)
openscreen    101 passed  ✅   (78 unit + 23 e2e)
cloudanalyzer  14 passed  ✅   (7 unit + 7 e2e)
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
TOTAL        2,120 passed  ✅   100% pass rate

🏗️ CLI-Anything's Architecture

🎯 Core Design Principles

Authentic Software Integration — The CLI generates valid project files (ODF, MLT XML, SVG) and delegates to real applications for rendering. We build structured interfaces TO software, not replacements.
Flexible Interaction Models — Every CLI operates in dual modes: stateful REPL for interactive agent sessions + subcommand interface for scripting/pipelines. Run bare command → enter REPL mode.
Consistent User Experience — All generated CLIs share unified REPL interface (repl_skin.py) with branded banners, styled prompts, command history, progress indicators, and standardized formatting.
Agent-Native Design — Built-in --json flag on every command delivers structured data for machine consumption, while human-readable tables serve interactive use. Agents discover capabilities via standard --help and which commands.
Zero Compromise Dependencies — Real software is a hard requirement — no fallbacks, no graceful degradation. Tests fail (not skip) when backends are missing, ensuring authentic functionality.

📂 Project Structure

cli-anything/
├── 📄 README.md                          # You are here
├── 📁 assets/                            # Images and media
│   ├── icon.png                          # Project icon
│   └── teaser.png                        # Teaser figure
│
├── 🔌 cli-anything-plugin/               # The Claude Code plugin
│   ├── HARNESS.md                        # Methodology SOP (source of truth)
│   ├── README.md                         # Plugin documentation
│   ├── QUICKSTART.md                     # 5-minute getting started
│   ├── PUBLISHING.md                     # Distribution guide
│   ├── repl_skin.py                      # Unified REPL interface
│   ├── commands/                         # Plugin command definitions
│   │   ├── cli-anything.md               # Main build command
│   │   ├── refine.md                     # Expand existing harness coverage
│   │   ├── test.md                       # Test runner
│   │   └── validate.md                   # Standards validation
│   └── scripts/
│       └── setup-cli-anything.sh         # Setup script
│
├── 🤖 codex-skill/                      # Codex skill entry point
├── 🎨 gimp/agent-harness/               # GIMP CLI (107 tests)
├── 🧊 blender/agent-harness/            # Blender CLI (208 tests)
├── ✏️ inkscape/agent-harness/            # Inkscape CLI (202 tests)
├── 🎵 audacity/agent-harness/           # Audacity CLI (161 tests)
├── 🌐 browser/agent-harness/            # Browser CLI (DOMShell MCP, new)
├── 📄 libreoffice/agent-harness/        # LibreOffice CLI (158 tests)
├── 📚 zotero/agent-harness/             # Zotero CLI (new, write import support)
├── 📝 mubu/agent-harness/               # Mubu CLI (96 tests)
├── 📹 obs-studio/agent-harness/         # OBS Studio CLI (153 tests)
├── 🎞️ kdenlive/agent-harness/           # Kdenlive CLI (155 tests)
├── 🎬 shotcut/agent-harness/            # Shotcut CLI (154 tests)
├── 📞 zoom/agent-harness/               # Zoom CLI (22 tests)
├── 🎵 musescore/agent-harness/          # MuseScore CLI (56 tests)
├── 📐 drawio/agent-harness/             # Draw.io CLI (138 tests)
├── ⛓️ eth2-quickstart/agent-harness/    # ETH2 QuickStart CLI (18 unit, 3 e2e skipped)
├── 🧜 mermaid/agent-harness/            # Mermaid Live Editor CLI (10 tests)
├── ✨ anygen/agent-harness/             # AnyGen CLI (50 tests)
├── 🖼️ comfyui/agent-harness/            # ComfyUI CLI (70 tests)
├── 🧠 notebooklm/agent-harness/         # NotebookLM CLI (experimental, 21 tests)
├── 🧩 dify-workflow/agent-harness/      # Dify Workflow CLI wrapper (11 tests)
├── 🛡️ adguardhome/agent-harness/       # AdGuard Home CLI (36 tests)
├── 🦙 ollama/agent-harness/             # Ollama CLI (98 tests)
├── 🎮 godot/agent-harness/              # Godot Engine CLI (24 tests)
├── 🎨 sketch/agent-harness/             # Sketch CLI (19 tests, Node.js)
├── 🔬 renderdoc/agent-harness/          # RenderDoc CLI (59 tests)
├── 🎬 videocaptioner/agent-harness/     # VideoCaptioner CLI (26 tests)
├── 🎬 openscreen/agent-harness/         # Openscreen CLI — screen recording editor (101 tests)
├── ☁️ cloudcompare/agent-harness/       # CloudCompare CLI (88 tests)
├── 🔍 exa/agent-harness/               # Exa CLI (40 tests)
└── ⛅ cloudanalyzer/agent-harness/      # CloudAnalyzer CLI (14 tests)

