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The CLI channel is Curia’s simplest channel — a readline-based interface that runs directly in the terminal where Curia is started. Because it requires local access to the server, it carries the highest trust level.

How it works

The CLI channel only activates when Curia runs directly on the host with a terminal attached. The standard Docker deployment (pnpm run setupdocker compose up) does not include the CLI. To use the CLI, stop the container and run Curia on the host instead:
docker compose stop curia
pnpm local
pnpm local starts all services and presents a text prompt. Type a message and press Enter to interact with Curia directly. Responses appear in the same terminal. The CLI adapter publishes inbound.message events on the bus, just like every other channel. Your messages pass through the same dispatch pipeline — trust scoring, rate limiting, injection scanning — before reaching the Coordinator. The only difference is the channel trust level: CLI is always high.

Trust level

PropertyValue
Trust levelHigh
ReasoningLocal access only — no network exposure, no identity spoofing
Sender identityAlways treated as the CEO (contactId: "primary-user")
Because the CLI is local-only, messages from it bypass the trust score thresholds that apply to external channels. You never need to worry about held messages or provisional contact restrictions when using the CLI.

When to use the CLI

  • Development and testing — the fastest way to interact with Curia during development
  • Administrative tasks — checking autonomy score, managing contacts, processing held messages
  • Troubleshooting — direct access with full trust, useful when debugging channel-specific issues
  • Direct host runs — when developing against pnpm local rather than the Docker stack, the CLI is available immediately, before any external channels are configured

Limitations

  • Single session — one conversation at a time, tied to a fixed conversation ID
  • No persistence across restarts — the readline session ends when Curia stops (but working memory persists in Postgres, so context from previous CLI conversations is retained)
  • Local only — requires terminal access to the machine running Curia

How channels work

Channel routing, trust levels, and how messages flow through the dispatch layer.

Deployment

Get Curia running so you can use the CLI.