Every command

Generated from the CLI itself, so it cannot describe a command that does not exist or miss one that does. Thirty-three of these appeared in no README and no doc before this page; a reference written by hand fixes that once and then goes stale in silence, which is the failure worth designing out.

Run chimera <command> --help for the full text of any entry.

Command	What it does
a2a-card	Print Chimera's A2A Agent Card JSON (serve it at /.well-known/agent.json).
acp	Serve Chimera to an editor over the Agent Client Protocol (stdio).
agent	Run the ReAct agent loop with native tools. Requires a provider key.
agents	The agents you dispatch work to — as distinct from the one you converse with.
app	Run the Chimera Desktop app: the HTTP+SSE API + the built React UI (needs the 'desktop' extra).
assist	Your daily-driver assistant: cheap by default, escalates when it must.
bench	Run the continuous-evolution benchmark on a demo task set. Requires a key.
bench-compare	Report the honest A/B delta (+95% CI) between two benchmark result files.
brief	Morning brief: parallel topic research through the hierarchy, one synthesized digest.
cascade-bench	Four-arm bench: weak-only vs mid-only vs cascade vs fusion. Calls real models.
chat	Interactive multi-turn chat — your terminal right-hand. Requires a key.
context-curve	Did runs carrying more context do worse? Measured on THIS machine's own logs.
crew	Run a multi-agent crew on a task (Tier 3). Requires a provider key.
crew-isolated	Tier-3: tool-using workers split ONE task, each in its own git worktree, verify-gated.
cron	Manage scheduled jobs (crons and event SOPs).
delegations	Measured vs counterfactual across delegations — what the hierarchy actually saved.
deliver	Deliverable Mode: produce a polished, self-contained artifact. Requires a key.
doctor	Check the environment and configuration. With --fix, repair safe setup issues.
drift	Drift gate: check the workspace against a spec (Spec Growth). Exit 1 on drift.
evoclaw	Stress-test continuous-evolution degradation: naive vs guarded. Requires a key.
evolve	Opt-in model evolution (curate trajectories -> LoRA/DPO recipe).
explore	Locate relevant code via the isolated Context Explorer subagent (FastContext-style).
features	Show optional capabilities and what each needs (a key or a dependency).
find	Search a repository by what code DOES, not by the string it contains.
fuse	Run a prompt through the LLM-Fusion engine (panel -> judge -> synthesizer).
fusion-bench	A/B the fusion engine: full vs selective (tokens + accuracy). Calls real models.
fusion-receipts	Summarize persisted fusion receipts into an honest cost×quality curve.
guard	Show the governance verdict (allow/warn/review/block) for an action.
hierarchy-bench	Paired A/B: single-agent (all docs inline) vs the hierarchy (one worker per doc). Calls real models.
init	First-run setup: create .env, set a provider key, and point you at a real example.
kanban	Task board with worker lanes (backlog/doing/review/done).
lifecycle	SDLC crew: plan -> build -> test -> review with verify-or-revert. Requires a key.
maturity	Render the maturity scorecard: surfaces × coverage-IDs proven by real tests.
mcp	Configure MCP servers (persisted to .chimera/mcp.json). Terminal-first source of truth.
memory	Curated long-term memory.
memory-bench	Measure recall@k as memory grows — lexical vs paraphrase.
memory-poison	Ablate the memory-poisoning defenses: what reaches a LATER run's prompt, and unmarked.
meta	Meta-agent: design a specialized agent blueprint for a task. Requires a key.
migrate	Import config + skills from another agent; --apply also merges long-term memory.
models	Model assignment: tier ladder (weak/mid/top), cost mode, and the multi-vendor catalog.
orchestrate	Hierarchical run: top model decomposes/synthesizes, budgeted mid workers execute.
pet	Your virtual companion — a chimera that needs care.
playbook	ACE strategy playbook — incremental, delta-curated guidance for the agent.
probe-select	PROBE best-arm identification with a cheap-proxy control variate (M18-5).
profile	Persistent user profile — the assistant's stable, cacheable preamble.
project	Run a project start-to-finish against a Spec (drift = acceptance authority).
redteam	Red-team the injection defenses: attack success rate with vs without them.
rubric-grade	Grade an answer against an authorable rubric — weighted criteria with a required-criterion veto.
run	Run a single-shot Tier-1 completion (no fusion). Requires a provider key.
sandbox-bench	State-based bench: grade the final workspace state + count harmful side effects.
scenarios	Run the daily right-hand scenario suite (live). Requires a key.
schema-bench	Measure tool-schema token cost, full vs compacted (advertise-time). No model calls.
serve	Run the messaging gateway on HTTP, Discord, Telegram, Slack or Signal. Requires a key.
sessions	List the saved conversations — the same ones the desktop app shows.
skillcard-bench	A/B reasoning with vs without injected TRS skill cards. Calls real models.
skills	List the built-in skills.
skills-approve	Approve/reactivate a learned skill after review (activates retrieval).
skills-bundle-disable	Switch a bundle off, keeping it on disk.
skills-bundle-enable	Switch an installed bundle on, so the agent may use it.
skills-bundles	List the skill bundles installed on this machine, and where each came from.
skills-catalog	Browse the installable skills from the wider Agent Skills ecosystem.
skills-evolve	Reflectively evolve a skill's prompt template against graded instances (GEPA).
skills-export	Export a learned skill to the open SKILL.md format (portable to the agent-skills ecosystem).
skills-import	Import a SKILL.md into the store. A tainted-provenance skill is held pending for review.
skills-install	Download a skill bundle from its source repository into your skills directory.
skills-library	Browse the curated skill cards that ship with Chimera.
skills-lifecycle	Run the measured skill-lifecycle loop (M18-4): promote proven provisionals, demote regressions.
skills-pending	List learned skills held for review (e.g. distilled during a tainted run).
skills-retire	Propose retiring under-performing skills — review-gated, never a delete.
skills-stats	Per-skill usage stats (uses, successes, win rate) + retirement candidates.
skills-uninstall	Delete an installed skill bundle and its files.
solve	Tier-2: autonomously solve a task with plan + verify-or-revert. Requires a key.
solve-batch	Solve several tasks concurrently, each in its own git worktree (Tier-3 isolation).
swe-bench-compare	Honest A/B over two SWE-bench Verified-Mini reports on the SAME instance ids.
tools	List the built-in native tools.
transfer-gate	Promote a learned change only if it helps its tuned slice AND doesn't regress a holdout.
tui	Launch the full-screen TUI — your right-hand. Requires a key.
version	Show the Chimera version.
workflow	Run a declarative workflow — a designed loop — from a YAML file. Requires a key.

