CLI Reference

The airlock CLI manages your local gate repos, Push Requests, and the background daemon.

Setup Commands

`airlock init`

Initialize Airlock in the current repository. Rewires origin to a local gate repo and renames the original remote to upstream.

airlock init

Creates .airlock/workflows/main.yml with a default workflow if no workflow files exist.

`airlock eject`

Remove Airlock from the current repository. Restores the original origin remote and deletes the gate repo.

airlock eject

`airlock status`

Show the current Airlock status for the repository: whether it's initialized, the gate repo path, and the upstream remote URL.

airlock status

Push Request Commands

`airlock runs`

List recent Push Requests for the current repository.

airlock runs

`airlock show <run-id>`

Show details for a specific Push Request, including status, branch, artifacts, and step results.

airlock show abc123

`airlock cancel <run-id>`

Cancel a running or awaiting Push Request. Stops workflow execution and discards the push.

airlock cancel abc123

Daemon Commands

`airlock daemon start`

Start the Airlock daemon (airlockd) in the background.

airlock daemon start

`airlock daemon stop`

Stop the running daemon.

airlock daemon stop

`airlock daemon restart`

Restart the daemon.

airlock daemon restart

`airlock daemon status`

Check whether the daemon is running.

airlock daemon status

`airlock daemon install`

Install the daemon as a system service (launchd on macOS). This is done automatically by brew install --cask airlock.

airlock daemon install

`airlock daemon uninstall`

Remove the daemon from system services.

airlock daemon uninstall

Exec Commands

Commands used inside workflow steps to interact with the Airlock runtime.

`airlock exec agent "<prompt>"`

Run the configured AI agent with the given prompt. The agent adapter is set in .airlock/config.yml. Output is printed to stdout.

airlock exec agent "Write a PR description for this diff"

Pass --output-schema with a JSON schema to get structured JSON output:

airlock exec agent "Generate a PR title and description" \
  --output-schema '{"type":"object","properties":{"title":{"type":"string"},"body":{"type":"string"}},"required":["title","body"]}'

Flag	Required	Description
`--output-schema`	No	JSON schema that constrains the agent's response to structured JSON

`airlock exec freeze`

Freeze the worktree. Commits pending changes and locks files from further modification. See Freeze.

airlock exec freeze

`airlock exec json <path>`

Read JSON from stdin, extract a field by dot-separated path, and print it. Strings are printed unquoted; other types are printed as JSON.

# Extract a field
echo '{"title": "Hello"}' | airlock exec json title

# Nested field access
echo '{"a": {"b": "deep"}}' | airlock exec json a.b

# Pretty-print the whole object
echo '{"a": 1}' | airlock exec json .

# Add or overwrite fields with --set
echo '{"a": 1}' | airlock exec json . --set b=2 --set c=hello

Argument	Description
`<path>`	Dot-separated field path (e.g., `title`, `a.b.c`) or `.` for the whole object
`--set KEY=VALUE`	Add or overwrite a field. Value is parsed as JSON if valid, otherwise treated as a string. Repeatable.

Artifact Commands

Commands for producing artifacts from workflow steps. See Artifacts.

`airlock artifact content`

Add a content artifact (PR title and description) to the Push Request.

airlock artifact content --title "Add feature X" --body "Description in Markdown"

Flag	Required	Description
`--title`	Yes	Title text
`--body`	No	Body text in Markdown

`airlock artifact comment`

Add an inline review comment to a specific file and line.

airlock artifact comment --file src/auth.ts --line 42 --message "Consider error handling" --severity warning

Flag	Required	Description
`--file`	Yes	File path relative to repo root
`--line`	Yes	Line number
`--message`	Yes	Comment text
`--severity`	No	`info`, `warning`, or `error` (default: `info`)

`airlock artifact patch`

Add a patch artifact from the current worktree diff.

airlock artifact patch --title "Fix formatting" --explanation "Applied prettier rules"

Flag	Required	Description
`--title`	Yes	Short description
`--explanation`	No	Why this change is suggested

Diagnostic Commands

`airlock doctor`

Run diagnostics to check that Airlock is configured correctly: daemon status, gate repo health, remote configuration.

airlock doctor

`airlock nuke`

Remove all Airlock data for the current repository — gate repo, worktrees, and artifacts. Does not modify your repository's code or history.

airlock nuke

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