First steps

This guide walks through the fastest path from an installed CLI to a working agent run. You will configure a provider, start the terminal UI, and run a headless command.

Configure a provider

Set an API key for one provider. For example, with Anthropic:

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=...
export KHADIM_PROVIDER=anthropic

Or use OpenAI:

export OPENAI_API_KEY=...
export KHADIM_PROVIDER=openai

You can also configure providers from the interactive settings panel after starting the terminal UI.

Start the terminal UI

Open a project directory and run Khadim:

cd /path/to/project
khadim

Ask a direct question first:

summarize this repository

Then ask Khadim to inspect or change code:

find the test command and run the smallest useful test

Type / to open command suggestions. Common commands include /help, /provider, /model, /sessions, /settings, /tokens, and /export.

Run one headless task

Use --prompt when you want one answer and no terminal UI:

khadim --prompt "explain the architecture of this repository"

Use exec when you want a script-friendly command:

khadim exec "summarize failures" < build.log

Append --json to stream structured events:

khadim exec --json "summarize this repository"

Add project instructions

Create an AGENTS.md file at the root of a repository to give Khadim local instructions:

# Agent instructions

- Use `cargo test` for Rust changes.
- Prefer small, focused commits.
- Do not edit generated files.

Khadim discovers AGENTS.md files in the workspace and injects the relevant instructions into the agent prompt. Nested files apply to their own directory scope.

Next steps

Read Features for the larger platform map, or jump to the CLI overview for full command details.