copilotkit-cli

CopilotKit CLI

npx copilotkit@latest <command>

--help on any command prints its flags. The commands below are the ones worth knowing before you start reading someone's project by hand.

verify — do this before debugging

First decide whether the app uses hosted Intelligence. verify checks for it by default, and an open-source app fails those checks every time.

• No Intelligence: nothing constructs CopilotKitIntelligence where the runtime is

built, and there is no .copilotkit/project.json. Run the open-source check, with an agent id the runtime registers:

  npx copilotkit@latest verify --expect-runtime oss --round-trip --agent <id> --json

--round-trip --agent <id> is required here. Without it the round trip is not attempted and the command cannot pass.

• Otherwise: run the default check.

  npx copilotkit@latest verify --json

Do not run login or project select only to make verify pass. Those commands set up hosted Intelligence. They do not fix an open-source app, and verify still fails on it afterward, because the runtime never consumes the credential.

One command replaces the manual survey. It settles up to eleven things: a hosted project is selected; the project API key is present, loadable by the app, and authenticates; the runtime responds, declares an agent, actually consumes the credential, and serves the thread routes; the frontend serves its own assets; the runtime accepts the browser's origin; and the installed CopilotKit packages match the version the runtime reports. It also reports the runtime version, the agent framework in use, whether transcription is wired, the realtime gateway wiring, and the license state.

Eleven is the ceiling, not a promise. The last three are omitted when there was nothing to check them against — no frontend origin was found, or no installed packages were. Count checks[] rather than assuming a fixed set. With --expect-runtime oss the hosted-project and credential checks do not apply at all, so that run is a smaller set.

Crucially it names which URL it probed and where that URL came from — the project's runtimeUrl, an environment variable, the app's own dev configuration, or an assumed default. A survey done by hand cannot tell you that, and the provenance changes the verdict: nothing answering at a URL the project named is a FAIL, while nothing answering at an assumed default is UNKNOWN, because an app on a port the command never learned is not a wiring failure.

Useful flags:

• --frontend-url <origin you actually open> — adds the browser-facing checks, including a

real CORS preflight when that origin differs from the runtime's

• --round-trip — also runs the agent and reads its answer back. Costs a model call, so it

is opt-in

• --expect-runtime oss — for a self-hosted runtime with no Intelligence. It exits zero

only when /info declares the named agent, reports no Intelligence entitlement, and --round-trip --agent <id> passes

• --agent <id> — which declared agent to run, when several are registered
• --runtime-url <url> — probe this endpoint instead of the one read from the project
• --header '<name>: <value>' — repeatable. Needed when the project's identifyUser reads

a session the CLI does not carry

• --timeout <seconds> — how long to wait for an answer, default 90

Read checks[] and fix in the order given:

• The checks chain. A later check that could not run says so and names the earlier one to

fix first, so the first failure is the real one.

• UNKNOWN means the check could not run. It never means the check passed, and the command

exits non-zero unless every check passed.

What verify does not cover

Reach past it only once it is clean.

• Tool execution. --round-trip deliberately asks a question that needs no tools and

sends no context, so a passing round trip says nothing about whether your tools work.

• Event ordering and streaming. It reports pass or fail on a run, not the sequence inside

it. A run that starts and never finishes, or stalls mid-stream, is a job for the Inspector.

• State synchronisation. Snapshot-versus-delta divergence is agent behaviour, not wiring.

Starting a project

npx copilotkit@latest init          # `create` is an alias for it

Prompts for a name and framework, scaffolds a starter, signs you in when needed, and connects the app to a cloud-hosted Intelligence project. The name it asks for names the new directory, so this is the path for a project that does not exist yet. For an app you already have, use onboard start below.

To add CopilotKit to an existing app, either follow the quickstart, or hand the job to your coding agent:

npx copilotkit@latest onboard start

That runs an agent-guided flow over the repository you are already in, with checkpoints and proof steps rather than a scaffold. onboard start --intent <feature> targets one feature on an app that already has CopilotKit.

Signing in and picking a project

npx copilotkit@latest login --json   # agent-readable JSON lines, no browser launch
npx copilotkit@latest login          # interactive: opens a browser
npx copilotkit@latest whoami         # who is signed in, and the active organization
npx copilotkit@latest project select # pick or create a hosted project for this directory
npx copilotkit@latest project list --json

Use login --json when you are driving the CLI. Bare login tries to open a browser, which is not something you can complete.

There is no auth command. It is login.

project select records the choice in .copilotkit/project.json and provisions a project-scoped runtime key into .env:

CPK_INTELLIGENCE_API_KEY=cpk_...

CPK_INTELLIGENCE_API_KEY is the canonical name and the only one the CLI writes. Keep it server-side — it is a runtime key, not a frontend token, so it takes no NEXT_PUBLIC_ or VITE_ prefix. Do not set the platform URLs: they default to the managed hosts, so any value you supply can only replace a correct default with a worse one.

Without a TTY — which is what a coding agent has — use project list --json to see the choices and project select --project <id> or --create <name> to name the answer up front.

Other commands

The CLI collects usage data. DO_NOT_TRACK=1 or COPILOTKIT_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1 opts out.