Command reference
Every command the agent has, read from the CLI itself.
Generated from the product's own command surface and regenerated by its CI, so a renamed flag cannot survive here. The help text is the text you get from --help — it is the code's own words and is deliberately not translated.
Documenting version 0.42.0 · 120 commands
Set up and check
chimera initFirst-run setup: create .env, set a provider key, and point you at a real example.chimera doctorCheck the environment and configuration. With --fix, repair safe setup issues.chimera versionShow the Chimera version.chimera featuresShow optional capabilities and what each needs (a key or a dependency).chimera maturityRender the maturity scorecard: surfaces × coverage-IDs proven by real tests.chimera migrateImport config + skills from another agent; --apply also merges long-term memory.chimera models …Model assignment: tier ladder (weak/mid/top), cost mode, and the multi-vendor catalog.
Do the work
chimera chatInteractive multi-turn chat — your terminal right-hand. Requires a key.chimera tuiLaunch the full-screen TUI — your right-hand. Requires a key.chimera assistYour daily-driver assistant: cheap by default, escalates when it must. Assist = chat with the second-brain defaults ON: the tier cascade routes chit-chat to cheap models and escalates hard asks; your persistent profile (chimera profile) is the stable preamble; memory, nudges and end-of-session consolidation are active. On exit it prints the session cost receipt — tier distribution + measured tokens — so 'cheap by default' is a number.chimera runRun a single-shot Tier-1 completion (no fusion). Requires a provider key.chimera agentRun the ReAct agent loop with native tools. Requires a provider key.chimera deliverDeliverable Mode: produce a polished, self-contained artifact. Requires a key.chimera solveTier-2: autonomously solve a task with plan + verify-or-revert. Requires a key.chimera solve-batchSolve several tasks concurrently, each in its own git worktree (Tier-3 isolation). Every task runs against an isolated checkout, so parallel edits never collide. On merge-back, a file two tasks both changed is reported as a conflict and left for you to resolve rather than silently overwritten. Needs a git repo to isolate.chimera crewRun a multi-agent crew on a task (Tier 3). Requires a provider key.chimera crew-isolatedTier-3: tool-using workers split ONE task, each in its own git worktree, verify-gated. Define workers with repeated --worker 'name:instruction'. Each runs a real agent loop (search/read/edit) against an isolated checkout; non-conflicting edits that pass --verify merge back, files two workers both changed are flagged as conflicts, and a worker whose check fails is rejected (its edits discarded). Needs a git repo to isolate.chimera lifecycleSDLC crew: plan -> build -> test -> review with verify-or-revert. Requires a key.chimera metaMeta-agent: design a specialized agent blueprint for a task. Requires a key.chimera exploreLocate relevant code via the isolated Context Explorer subagent (FastContext-style). Returns only a compact file:line evidence block — the exploration turns never touch your context. A cheap model is usually the right call here; localization is a narrow task.chimera workflowRun a declarative workflow — a designed loop — from a YAML file. Requires a key.chimera driftDrift gate: check the workspace against a spec (Spec Growth). Exit 1 on drift.chimera scenariosRun the daily right-hand scenario suite (live). Requires a key.
Fusion and hierarchy
chimera fuseRun a prompt through the LLM-Fusion engine (panel -> judge -> synthesizer).chimera fusion-receiptsSummarize persisted fusion receipts into an honest cost×quality curve.chimera orchestrateHierarchical run: top model decomposes/synthesizes, budgeted mid workers execute. Write-shaped and trivial tasks FALL BACK to the single-agent path by design (the evidence says multi-agent loses there); the fallback is logged with its counterfactual so `chimera delegations` shows the decision.chimera briefMorning brief: parallel topic research through the hierarchy, one synthesized digest. The recipe IS the decomposition (no top-model decompose call). Delegation receipts land in <home>/delegations.jsonl — `chimera delegations` shows what the brief cost vs the inline counterfactual, measured.chimera delegationsMeasured vs counterfactual across delegations — what the hierarchy actually saved.