Each agent-harness/ contains an installable Python package under cli_anything.<software>/ with Click CLI, core modules, utils (including repl_skin.py and backend wrapper), and comprehensive tests.

🎯 Plugin Commands

Command	Description
`/cli-anything <software-path-or-repo>`	Build complete CLI harness — all 7 phases
`/cli-anything:refine <software-path> [focus]`	Refine an existing harness — expand coverage with gap analysis
`/cli-anything:test <software-path-or-repo>`	Run tests and update TEST.md with results
`/cli-anything:validate <software-path-or-repo>`	Validate against HARNESS.md standards

Examples

# Build a complete CLI for GIMP from local source
/cli-anything /home/user/gimp

# Build from a GitHub repo
/cli-anything https://github.com/blender/blender

# Refine an existing harness — broad gap analysis
/cli-anything:refine /home/user/gimp

# Refine with a specific focus area
/cli-anything:refine /home/user/shotcut "vid-in-vid and picture-in-picture compositing"

# Run tests and update TEST.md
/cli-anything:test /home/user/inkscape

# Validate against HARNESS.md standards
/cli-anything:validate /home/user/audacity

🎮 Demo: Using a Generated CLI

Here's what an agent can do with cli-anything-libreoffice:

# Create a new Writer document
$ cli-anything-libreoffice document new -o report.json --type writer
✓ Created Writer document: report.json

# Add content
$ cli-anything-libreoffice --project report.json writer add-heading -t "Q1 Report" --level 1
✓ Added heading: "Q1 Report"

$ cli-anything-libreoffice --project report.json writer add-table --rows 4 --cols 3
✓ Added 4×3 table

# Export to real PDF via LibreOffice headless
$ cli-anything-libreoffice --project report.json export render output.pdf -p pdf --overwrite
✓ Exported: output.pdf (42,831 bytes) via libreoffice-headless

# JSON mode for agent consumption
$ cli-anything-libreoffice --json document info --project report.json
{
  "name": "Q1 Report",
  "type": "writer",
  "pages": 1,
  "elements": 2,
  "modified": true
}

REPL Mode

$ cli-anything-blender
╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗
║       cli-anything-blender v1.0.0       ║
║     Blender CLI for AI Agents           ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════╝

blender> scene new --name ProductShot
✓ Created scene: ProductShot

blender[ProductShot]> object add-mesh --type cube --location 0 0 1
✓ Added mesh: Cube at (0, 0, 1)

blender[ProductShot]*> render execute --output render.png --engine CYCLES
✓ Rendered: render.png (1920×1080, 2.3 MB) via blender --background

blender[ProductShot]> exit
Goodbye! 👋

📖 The Standard Playbook: HARNESS.md

HARNESS.md is our definitive SOP for making any software agent-accessible via automated CLI generation.

It encodes proven patterns and methodologies refined through automated generation processes.

The playbook distills key insights from successfully building all 16 diverse, production-ready harnesses.

Critical Lessons

Lesson	Description
Use the real software	The CLI MUST call the actual application for rendering. No Pillow replacements for GIMP, no custom renderers for Blender. Generate valid project files → invoke the real backend.
The Rendering Gap	GUI apps apply effects at render time. If your CLI manipulates project files but uses a naive export tool, effects get silently dropped. Solution: native renderer → filter translation → render script.
Filter Translation	When mapping effects between formats (MLT → ffmpeg), watch for duplicate filter merging, interleaved stream ordering, parameter space differences, and unmappable effects.
Timecode Precision	Non-integer frame rates (29.97fps) cause cumulative rounding. Use `round()` not `int()`, integer arithmetic for display, and ±1 frame tolerance in tests.
Output Verification	Never trust that export worked because it exited 0. Verify: magic bytes, ZIP/OOXML structure, pixel analysis, audio RMS levels, duration checks.

