CLI-Anything: Making ALL Software Agent-Native

Today's Software Serves Humans👨‍💻. Tomorrow's Users will be Agents🤖.
CLI-Anything: Bridging the Gap Between AI Agents and the World's Software

One Command Line: Make any software agent-ready for OpenClaw, nanobot, Cursor, Claude Code, etc. 中文文档

CLI-Anything typing demo

CLI-Anything Teaser

🤔 Why CLI?

CLI is the universal interface for both humans and AI agents:

• Structured & Composable - Text commands match LLM format and chain for complex workflows

• Lightweight & Universal - Minimal overhead, works across all systems without dependencies

• Self-Describing - --help flags provide automatic documentation agents can discover

• Proven Success - Claude Code runs thousands of real workflows through CLI daily

• Agent-First Design - Structured JSON output eliminates parsing complexity

• Deterministic & Reliable - Consistent results enable predictable agent behavior

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

Claude Code (with plugin support)
Python 3.10+
Target software installed (e.g., GIMP, Blender, LibreOffice, or your own application)

Step 1: Add the Marketplace

CLI-Anything is distributed as a Claude Code plugin marketplace hosted on GitHub.

# Add the CLI-Anything marketplace
/plugin marketplace add HKUDS/CLI-Anything

Step 2: Install the Plugin

# Install the cli-anything plugin from the marketplace
/plugin install cli-anything

That's it. The plugin is now available in your Claude Code session.

Step 3: Build a CLI in One Command

# /cli-anything <software-path-or-repo>
# Generate a complete CLI for GIMP (all 7 phases)
/cli-anything ./gimp

This runs the full pipeline:

🔍 Analyze — Scans source code, maps GUI actions to APIs
📐 Design — Architects command groups, state model, output formats
🔨 Implement — Builds Click CLI with REPL, JSON output, undo/redo
📋 Plan Tests — Creates TEST.md with unit + E2E test plans
🧪 Write Tests — Implements comprehensive test suite
📝 Document — Updates TEST.md with results
📦 Publish — Creates setup.py, installs to PATH

Step 4: Use the CLI

# Install to PATH cd gimp/agent-harness && pip install -e . Use from anywhere cli-anything-gimp --help cli-anything-gimp project new --width 1920 --height 1080 -o poster.json cli-anything-gimp --json layer add -n "Background" --type solid --color "#1a1a2e" Enter interactive REPL

cli-anything-gimp

Alternative: Manual Installation

If you prefer not to use the marketplace:

# Clone the repo git clone https://github.com/HKUDS/CLI-Anything.git Copy plugin to Claude Code plugins directory cp -r CLI-Anything/cli-anything-plugin ~/.claude/plugins/cli-anything Reload plugins

/reload-plugins

💡 CLI-Anything's Vision: Building Agent-Native Software

• 🌐 Universal Access - Every software becomes instantly agent-controllable through structured CLI.

• 🔗 Seamless Integration - Agents control any application without APIs, GUI, rebuilding or complex wrappers.

• 🚀 Future-Ready Ecosystem - Transform human-designed software into agent-native tools with one command.