Memory, profile and inventory
chimera memory …Curated long-term memory.chimera profile …Persistent user profile — the assistant's stable, cacheable preamble.chimera playbook …ACE strategy playbook — incremental, delta-curated guidance for the agent.chimera skillsList the built-in skills.chimera toolsList the built-in native tools.
Skills and evolution
chimera skills-pendingList learned skills held for review (e.g. distilled during a tainted run).chimera skills-statsPer-skill usage stats (uses, successes, win rate) + retirement candidates.chimera skills-approveApprove/reactivate a learned skill after review (activates retrieval). Works for both a pending skill (held from a tainted run) and a retired one (un-retire).chimera skills-exportExport a learned skill to the open SKILL.md format (portable to the agent-skills ecosystem).chimera skills-importImport a SKILL.md into the store. A tainted-provenance skill is held pending for review.chimera skills-retirePropose retiring under-performing skills — review-gated, never a delete. Retiring only flips status to 'retired' (excluded from retrieval, still inspectable and reactivatable with ``skills-approve``). With no name, acts on the ``retirement_candidates`` signal (used often, low win rate). Dry-run by default; pass ``--apply`` to commit.chimera skills-lifecycleRun the measured skill-lifecycle loop (M18-4): promote proven provisionals, demote regressions. Decisions come from the store's MEASURED usage stats (never a model's self-report): a provisional skill that earns a high win rate over enough uses is promoted to active; a provisional that fails probation or an active skill whose win rate regresses is retired (kept for review). Dry-run by default; ``--apply`` closes the loop — cron it for a hands-off promote/demote cycle.chimera skills-evolveReflectively evolve a skill's prompt template against graded instances (GEPA). Each instance is a `{input, expect}` pair; the (simple, honest) scorer gives 1.0 when the produced output contains the `expect` substring, else 0.0. GEPA reflects on a failing case to rewrite the template and keeps a Pareto frontier of candidates. Dry-run by default: the improved skill is only written back to the store with ``--apply``, and only if it beats the seed.chimera evolve …Opt-in model evolution (curate trajectories -> LoRA/DPO recipe).
Automation and projects
chimera cron …Manage scheduled jobs (crons and event SOPs).chimera kanban …Task board with worker lanes (backlog/doing/review/done).chimera project …Run a project start-to-finish against a Spec (drift = acceptance authority).chimera agents …The agents you dispatch work to — as distinct from the one you converse with.
Serve and connect
chimera serveRun the messaging gateway on HTTP, Discord, Telegram, Slack or Signal. Requires a key. Add ``--cron`` to also fire scheduled jobs on a real clock — turning the reactive gateway into an agent that acts on time (the daemon that makes proactivity real). Pass ``--mcp`` to instead expose Chimera *as* an MCP server on stdio, so any MCP client (Claude Desktop, an IDE, another agent) can call ``chimera_solve`` / ``chimera_fuse`` / ``chimera_memory_search``.chimera appRun the Chimera Desktop app: the HTTP+SSE API + the built React UI (needs the 'desktop' extra). Serves the same-origin SPA (``apps/desktop/dist``) and a streaming chat API over the real agent stack. Install with ``pip install 'chimera-agent[desktop]'`` and build the UI once with ``npm --prefix apps/desktop run build``.chimera mcp …Configure MCP servers (persisted to .chimera/mcp.json). Terminal-first source of truth.chimera a2a-cardPrint Chimera's A2A Agent Card JSON (serve it at /.well-known/agent.json).
Safety
chimera guardShow the governance verdict (allow/warn/review/block) for an action.chimera redteamRed-team the injection defenses: attack success rate with vs without them. No key needed — measures whether the governance layer blocks a harmful tool call once a run is tainted (defense-in-depth coverage), not model susceptibility.
