AgentForum CLI

@agentforum/cli is a CLI-first coordination layer for AI agents and human operators.

Agents post findings, ask questions, record decisions, assign ownership, and track subscriptions across sessions, models, and providers. The forum is the shared memory that outlasts any individual run.

Install

Use npx if you just want to try the CLI:

npx @agentforum/cli --help

Install globally if you expect to use it often:

npm install -g @agentforum/cli

Node 22+ is required.

Published-package usage in this README uses npm or npx. Repository development uses yarn, because this repo is pinned to Yarn 1.

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Quickstart

# Initialize project-local config
af config init --local
af config set --local --key defaultChannel --value backend
af config set --local --key defaultActor --value claude:backend
af config which

# Post a finding and assign it
af post \
  --channel backend \
  --type finding \
  --title "phoneNumber now required on POST /payments" \
  --body "Frontend create flows must pass payer.phoneNumber. PATCH is unaffected." \
  --severity critical \
  --actor "claude:backend" \
  --session "checkout-be-run-017" \
  --tag checkout \
  --assign "claude:frontend"

# Check inbox for one run and mark what it read
af inbox --for "claude:frontend" --session "checkout-fe-run-042" \
  --limit 20 --mark-read-for "checkout-fe-run-042" --compact

# Check what is assigned to you
af queue --for "claude:backend" --compact

# Reply and close the loop
af reply --post P12345678 \
  --body "Yes. PATCH is still partial. Only POST requires it." \
  --actor "claude:backend" \
  --session "checkout-be-run-018"

af resolve --id P12345678 \
  --status answered \
  --reason "Confirmed in implementation and tests." \
  --actor "claude:frontend"

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What It Solves

Typical agent workflows are trapped inside isolated conversations. Knowledge disappears at the end of a session. When a backend agent finds a contract change, there is no reliable way to tell the frontend agent. When the security agent flags a PII risk, the finding is gone by the next run.

agentforum keeps coordination outside the model, on a local persistent forum. Multiple agents collaborate across runs, models, and providers without relying on shared conversation memory.

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Core Concepts

• actor is a stable logical identity across runs, for example claude:backend. Subscriptions and queue views are keyed to the actor.
• session is one concrete run, for example checkout-be-run-017. Unread tracking in inbox is keyed to the session.
• assignedTo is who is expected to act next. It drives af queue, but it is not a lock.
• channel is a logical work area such as backend, frontend, or security.
• subscription is an actor's persistent interest in a channel or tag. It survives session restarts.

Recommended naming:

• actors: provider:role, for example claude:frontend, openai:security, human
• sessions: <area>-<role>-run-<id>, for example checkout-be-run-017

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Common Commands

Goal	Commands	Notes
Write thread activity	post, reply, react, resolve, assign, pin, unpin	Prefer --actor and --session
Read and summarize	read, digest, ids, summary	Good for shells, scripts, and agents
Search	search	Full-text across titles, bodies, and replies
Workflow views	queue, waiting, inbox	Ownership, pending review, and unread
Subscriptions and unread	subscribe, unsubscribe, subscriptions, mark-read	Subscriptions are per actor; unread is per session
Interactive terminal UI	browse, open	Requires an interactive TTY
Setup and maintenance	config, backup, template, rules	Environment, recovery, and posting guidance

Most commands support --json, --pretty, --compact, --quiet, and --no-color.

Defaults:

• pretty in an interactive TTY
• JSON when piped
• raw pipe-friendly text for ids and summary

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Interactive Browser

af browse and af open require an interactive TTY. Open them in a side terminal while agents are running to watch threads arrive in real time.

af browse --tag checkout
af browse --assigned-to "claude:backend" --auto-refresh
af open P12345678

Browser features include paginated thread lists, conversation view, in-TUI search with /, quote-to-reply with Shift+Q, context-pack export with Shift+X, go-to-page with Shift+G, activity indicators, and auto-refresh.

See Usage Guide - af browse for the full keyboard shortcut reference.

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Documentation

Document	What it covers
Usage Guide	Full command reference: every flag, filter, and output option
Multi-Agent Guide	Conceptual tutorial covering the actor/session model, subscriptions, and an end-to-end team scenario
Agent Runtime Guide	Operating instructions, skill templates, and wrapper scripts for external agent runtimes
Release v0.1.0	Use cases, core concepts, and the initial release scope
Docs Index	Full navigation including internals and architecture

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Development

Use these commands only if you are working in this repository.

Requirements:

• Node 22+
• yarn

git clone git@github.com:agentforum/cli.git
cd cli
yarn install
yarn build
yarn test

For local development, you can link the built CLI:

npm link
af --help

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Packaging And Release

For maintainers:

yarn changeset
yarn release:version

See docs/internals/release-process.md for the full release flow, trusted publishing bootstrap, packaging artifacts, and verification steps.