🔧 When to Use CLI-Anything

Category	How to be Agent-native	Notable Examples
📂 GitHub Repositories	Transform any open-source project into agent-controllable tools through automatic CLI generation	VSCodium, WordPress, Calibre, Zotero, Joplin, Logseq, Penpot, Super Productivity
🤖 AI/ML Platforms	Automate model training, inference pipelines, and hyperparameter tuning through structured commands	Stable Diffusion WebUI, ComfyUI, InvokeAI, Text-generation-webui, Open WebUI, Fooocus, Kohya_ss, AnythingLLM, SillyTavern
📊 Data & Analytics	Enable programmatic data processing, visualization, and statistical analysis workflows	JupyterLab, Apache Superset, Metabase, Redash, DBeaver, KNIME, Orange, OpenSearch Dashboards, Lightdash
💻 Development Tools	Streamline code editing, building, testing, and deployment processes via command interfaces	Jenkins, Gitea, Hoppscotch, Portainer, pgAdmin, SonarQube, ArgoCD, OpenLens, Insomnia, Beekeeper Studio
🎨 Creative & Media	Control content creation, editing, and rendering workflows programmatically	Blender, GIMP, OBS Studio, Audacity, Krita, Kdenlive, Shotcut, Inkscape, Darktable, LMMS, Ardour
🔬 Scientific Computing	Automate research workflows, simulations, and complex calculations	ImageJ, FreeCAD, QGIS, ParaView, Gephi, LibreCAD, Stellarium, KiCad, JASP, Jamovi
🏢 Enterprise & Office	Convert business applications and productivity tools into agent-accessible systems	NextCloud, GitLab, Grafana, Mattermost, LibreOffice, AppFlowy, NocoDB, Odoo (Community), Plane, ERPNext
📐 Diagramming & Visualization	Create and manipulate diagrams, flowcharts, architecture diagrams, and visual documentation programmatically	Draw.io (diagrams.net), Mermaid, PlantUML, Excalidraw, yEd
✨ AI Content Generation	Generate professional deliverables (slides, docs, diagrams, websites, research reports) through AI-powered cloud APIs	AnyGen, Gamma, Beautiful.ai, Tome

CLI-Anything's Key Features

The Agent-Software Gap

AI agents are great at reasoning but terrible at using real professional software. Current solutions are fragile UI automation, limited APIs, or dumbed-down reimplementations that miss 90% of functionality.

CLI-Anything's Solution: Transform any professional software into agent-native tools without losing capabilities.

Current Pain Point	CLI-Anything's Fix
🤖 "AI can't use real tools"	Direct integration with actual software backends (Blender, LibreOffice, FFmpeg) — full professional capabilities, zero compromises
💸 "UI automation breaks constantly"	No screenshots, no clicking, no RPA fragility. Pure command-line reliability with structured interfaces
📊 "Agents need structured data"	Built-in JSON output for seamless agent consumption + human-readable formats for debugging
🔧 "Custom integrations are expensive"	One Claude plugin auto-generates CLIs for ANY codebase through proven 7-phase pipeline
⚡ "Prototype vs Production gap"	1,436+ tests with real software validation. Battle-tested across 9 major applications

🎯 What Can You Do with CLI-Anything?

🛠️ Let Agents Take Your Workflows

Professional or everyday — just throw the codebase at /cli-anything. GIMP, Blender, Shotcut for creative work. LibreOffice, OBS Studio for daily tasks. Don't have the source? Find an open-source alternative and throw that in. You'll instantly get a full CLI your agents can use.

🔗 Unify Scattered APIs into One CLI

Tired of juggling fragmented web service APIs? Feed the docs or SDK manuscripts to /cli-anything and your agents get a powerful, stateful CLI that wraps those individual endpoints into coherent command groups. One tool instead of dozens of raw API calls — stronger capabilities while saving tokens.

🚀 Replace or Supercharge GUI Agents

CLI-Anything can flat-out replace GUI-based agent approaches — no more screenshots, no brittle pixel-clicking. But here's the fun part: once you /cli-anything a GUI software, you can synthesize agent tasks, evaluators, and benchmarks entirely via code and terminal — fully automated, iteratively refinable, massively more efficient.

✨ ⚙️ How CLI-Anything Works

🏗️ Fully Automated 7-Phase Pipeline

From codebase analysis to PyPI publishing — the plugin handles architecture design, implementation, test planning, test writing, and documentation completely automatically.

🎯 Authentic Software Integration

Direct calls to real applications for actual rendering. LibreOffice generates PDFs, Blender renders 3D scenes, Audacity processes audio via sox. Zero compromises, Zero toy implementations.

🔁 Smart Session Management

Persistent project state with undo/redo capabilities, plus unified REPL interface (ReplSkin) that delivers consistent interactive experience across all CLIs.

📦 Zero-Config Installation

Simple pip install -e . puts cli-anything- directly on PATH. Agents discover tools via standard which commands. No setup, no wrappers.

🧪 Production-Grade Testing

Multi-layered validation: unit tests with synthetic data, end-to-end tests with real files and software, plus CLI subprocess verification of installed commands.

