CLI Reference
+Huskies ships as a single binary. Most interaction happens through the web UI or chat transports, but the CLI is used for initial setup and server control.
+ +huskies
+Start the huskies server.
+huskies [OPTIONS]
+
+ Options
+| Flag | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| --port <PORT> | 3000 | HTTP port to listen on. Set the HUSKIES_PORT environment variable as an alternative. |
| --project <PATH> | current dir | Path to the project directory. Huskies looks for .huskies/ here. |
| --help | — | Print help and exit. |
| --version | — | Print version and exit. |
Examples
+# Start on the default port
+huskies
+
+# Start on a custom port
+huskies --port 3001
+
+# Specify project directory explicitly
+huskies --project /path/to/project --port 3000
+
+# Using environment variable
+HUSKIES_PORT=3002 huskies
+
+ HUSKIES_PORT to avoid conflicts when running several instances simultaneously.
+ huskies init
+Initialise a project directory for use with huskies. Creates the .huskies/ directory structure, default configuration files, and .mcp.json.
huskies init [OPTIONS]
+
+ Options
+| Flag | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| --port <PORT> | 3000 | Port written into .mcp.json for MCP tool discovery. |
| --project <PATH> | current dir | Directory to initialise. Must be a git repository. |
| --help | — | Print help and exit. |
What it creates
+| Path | Description |
|---|---|
.huskies/project.toml | Project-wide settings (QA mode, agent limits, timezone, etc.). |
.huskies/agents.toml | Agent definitions for coder, QA, and mergemaster roles. |
.huskies/work/1_backlog/ | Pipeline stage directories (1 through 6). |
.huskies/specs/00_CONTEXT.md | Placeholder project context file for the setup wizard. |
.huskies/specs/tech/STACK.md | Placeholder tech stack file for the setup wizard. |
.mcp.json | MCP server config so Claude Code discovers huskies' tools automatically. |
git init first if needed.
+ huskies agent
+Spawn a single agent process directly from the command line. This is the command the server uses internally when you run start <number> in chat — you rarely need to invoke it manually.
huskies agent [OPTIONS]
+
+ Options
+| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
| --story <ID> | Story ID slug to work on (e.g. 42_story_add_login). |
| --agent <NAME> | Agent name from agents.toml to use (e.g. coder-1, qa). |
| --worktree <PATH> | Path to the git worktree the agent should work in. |
| --port <PORT> | Huskies server port, so the agent can call MCP tools. |
| --help | Print help and exit. |
Environment variables
+| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
HUSKIES_PORT | Server port. Overrides the --port flag. |
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY | Anthropic API key for agent sessions. Can also be set via the web UI on first use. |
GITEA_TOKEN | Gitea API token used by the script/release script when publishing releases. |
Building from source
+Standard release build
+cargo build --release
+# Output: target/release/huskies
+
+ Static Linux binary (musl)
+Requires cross: cargo install cross.
cross build --release --target x86_64-unknown-linux-musl
+
+ Docker image
+docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml build
+
+ Release script
+Builds macOS arm64 and Linux amd64 binaries, bumps the version, tags the repo, and publishes a Gitea release with changelog and binaries attached.
+script/release 0.8.0
+