CLI Commands

Run the gateway

Start Airlock as a combined streamable HTTP and SSE gateway server (default port 4111):

bash

airlock --config airlock.yaml

airlock serve --config airlock.yaml is an explicit alias for the same combined mode. The data-plane endpoints are /agents/:agentId/mcp (streamable HTTP) and /agents/:agentId/sse (SSE).

The streamable HTTP endpoint is stateless: it speaks MCP 2026-07-28 to clients that send the per-request envelope and serves 2025-era clients without issuing an Mcp-Session-Id, so there is no per-agent session cap on it. The SSE endpoint is the deprecated 2024-11-05 transport and keeps its session limits (security.limits). See Connecting HTTP Agents.

For split deployments, run only the MCP/runtime gateway and disable the in-process dashboard provider:

bash

airlock gateway --config airlock.yaml

Run the standalone dashboard

Start the admin dashboard as a separate process. It edits the local config file and talks to the gateway management API for status, audit, and approvals.

bash

airlock dashboard \
  --config airlock.yaml \
  --gateway-url http://127.0.0.1:4113

Options:

Flag	Description
`--config`, `-c`	Path to airlock.yaml config file
`--port`, `-p`	Dashboard port (default: 4177)
`--host`	Bind host (default: `127.0.0.1`)
`--insecure-remote-bind`	Allow binding the unauthenticated dashboard beyond loopback
`--gateway-url`	Gateway management API URL (default: `http://127.0.0.1:4113`)
`--gateway-secret`	Gateway admin bearer token (defaults to `AIRLOCK_GATEWAY_SECRET`, then `AIRLOCK_API_SECRET`)
`--public-url`	Gateway URL agents connect to, used in setup snippets (defaults to `AIRLOCK_PUBLIC_URL`)

The optional policy assistant reads AIRLOCK_ASSISTANT_BASE_URL, AIRLOCK_ASSISTANT_MODEL and AIRLOCK_ASSISTANT_API_KEY. See Dashboard.

Open the command center

Start the local browser command center for provider health, MCP status, tool discovery, and permission editing:

bash

airlock run --config airlock.yaml

Options:

Flag	Description
`--config`, `-c`	Path to airlock.yaml config file
`--port`, `-p`	Command center port (default: 4177)
`--host`	Bind host (default: `127.0.0.1`)
`--insecure-remote-bind`	Allow binding the unauthenticated command center beyond loopback

Run stdio mode for a specific agent

Lean mode with no HTTP server. Only connects to MCP providers the agent references:

bash

airlock --agent claude-code --config airlock.yaml

Validate local config

Run static validation without starting listeners or connecting to providers:

bash

airlock config check --config airlock.yaml --strict
airlock config check --config airlock.yaml --strict --no-resolve
airlock config check --config airlock.yaml --strict --no-resolve --fail-on warn

Options:

Flag	Description
`--config`, `-c`	Path to airlock.yaml config file
`--strict`	Explicit strict mode; unknown keys are always errors
`--no-resolve`	Validate `${VAR}` references without requiring secrets
`--fail-on`	Non-zero threshold: `error` (default) or `warn`
`--json`	Print machine-readable diagnostics

Use --strict --no-resolve for CI and pre-deploy checks that should reject invalid shape, references, inheritance, and no-op argument scopes without loading production secrets. Add --fail-on warn when warnings such as YAML scalar footguns should block deployment too.

Explain an agent

Show an agent's effective allow/ask/deny sets after profile inheritance, including provenance, arg scope, and precedence notes:

bash

airlock explain claude-code --config airlock.yaml

By default this is offline and reads only the config file. Add --expand to connect to providers and expand matching patterns to concrete live tools:

bash

airlock explain claude-code --config airlock.yaml --expand --json

Reverse lookup permissions

List agents and their effective decision for a tool name or glob-like pattern:

bash

airlock who-can "supabase/*" --config airlock.yaml
airlock who-can github/delete_repo --level deny --json

Decisions are computed through the shared allowlist engine and may be allow, ask, deny, or default-deny.

Enumerate live tools

Connect to configured providers and list the live tool surface:

bash

airlock tools --config airlock.yaml
airlock tools --provider github --grep pull --json

This command may start provider clients. Static commands such as config check, explain without --expand, who-can, and lint do not.

Lint config hygiene

Run static hygiene checks over a valid resolved config:

bash

airlock lint --config airlock.yaml
airlock lint --config airlock.yaml --verbose
airlock lint --config airlock.yaml --fail-on info

lint is an opinionated hygiene command. config check remains the correctness and CI gate for schema, security, and fail-closed validation.