🐍 Clean Package Architecture

All CLIs organized under cli_anything.* namespace — conflict-free, pip-installable, with consistent naming: cli-anything-gimp, cli-anything-blender, etc.

🎬 Demonstrations

🎯 General-Purpose

CLI-Anything works on any software with a codebase — no domain restrictions or architectural limitations.

🏭 Professional-Grade Testing

Tested across 9 diverse, complex open-source applications spanning creative, productivity, and diagramming domains previously inaccessible to AI agents.

🎨 Diverse Domain Coverage

From creative workflows (image editing, 3D modeling, vector graphics) to production tools (audio, office, live streaming, video editing).

✅ Full CLI Generation

Each application received complete, production-ready CLI interfaces — not demos, but comprehensive tool access preserving full capabilities.

Software	Domain	CLI Command	Backend	Tests
🎨 GIMP	Image Editing	`cli-anything-gimp`	Pillow + GEGL/Script-Fu	✅ 107
🧊 Blender	3D Modeling & Rendering	`cli-anything-blender`	bpy (Python scripting)	✅ 208
✏️ Inkscape	Vector Graphics	`cli-anything-inkscape`	Direct SVG/XML manipulation	✅ 202
🎵 Audacity	Audio Production	`cli-anything-audacity`	Python wave + sox	✅ 161
📄 LibreOffice	Office Suite (Writer, Calc, Impress)	`cli-anything-libreoffice`	ODF generation + headless LO	✅ 158
📹 OBS Studio	Live Streaming & Recording	`cli-anything-obs-studio`	JSON scene + obs-websocket	✅ 153
🎞️ Kdenlive	Video Editing	`cli-anything-kdenlive`	MLT XML + melt renderer	✅ 155
🎬 Shotcut	Video Editing	`cli-anything-shotcut`	Direct MLT XML + melt	✅ 154
📐 Draw.io	Diagramming	`cli-anything-drawio`	mxGraph XML + draw.io CLI	✅ 138
Total				✅ 1,436

100% pass rate across all 1,436 tests — 1,011 unit tests + 425 end-to-end tests.

📊 Test Results

Each CLI harness undergoes rigorous multi-layered testing to ensure production reliability:

Layer	What it tests	Example
Unit tests	Every core function in isolation with synthetic data	`test_core.py` — project creation, layer ops, filter params
E2E tests (native)	Project file generation pipeline	Valid ODF ZIP structure, correct MLT XML, SVG well-formedness
E2E tests (true backend)	Real software invocation + output verification	LibreOffice → PDF with `%PDF-` magic bytes, Blender → rendered PNG
CLI subprocess tests	Installed command via `subprocess.run`	`cli-anything-gimp --json project new` → valid JSON output

================================ Test Summary ================================
gimp          107 passed  ✅   (64 unit + 43 e2e)
blender       208 passed  ✅   (150 unit + 58 e2e)
inkscape      202 passed  ✅   (148 unit + 54 e2e)
audacity      161 passed  ✅   (107 unit + 54 e2e)
libreoffice   158 passed  ✅   (89 unit + 69 e2e)
obs-studio    153 passed  ✅   (116 unit + 37 e2e)
kdenlive      155 passed  ✅   (111 unit + 44 e2e)
shotcut       154 passed  ✅   (110 unit + 44 e2e)
drawio        138 passed  ✅   (116 unit + 22 e2e)
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
TOTAL        1,436 passed  ✅   100% pass rate

🏗️ CLI-Anything's Architecture

CLI-Anything Architecture

🎯 Core Design Principles

Authentic Software Integration — The CLI generates valid project files (ODF, MLT XML, SVG) and delegates to real applications for rendering. We build structured interfaces TO software, not replacements.
Flexible Interaction Models — Every CLI operates in dual modes: stateful REPL for interactive agent sessions + subcommand interface for scripting/pipelines. Run bare command → enter REPL mode.
Consistent User Experience — All generated CLIs share unified REPL interface (repl_skin.py) with branded banners, styled prompts, command history, progress indicators, and standardized formatting.
Agent-Native Design — Built-in --json flag on every command delivers structured data for machine consumption, while human-readable tables serve interactive use. Agents discover capabilities via standard --help and which commands.
Zero Compromise Dependencies — Real software is a hard requirement — no fallbacks, no graceful degradation. Tests fail (not skip) when backends are missing, ensuring authentic functionality.