a2a-card

Print Chimera's A2A Agent Card JSON (serve it at /.well-known/agent.json).

chimera a2a-card

Option		Default
--url	The A2A endpoint URL to advertise.	'http://127.0.0.1:8765/a2a'

acp

Serve Chimera to an editor over the Agent Client Protocol (stdio).

The mirror of what chimera code --provider claude does: there we drive somebody else's agent, here somebody else's editor drives ours. Point Zed, JetBrains or Neovim at chimera acp and the loop, the verifier and the receipt are available without installing a second tool.

Nothing on this path may write to stdout — it IS the protocol. A stray print corrupts the frame the editor is parsing, and the symptom is an editor that hangs rather than output in the wrong place. The banner goes to stderr for the same reason the MCP server's does.

chimera acp

Option		Default
--workspace, -w	Directory the agent works in.	'.'
--model	Override the model for this session.
--max-steps	Tool-calling steps per turn.	30

agent

Run the ReAct agent loop with native tools. Requires a provider key.

chimera agent TASK

Argument
TASK	The task for the agent to accomplish.

Option		Default
--model, -m	Override the model slug.
--max-steps	Max tool-calling steps.	8
--workspace, -w	Workspace root for tools.	'.'
--fuse	Route deep-reasoning turns through fusion.
--guard	Gate tool calls through the governance kernel.
--allow-tools	Per-session allowlist: only these tools (comma-separated).
--deny-tools	Per-session denylist: drop these tools (comma-separated).

agents

The agents you dispatch work to — as distinct from the one you converse with.

chimera agents

app

Run 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 app

Option		Default
--host	Bind host (localhost by default).	'127.0.0.1'
--port	Bind port (0 = any free port; a busy port falls back to free).	8765
--model, -m	Override the model slug.
--max-steps	Max tool-calling steps per message.	6
--workspace, -w	Workspace root for tools. Falls back to $CHIMERA_WORKSPACE, then the current directory — which is the wrong root for a packaged app, whose current directory is wherever its shortcut points.
--fuse	Route turns through fusion (no token streaming).
--no-memory	Don't recall long-term memory.
--cron	Fire scheduled jobs while the app is open (proactivity). Default: the CHIMERA_APP_CRON setting (on). --no-cron makes the app purely reactive.
--open	Open the app in your browser.	True
--emit-port-file	Write the final http://host:port URL to this file once bound (for a parent/sidecar).