See the full methodology: cli-anything-plugin/HARNESS.md

📦 Installation & Usage

For Plugin Users (Claude Code)

# Add marketplace & install (recommended)
/plugin marketplace add HKUDS/CLI-Anything
/plugin install cli-anything

# Build a CLI for any software with a codebase
/cli-anything <software-name>

For Generated CLIs

# Install any generated CLI
cd <software>/agent-harness
pip install -e .

# Verify
which cli-anything-<software>

# Use
cli-anything-<software> --help
cli-anything-<software>                    # enters REPL
cli-anything-<software> --json <command>   # JSON output for agents

Running Tests

# Run tests for a specific CLI
cd <software>/agent-harness
python3 -m pytest cli_anything/<software>/tests/ -v

# Force-installed mode (recommended for validation)
CLI_ANYTHING_FORCE_INSTALLED=1 python3 -m pytest cli_anything/<software>/tests/ -v -s

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! CLI-Anything is designed to be extensible:

New software targets — Use the plugin to generate a CLI for any software with a codebase, then submit your harness via cli-anything-plugin/PUBLISHING.md.
Methodology improvements — PRs to HARNESS.md that encode new lessons learned
Plugin enhancements — New commands, phase improvements, better validation
Test coverage — More E2E scenarios, edge cases, workflow tests

Limitations

Requires strong foundation models — CLI-Anything relies on frontier-class models (e.g., Claude Opus 4.6, Claude Sonnet 4.6, GPT-5.4) for reliable harness generation. Weaker or smaller models may produce incomplete or incorrect CLIs that require significant manual correction.
Relies on available source code — The 7-phase pipeline analyzes and generates from source code. When the target software only provides compiled binaries that require decompilation, harness quality and coverage will degrade substantially.
May require iterative refinement — A single /cli-anything run may not fully cover all capabilities. Running /refine one or more times is often needed to push the CLI's performance and coverage to production quality.

Roadmap

Support for more application categories (CAD, DAW, IDE, EDA, scientific tools)
Benchmark suite for agent task completion rates
Community-contributed CLI harnesses for internal/custom software
Integration with additional agent frameworks beyond Claude Code
Support packaging APIs for closed-source software and web services into CLIs
Produce SKILL.md alongside the CLI for agent skill discovery and orchestration

📖 Documentation

Document	Description
`cli-anything-plugin/HARNESS.md`	The methodology SOP — single source of truth
`cli-anything-plugin/README.md`	Plugin documentation — commands, options, phases
`cli-anything-plugin/QUICKSTART.md`	5-minute getting started guide
`cli-anything-plugin/PUBLISHING.md`	Distribution and publishing guide

Each generated harness also includes:

<SOFTWARE>.md — Architecture SOP specific to that application
tests/TEST.md — Test plan and results documentation

⭐ Star History

If CLI-Anything helps make your software Agent-native, give us a star! ⭐

📄 License

MIT License — free to use, modify, and distribute.

CLI-Anything — Make any software with a codebase Agent-native.

_{A methodology for the age of AI agents | 16 professional software demos | 1,839 passing tests}

Thanks for visiting ✨ CLI-Anything!