Benchmarks and evaluation
chimera benchRun the continuous-evolution benchmark on a demo task set. Requires a key.chimera bench-compareReport the honest A/B delta (+95% CI) between two benchmark result files. Feed it the pass/fail from two runs on the SAME task IDs (e.g. a terminal-bench free-model baseline vs the same model driven by Chimera). Prints each arm's Wilson-bounded pass rate, the delta, its Newcombe CI, and whether the difference is significant. This is the number that proves (or doesn't) that the scaffolding lifts a weak model. With --paired, the two lists are treated as *aligned pairs* (each index is one task replayed from an identical forked checkpoint), and the tighter McNemar/Wilson interval is reported — the payoff of running both arms from the same forked state.chimera swe-bench-compareHonest A/B over two SWE-bench Verified-Mini reports on the SAME instance ids. Reads the official evaluation reports (``resolved_ids`` or a per-instance map) for a free model alone vs the same model driven by Chimera, projects both onto the shared instance list (a missing id counts as unresolved), and prints the delta + 95% CI. This is the second standard scoreboard for the weak-model-lift thesis; the pass/fail comes from SWE-bench's tests, never self-reported.chimera fusion-benchA/B the fusion engine: full vs selective (tokens + accuracy). Calls real models.chimera cascade-benchFour-arm bench: weak-only vs mid-only vs cascade vs fusion. Calls real models. Published criterion (stated up front): cascade >= mid-only pass rate at materially lower tokens-per-pass. The number reported is whatever is measured.chimera hierarchy-benchPaired A/B: single-agent (all docs inline) vs the hierarchy (one worker per doc). Calls real models. Both arms run on the SAME model so the comparison isolates the ORCHESTRATION (minimal-context scoping + budgets + contracts), not model strength. Quality = paired McNemar/Wilson (the only place "significant" appears); tokens = measured totals per arm, with no significance claim on cost. `--multistep` switches to the companion suite where the token crossover lives: a single agent re-sends every document on every turn (cost grows with turns), while scoped workers pay each doc ~once — and prices the measured cache reduction via the caching model.chimera skillcard-benchA/B reasoning with vs without injected TRS skill cards. Calls real models.chimera schema-benchMeasure tool-schema token cost, full vs compacted (advertise-time). No model calls.chimera sandbox-benchState-based bench: grade the final workspace state + count harmful side effects. Unlike the text benches, this measures what the agent DID (files it changed), and flags mutations outside each task's allowed set. Uses real models + file tools.chimera memory-benchMeasure recall@k as memory grows — lexical vs paraphrase. Default (keyword search, no key needed) surfaces the honest ceiling: exact-token recall holds at scale, but paraphrase recall collapses. Pass ``--semantic`` to re-run with the embedding recall path and watch the paraphrase column lift — that delta is the whole point of M11b.chimera probe-selectPROBE best-arm identification with a cheap-proxy control variate (M18-5). "Which model/config is best?" where each expensive reward (a real grade) is paired with a cheap proxy (a weak judge) of unknown correlation. PROBE uses the proxy as a control variate so the estimate needs FEWER expensive draws the better the proxy correlates — and stays unbiased when the proxy is useless. Prints each arm's adjusted mean ± interval, the winner, and — if not yet confident — the arm to sample next. Feed it recorded (proxy, reward) observations from a bench.chimera transfer-gatePromote a learned change only if it helps its tuned slice AND doesn't regress a holdout. Guards against *negative transfer* — a GEPA prompt / ACE delta / distilled skill that raises the pass rate on the tasks it was tuned against but REGRESSES on other tasks sharing the capability. Feed the tuned slice's paired pass/fail (baseline vs candidate) and, ideally, a disjoint same-capability holdout's; the verdict is PROMOTE / BLOCK with the paired evidence (exit 1 on BLOCK, for CI). Without a holdout it promotes on the tuned gain alone but flags that transfer was NOT measured.chimera evoclawStress-test continuous-evolution degradation: naive vs guarded. Requires a key.chimera rubric-gradeGrade an answer against an authorable rubric — weighted criteria with a required-criterion veto. Produces a per-criterion breakdown, a single weighted score, and a pass/fail verdict. A required criterion that falls below the gate vetoes the outcome regardless of the weighted score.