📂 Project Structure

cli-anything/
├── 📄 README.md                          # You are here
├── 📁 assets/                            # Images and media
│   ├── icon.png                          # Project icon
│   └── teaser.png                        # Teaser figure
│
├── 🔌 cli-anything-plugin/               # The Claude Code plugin
│   ├── HARNESS.md                        # Methodology SOP (source of truth)
│   ├── README.md                         # Plugin documentation
│   ├── QUICKSTART.md                     # 5-minute getting started
│   ├── PUBLISHING.md                     # Distribution guide
│   ├── repl_skin.py                      # Unified REPL interface
│   ├── commands/                         # Plugin command definitions
│   │   ├── cli-anything.md               # Main build command
│   │   ├── refine.md                     # Expand existing harness coverage
│   │   ├── test.md                       # Test runner
│   │   └── validate.md                   # Standards validation
│   └── scripts/
│       └── setup-cli-anything.sh         # Setup script
│
├── 🎨 gimp/agent-harness/               # GIMP CLI (107 tests)
├── 🧊 blender/agent-harness/            # Blender CLI (208 tests)
├── ✏️ inkscape/agent-harness/            # Inkscape CLI (202 tests)
├── 🎵 audacity/agent-harness/           # Audacity CLI (161 tests)
├── 📄 libreoffice/agent-harness/        # LibreOffice CLI (158 tests)
├── 📹 obs-studio/agent-harness/         # OBS Studio CLI (153 tests)
├── 🎞️ kdenlive/agent-harness/           # Kdenlive CLI (155 tests)
├── 🎬 shotcut/agent-harness/            # Shotcut CLI (154 tests)
└── 📐 drawio/agent-harness/             # Draw.io CLI (138 tests)

Each agent-harness/ contains an installable Python package under cli_anything.<software>/ with Click CLI, core modules, utils (including repl_skin.py and backend wrapper), and comprehensive tests.

🎯 Plugin Commands

Command	Description
`/cli-anything <software-path-or-repo>`	Build complete CLI harness — all 7 phases
`/cli-anything:refine <software-path> [focus]`	Refine an existing harness — expand coverage with gap analysis
`/cli-anything:test <software-path-or-repo>`	Run tests and update TEST.md with results
`/cli-anything:validate <software-path-or-repo>`	Validate against HARNESS.md standards

Examples

# Build a complete CLI for GIMP from local source /cli-anything /home/user/gimp Build from a GitHub repo /cli-anything https://github.com/blender/blender Refine an existing harness — broad gap analysis /cli-anything:refine /home/user/gimp Refine with a specific focus area /cli-anything:refine /home/user/shotcut "vid-in-vid and picture-in-picture compositing" Run tests and update TEST.md /cli-anything:test /home/user/inkscape Validate against HARNESS.md standards

/cli-anything:validate /home/user/audacity

🎮 Demo: Using a Generated CLI

Here's what an agent can do with cli-anything-libreoffice:

# Create a new Writer document $ cli-anything-libreoffice document new -o report.json --type writer ✓ Created Writer document: report.json Add content $ cli-anything-libreoffice --project report.json writer add-heading -t "Q1 Report" --level 1 ✓ Added heading: "Q1 Report" $ cli-anything-libreoffice --project report.json writer add-table --rows 4 --cols 3 ✓ Added 4×3 table Export to real PDF via LibreOffice headless $ cli-anything-libreoffice --project report.json export render output.pdf -p pdf --overwrite ✓ Exported: output.pdf (42,831 bytes) via libreoffice-headless JSON mode for agent consumption

$ cli-anything-libreoffice --json document info --project report.json { "name": "Q1 Report", "type": "writer", "pages": 1, "elements": 2, "modified": true }

REPL Mode

$ cli-anything-blender ╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ cli-anything-blender v1.0.0 ║ ║ Blender CLI for AI Agents ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════════╝ blender> scene new --name ProductShot ✓ Created scene: ProductShot blender[ProductShot]> object add-mesh --type cube --location 0 0 1 ✓ Added mesh: Cube at (0, 0, 1) blender[ProductShot]*> render execute --output render.png --engine CYCLES ✓ Rendered: render.png (1920×1080, 2.3 MB) via blender --background

blender[ProductShot]> exit Goodbye! 👋

📖 The Standard Playbook: HARNESS.md

HARNESS.md is our definitive SOP for making any software agent-accessible via automated CLI generation.

