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Prevail Prevail

The CLI (the engine)

The Prevail CLI is the engine. The desktop app bundles it as a sidecar and drives it under the hood — so everything the app does, the engine does. You can also run it standalone from a terminal.

What the CLI gives you

Section titled “What the CLI gives you”
  • A terminal cockpit — a keyboard-first TUI with a domain sidebar, per-domain workspace, and a ConfigBar of per-turn dials. → The terminal cockpit
  • Scriptable commands — every interactive action has a prevail … subcommand for shells and cron. → CLI command reference
  • A --json engine API — a stable NDJSON contract that any front-end (including the desktop app) can drive. → The engine —json API
  • An MCP server — expose Prevail to other agents. → The MCP server

Install

Section titled “Install”
Terminal window
curl -fsSL https://prevail.sh/install | bash
prevail            # launch the terminal cockpit
prevail demo       # explore the synthetic demo vault first
prevail doctor     # check your vault and which models it can see

Homebrew and from-source options are on the install page.

The same vault, the same engine

Section titled “The same vault, the same engine”

The CLI and the desktop app read the same vault format and run the same engine. Use the app on your laptop and the CLI on a server, both pointed at one synced vault — they’re interchangeable surfaces over the same files.

The terminal cockpit → Layout, keyboard shortcuts, slash commands, and the ConfigBar.
CLI command reference → Every prevail subcommand, for scripting and automation.
The engine --json API → The NDJSON contract the front-ends drive.
Engine architecture → How the engine reads the vault, runs the council, and writes back.