Rules have stable ids and default severities:

Rule	Default	Meaning
`dead-deny`	`info`	A deny pattern does not overlap any allow or ask pattern
`unused-profile`	`info`	A profile is registered but not inherited by any agent
`unused-value-set`	`info`	A value set is not referenced by arg scope or arg policy
`unused-dimension`	`info`	An argument dimension is not referenced by any arg scope
`empty-agent`	`warn`	An agent resolves to zero allow/ask tools
`missing-env-ref`	`warn`	A `${VAR}` reference is unset; the value is not read by lint
`unresolvable-ref`	`warn`	An `extends`, `arg_scope`, or value set reference is missing

By default, warnings are printed in full and each info rule is collapsed to one summary line:

text

dead-deny: 96 (info) - [selene] github/create_or_update_file, [selene] github/push_files, [selene] github/delete_file ... +93 more
unused-profile: 7 (info) - github-write, bluebubbles-findmy, bluebubbles-groups ... +4 more
info collapsed; --verbose to list all; --quiet to hide; --fail-on info to gate.

Options:

Flag	Description
`--config`, `-c`	Path to airlock.yaml config file
`--verbose`	Expand info findings instead of collapsing them
`--quiet`	Hide info summaries and print only warn/error findings
`--fail-on`	Non-zero threshold: `warn` (default), `info`, or `error`
`--only`	Run only comma-separated rule ids for this invocation
`--disable`	Disable comma-separated rule ids for this invocation
`--rule`	Override one rule for this invocation, e.g. `dead-deny=off` or `empty-agent=error`
`--json`	Print grouped findings as an array of `{ rule, severity, count, findings[] }` entries

Use the top-level lint: block to permanently accept or re-grade rules:

yaml

lint:
  disable:
    - dead-deny
  severity:
    unused-profile: warn

CLI flags override the config block. --rule dead-deny=warn re-enables and re-grades a rule disabled in config for that invocation.

Discover CLI tools

Parse --help output and generate Airlock config:

bash

airlock discover cli git --output git-commands.yaml

Options:

Flag	Description
`--output`, `-o`	Write output to file instead of stdout
`--fig`	Try Fig autocomplete specs first, fall back to --help
`--max-depth`	Maximum recursion depth for subcommand discovery
`--include`	Only include specific commands (comma-separated)

Airlock uses three discovery strategies in order of preference:

Fig specs (if --fig is passed) — structured autocomplete definitions
Shell completion — hooks into Cobra, Click/Typer, Clap, and native shell completion
Help text parsing — parses --help output as a fallback

Discover API tools

Generate config from an OpenAPI 3.x spec:

bash

airlock discover api ./petstore.json --output petstore-api.yaml

Options:

Flag	Description
`--output`, `-o`	Write output to file instead of stdout
`--base-url`	Override the base URL from the spec
`--include`	Only include matching endpoints (e.g. `"GET *"`)
`--exclude`	Exclude matching endpoints (e.g. `"DELETE *"`)

See API Discovery for a full guide.

Configure a CLI interactively

Interactive TUI for discovering and curating CLI commands:

bash

airlock configure-cli git

Features:

Lazy-loads subcommand groups (doesn't crawl the entire tree up front)
Toggle commands and groups on/off
Inspect command parameters
Search with /
Export to YAML, edit ./airlock.yaml directly, copy to clipboard, or write a generated <tool>-commands.yaml

Configure agent permissions interactively

Interactive TUI for assigning allow/ask/deny to tools from your live MCP servers:

bash

airlock configure-agent --config ./airlock.yaml --agent claude-code

Features:

Connects to your configured MCP servers and lists all available tools
Pre-populates decisions from an existing agent when one is present
Navigate with j/k, set permissions with a/s/d
Bulk-set entire providers
Export: edit config directly, copy to clipboard, or print YAML

Edit config in the browser

Start a loopback-only browser editor for providers, profiles, agents, and permissions:

bash

airlock configure-web --config ./airlock.yaml

This editor updates the local YAML file and writes a backup before saving. Use airlock run when you also want live provider health, MCP status, and tool discovery in the same local command center.

Setup OpenClaw integration

Install the Airlock bridge plugin for OpenClaw:

bash

airlock setup openclaw

Creates ~/.openclaw/extensions/airlock-bridge as a symlink to the bundled plugin and prints next steps. See OpenClaw Setup.

Common flags

Flag	Description
`--config`, `-c`	Path to airlock.yaml config file
`--agent`	Agent name for stdio mode
`--pretty`	Human-friendly colored log output
`--help`	Print help

CLI Commands ​

Run the gateway ​

Run the standalone dashboard ​

Open the command center ​

Run stdio mode for a specific agent ​

Validate local config ​

Explain an agent ​

Reverse lookup permissions ​

Enumerate live tools ​

Lint config hygiene ​

Discover CLI tools ​

Discover API tools ​

Configure a CLI interactively ​

Configure agent permissions interactively ​

Edit config in the browser ​

Setup OpenClaw integration ​

Common flags ​

CLI Commands

Run the gateway

Run the standalone dashboard

Open the command center

Run stdio mode for a specific agent

Validate local config

Explain an agent

Reverse lookup permissions

Enumerate live tools

Lint config hygiene

Discover CLI tools

Discover API tools

Configure a CLI interactively

Configure agent permissions interactively

Edit config in the browser

Setup OpenClaw integration

Common flags