grok-build

Grok Build CLI

Operate Grok Build from a terminal while keeping execution mode, permissions, sandboxing, session state, and output handling explicit.

Start with Local Evidence

1. Confirm that the CLI is available:

   command -v grok
   grok version
   

2. Inspect the installed command before giving version-sensitive advice:

   grok --help
   grok <subcommand> --help
   

3. Inspect the configuration discovered for the target workspace when behavior depends on rules, skills, plugins, hooks, or MCP servers:

   grok --cwd /path/to/repo inspect
   grok --cwd /path/to/repo inspect --json
   

4. Treat current official documentation and installed help as authoritative when they differ from this bundled reference.

Choose an Execution Mode

• Run grok with no arguments for the interactive TUI.
• Run grok "<initial prompt>" to open the TUI with an initial task.
• Run grok -p "<prompt>" for one non-interactive turn that prints a result and exits.
• Run grok agent stdio for an ACP client that communicates over stdin/stdout.
• Run grok dashboard to open the Agent Dashboard.

Prefer headless mode for scripts, CI, bots, and agent orchestration. Prefer ACP only when the caller implements the ACP JSON-RPC lifecycle and consumes session/update chunks.

Authenticate

Use an interactive login on a developer machine:

grok login

Use device-code authentication in headless or remote environments:

grok login --device-auth

Use a locally cached login or provide XAI_API_KEY only to the process that needs it. Never print, persist, or commit credentials. Use grok logout to clear cached credentials.

Run Headlessly

Use an explicit working directory and output format:

grok --no-auto-update \
  --cwd /path/to/repo \
  --sandbox workspace \
  -p "Inspect the repository and explain the failing test." \
  --output-format json

Choose output according to the consumer:

• Use plain for humans.
• Use json for one final machine-readable object.
• Use streaming-json for newline-delimited incremental events.
• Add --json-schema '<schema>' when the installed CLI supports constrained structured output.