It encodes proven patterns and methodologies refined through automated generation processes.

The playbook distills key insights from successfully building all 8 diverse, production-ready harnesses.

Critical Lessons

Lesson	Description
Use the real software	The CLI MUST call the actual application for rendering. No Pillow replacements for GIMP, no custom renderers for Blender. Generate valid project files → invoke the real backend.
The Rendering Gap	GUI apps apply effects at render time. If your CLI manipulates project files but uses a naive export tool, effects get silently dropped. Solution: native renderer → filter translation → render script.
Filter Translation	When mapping effects between formats (MLT → ffmpeg), watch for duplicate filter merging, interleaved stream ordering, parameter space differences, and unmappable effects.
Timecode Precision	Non-integer frame rates (29.97fps) cause cumulative rounding. Use `round()` not `int()`, integer arithmetic for display, and ±1 frame tolerance in tests.
Output Verification	Never trust that export worked because it exited 0. Verify: magic bytes, ZIP/OOXML structure, pixel analysis, audio RMS levels, duration checks.

See the full methodology: cli-anything-plugin/HARNESS.md

📦 Installation & Usage

For Plugin Users (Claude Code)

# Add marketplace & install (recommended) /plugin marketplace add HKUDS/CLI-Anything /plugin install cli-anything Build a CLI for any software with a codebase

/cli-anything <software-name>

For Generated CLIs

# Install any generated CLI
cd <software>/agent-harness
pip install -e .
Verify
which cli-anything-<software>
Use
cli-anything-<software> --help
cli-anything-<software>                    # enters REPL
cli-anything-<software> --json <command>   # JSON output for agents

Running Tests

# Run tests for a specific CLI
cd <software>/agent-harness
python3 -m pytest cli_anything/<software>/tests/ -v
Force-installed mode (recommended for validation)
CLI_ANYTHING_FORCE_INSTALLED=1 python3 -m pytest cli_anything/<software>/tests/ -v -s

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! CLI-Anything is designed to be extensible:

New software targets — Use the plugin to generate a CLI for any software with a codebase, then submit your harness via cli-anything-plugin/PUBLISHING.md.
Methodology improvements — PRs to HARNESS.md that encode new lessons learned
Plugin enhancements — New commands, phase improvements, better validation
Test coverage — More E2E scenarios, edge cases, workflow tests

Roadmap

Support for more application categories (CAD, DAW, IDE, EDA, scientific tools)
Benchmark suite for agent task completion rates
Community-contributed CLI harnesses for internal/custom software
Integration with additional agent frameworks beyond Claude Code
Support packaging APIs for closed-source software and web services into CLIs
Produce SKILL.md alongside the CLI for agent skill discovery and orchestration

📖 Documentation

Document	Description
`cli-anything-plugin/HARNESS.md`	The methodology SOP — single source of truth
`cli-anything-plugin/README.md`	Plugin documentation — commands, options, phases
`cli-anything-plugin/QUICKSTART.md`	5-minute getting started guide
`cli-anything-plugin/PUBLISHING.md`	Distribution and publishing guide

Each generated harness also includes:

<SOFTWARE>.md — Architecture SOP specific to that application
tests/TEST.md — Test plan and results documentation

⭐ Star History

If CLI-Anything helps make your software Agent-native, give us a star! ⭐

📄 License

MIT License — free to use, modify, and distribute.

CLI-Anything — Make any software with a codebase Agent-native.

_{A methodology for the age of AI agents | 9 professional software demos | 1,436 passing tests}

Thanks for visiting ✨ CLI-Anything!

NAME

SYNOPSIS

INFO

DESCRIPTION

README