CLI Reference

The lynox CLI is the installer + server entrypoint. All interactive features live in the Web UI. All scripted/agent workflows go through the HTTP API (lynox --http-api).

Pre-HN-launch we trimmed the power-user CLI modes (single-task invocation, file-watch, manifest runner, background-task creator, output redirect). They were undocumented in the user-facing surface, had no external callers, and were not exercised by CI. We will revisit them once OSS-launch traffic shape tells us which (if any) are missed.

Entry Modes

Docker Installer (default)

npx @lynox-ai/core

Interactive Docker setup — creates docker-compose.yml, .env, SearXNG config, starts the containers, and opens the browser. Re-run anytime via lynox init or lynox --init.

HTTP API Server

lynox --http-api

Starts the Engine HTTP API on LYNOX_HTTP_PORT (default 3100). This is the production entrypoint used by the bundled Docker image (entrypoint-webui.sh exec’s node dist/index.js --http-api). Drive lynox programmatically via the REST/SSE endpoints exposed by this server.

Flags

Flag	Description
`--http-api`	Start Engine HTTP API server (Docker entrypoint)
`--init` / `init`	Re-run the Docker installer
`--project <dir>`	Set project directory (loads `.lynox/config.json` if present)
`--data-dir <dir>`	Override data directory (default: `~/.lynox`)
`--version` / `-v`	Show version (no API key required)
`--help` / `-h`	Show help (no API key required)

Environment

Variable	Description
`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`	Anthropic API key (required for the anthropic provider)
`ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL`	Custom API endpoint (for proxies)
`LYNOX_LLM_PROVIDER`	LLM provider: `anthropic` \| `vertex` \| `custom` \| `openai`
`LYNOX_VAULT_KEY`	AES-256 key for the secrets vault (critical — cannot be recovered if lost)
`LYNOX_DATA_DIR`	Override data directory (same as `--data-dir`)
`LYNOX_HTTP_PORT`	HTTP API port (default: `3100`)
`LYNOX_HTTP_SECRET`	HTTP API Bearer token (enables network binding)
`LYNOX_WEBUI_URL`	Web UI URL to open (default: `http://localhost:5173`)
`GCP_PROJECT_ID`	Google Cloud project (for `provider: vertex`)
`CLOUD_ML_REGION`	Vertex AI region (e.g. `europe-west4`, `us-east5`)
`SEARXNG_URL`	SearXNG instance for web search (Docker: `http://searxng:8080`). Without it, `web_research` falls back to a best-effort DuckDuckGo HTML scrape.

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
`0`	Success
`1`	Error (API failure, invalid config, etc.)