Quick Start

Quick Start

Get up and running with clido in about five minutes.

1. Install

Build and install from source:

git clone https://github.com/clido-ai/clido-cli.git
cd clido-cli
cargo install --path crates/clido-cli

Verify:

clido --version
# clido 0.1.0

See the Installation guide for prerequisites and platform notes.

2. Run clido init

The first time you run clido (or at any time), run clido init to configure your provider and API key interactively:

clido init

Welcome to clido!

? Select a provider:
  > Anthropic (Claude)
    OpenRouter
    Local (Ollama)

? Enter your ANTHROPIC_API_KEY:
  sk-ant-...

? Default model: (claude-sonnet-4-5)

✓ Config written to ~/.config/clido/config.toml

::: tip Existing users If you already have a config file, clido init will ask before overwriting it. You can also use clido config set to change individual values. :::

3. Run your first prompt

Navigate to a project directory and give clido a task:

cd ~/projects/my-rust-app
clido "list all Rust source files in this directory and show the total line count"

clido will:

1. Identify it needs to find .rs files
2. Call the Glob tool to find them
3. Call Bash to count lines
4. Return a summary

[Turn 1] Searching for Rust files...
[Turn 2] Counting lines...

Found 23 Rust source files totalling 4,812 lines.

The largest files are:
- src/main.rs (412 lines)
- src/parser.rs (387 lines)
- src/codegen.rs (341 lines)

  Cost: $0.0008  Turns: 2  Time: 3.1s

4. Open the interactive TUI

Run clido with no arguments (from a TTY) to open the interactive TUI:

clido

╭─ clido ──────────────────────────── claude-3-5-sonnet ─╮
│                                                         │
│  No session active. Type a message to begin.            │
│                                                         │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
[ No session ]  $0.00  0 tok                         q quit
> _

Type your message and press Enter to send. The agent will respond in the chat pane above the input field.

Useful TUI shortcuts:

Key	Action
Enter	Send message
Ctrl+C	Cancel running agent / quit
Ctrl+J	Insert newline in input
/sessions	Open session picker
/help	Show all slash commands
q	Quit (when agent is idle)

See the TUI guide for the full reference.

5. Verify your setup with clido doctor

clido doctor

✓ Binary: clido 0.1.0
✓ API key: ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is set
✓ Config: ~/.config/clido/config.toml
✓ Default profile: default → anthropic / claude-sonnet-4-5
✓ Session dir: ~/.local/share/clido/sessions
✓ Bash: /bin/bash
✓ All checks passed.

If anything is red, follow the hint printed next to the failing check.

What’s next?

• Running Prompts — non-TUI usage, flags, output formats
• Sessions — resume and manage past conversations
• Configuration — providers, profiles, and all config options
• TUI Guide — slash commands, key bindings, layout
• Workflows — declarative multi-step pipelines