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 424 Commits
.claude-plugin		.claude-plugin
.github		.github
.pi-extension/cli-anything		.pi-extension/cli-anything
adguardhome/agent-harness		adguardhome/agent-harness
anygen/agent-harness		anygen/agent-harness
assets		assets
audacity/agent-harness		audacity/agent-harness
blender/agent-harness		blender/agent-harness
browser/agent-harness		browser/agent-harness
chromadb/agent-harness		chromadb/agent-harness
cli-anything-plugin		cli-anything-plugin
cli-hub-meta-skill		cli-hub-meta-skill
cli-hub		cli-hub
cloudanalyzer/agent-harness		cloudanalyzer/agent-harness
cloudcompare/agent-harness		cloudcompare/agent-harness
codex-skill		codex-skill
comfyui/agent-harness		comfyui/agent-harness
dify-workflow/agent-harness		dify-workflow/agent-harness
docs/hub		docs/hub
drawio/agent-harness		drawio/agent-harness
eth2-quickstart/agent-harness		eth2-quickstart/agent-harness
exa/agent-harness		exa/agent-harness
examples		examples
freecad/agent-harness		freecad/agent-harness
gimp/agent-harness		gimp/agent-harness
godot/agent-harness		godot/agent-harness
inkscape/agent-harness		inkscape/agent-harness
intelwatch/agent-harness		intelwatch/agent-harness
iterm2/agent-harness		iterm2/agent-harness
kdenlive/agent-harness		kdenlive/agent-harness
krita/agent-harness		krita/agent-harness
libreoffice/agent-harness		libreoffice/agent-harness
mermaid/agent-harness		mermaid/agent-harness
mubu/agent-harness		mubu/agent-harness
musescore/agent-harness		musescore/agent-harness
n8n/agent-harness		n8n/agent-harness
notebooklm/agent-harness		notebooklm/agent-harness
novita/agent-harness		novita/agent-harness
obs-studio/agent-harness		obs-studio/agent-harness
obsidian/agent-harness		obsidian/agent-harness
ollama/agent-harness		ollama/agent-harness
openclaw-skill		openclaw-skill
opencode-commands		opencode-commands
openscreen/agent-harness		openscreen/agent-harness
pm2/agent-harness		pm2/agent-harness
qoder-plugin		qoder-plugin
renderdoc/agent-harness		renderdoc/agent-harness
rms/agent-harness		rms/agent-harness
safari/agent-harness		safari/agent-harness
seaclip/agent-harness		seaclip/agent-harness
shotcut/agent-harness		shotcut/agent-harness
sketch/agent-harness		sketch/agent-harness
skill_generation/tests		skill_generation/tests
slay_the_spire_ii		slay_the_spire_ii
videocaptioner/agent-harness		videocaptioner/agent-harness
wiremock/agent-harness		wiremock/agent-harness
zoom/agent-harness		zoom/agent-harness
zotero/agent-harness		zotero/agent-harness
.gitignore		.gitignore
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
README_CN.md		README_CN.md
README_JA.md		README_JA.md
SECURITY.md		SECURITY.md
registry.json		registry.json

Folders and files

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CLI-Anything: Making ALL Software Agent-Native

📰 News

🤔 Why CLI?

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

Pick Your Platform

⚡ Claude Code

⚡ Pi Coding Agent

⚡ OpenCode (Experimental)

⚡ Goose (Desktop / CLI) Experimental Community

⚡ Qodercli Community

⚡ OpenClaw Community

⚡ Codex Experimental Community

⚡ GitHub Copilot CLI Community

🔮 More Platforms (Coming Soon)

Use the Generated CLI

🤖 Empower Your Agents with CLI-Hub

💡 CLI-Anything's Vision: Building Agent-Native Software

🔧 When to Use CLI-Anything

CLI-Anything's Key Features

The Agent-Software Gap

🎯 What Can You Do with CLI-Anything?

🛠️ Let Agents Take Your Workflows

🔗 Unify Scattered APIs into One CLI

🚀 Replace or Supercharge GUI Agents

✨ ⚙️ How CLI-Anything Works

🏗️ Fully Automated 7-Phase Pipeline

🎯 Authentic Software Integration

🔁 Smart Session Management

📦 Zero-Config Installation

🧪 Production-Grade Testing

🐍 Clean Package Architecture

🤖 SKILL.md Generation

🎬 Real-World Demos

Draw.io — HTTPS Handshake Diagram

Slay the Spire II — Game Automation

VideoCaptioner — Auto-Generated Subtitles

🎬 Demonstrations

🎯 General-Purpose

🏭 Professional-Grade Testing

🎨 Diverse Domain Coverage

✅ Full CLI Generation

📊 Test Results

🏗️ CLI-Anything's Architecture

🎯 Core Design Principles

📂 Project Structure

🎯 Plugin Commands

Examples

🎮 Demo: Using a Generated CLI

REPL Mode

📖 The Standard Playbook: HARNESS.md

Critical Lessons

📦 Installation & Usage

For Plugin Users (Claude Code)

For Generated CLIs

Running Tests

🤝 Contributing

Limitations

Roadmap

📖 Documentation

⭐ Star History

📄 License

About

Resources

License

Contributing

Security policy

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Stars

Watchers

Forks

Releases 1

Packages 0

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Contributors

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⚡ Goose (Desktop / CLI) ^Experimental ^Community

⚡ Qodercli ^Community

⚡ OpenClaw ^Community

⚡ Codex ^Experimental ^Community

⚡ GitHub Copilot CLI ^Community

Packages