assist

Your 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 assist

Option		Default
--model, -m	Override the model slug.
--max-steps	Max tool-calling steps per message.	6
--workspace, -w	Workspace root for tools.	'.'
--no-memory	Don't recall long-term memory.
--no-cascade	Disable tiered routing (single default model instead).

bench

Run the continuous-evolution benchmark on a demo task set. Requires a key.

chimera bench

Option		Default
--limit	Limit number of demo tasks (0 = all).	0
--model, -m	Override the model slug.
--fuse	Use the fusion engine as the solver.
--chain	Run the stateful chained benchmark (error propagation).
--hard	Use the hard suite (traps / propagating chain).
--rounds	Re-run the suite N times; report stagnation + cost trend across rounds.	1

bench-compare

Report 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 bench-compare BASELINE TREATMENT

Argument
BASELINE	JSON file of the baseline arm's per-task pass/fail (list of bools, or {task: bool}).
TREATMENT	JSON file of the treatment arm's per-task pass/fail.

Option		Default
--baseline-name	Label for the baseline arm.	'baseline'
--treatment-name	Label for the treatment arm.	'chimera'
--paired	Paired (McNemar) test: item i in both files is the SAME task replayed from an identical forked state — a tighter CI.

brief

Morning brief: parallel topic research through the hierarchy, one synthesized digest.

The recipe IS the decomposition (no top-model decompose call). Delegation receipts land in /delegations.jsonl — chimera delegations shows what the brief cost vs the inline counterfactual, measured.

chimera brief

Option		Default
--recipe	Brief recipe (YAML with topics).	'examples/morning_brief/brief.yaml'
--out	Write the digest to this file (default: print only).
--max-workers	Parallel research workers.	4

cascade-bench

Four-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 cascade-bench

Option		Default
--tasks	Task suite: hard	demo.

chat

Interactive multi-turn chat — your terminal right-hand. Requires a key.

The conversation is saved after every turn, under <home>/sessions, and picked up again on the next run. It is the same store the desktop app reads, so a thread started here can be continued there and the other way round.

chimera chat

Option		Default
--model, -m	Override the model slug.
--max-steps	Max tool-calling steps per message.	6
--workspace, -w	Workspace root for tools.	'.'
--fuse	Route deep-reasoning turns through fusion.
--cascade	Tiered routing: weak -> gate -> mid -> gate -> fusion (cheap by default).
--no-memory	Don't recall long-term memory.
--session, -s	Resume a specific session id (see 'chimera sessions').
--new	Start a fresh session instead of resuming.

context-curve

Did runs carrying more context do worse? Measured on THIS machine's own logs.

Answers with "not enough data" until the pre-registered floors are met — see bench/context_curve/PREREGISTRATION.md, which fixed those floors before any data existed.

chimera context-curve

Option		Default
--traces	Path to traces.jsonl (default: CHIMERA_HOME).
--runs	Path to runs.jsonl (default: CHIMERA_HOME).
--json	Print the raw result instead of a table.

crew

Run a multi-agent crew on a task (Tier 3). Requires a provider key.

chimera crew TASK

Argument
TASK	The task for the crew.

Option		Default
--mode	sequential	supervisor
--model, -m	Override the model slug.
--fuse	Use the fusion engine as the backend.

crew-isolated

Tier-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 crew-isolated TASK

Argument
TASK	The shared task the workers divide.

Option		Default
--worker, -W	A worker as 'name:instruction'; repeatable. Each edits in its own worktree.
--workspace, -w	Repository root (a git repo, to isolate).	'.'
--model, -m	Override the model slug.
--verify	Per-worker gate: shell command run in each worktree (exit 0 to merge).
--max-steps	Max tool-calling steps per worker.	6
--max-workers	Max concurrent isolated workers.	4
--synthesize	A supervisor folds the merged results into one unified report.
--fuse	Route worker turns through fusion.
--taint	Arm each worker's adaptive allowlist (dangerous-when-tainted tools require approval). The cross-agent collusion monitor runs regardless — it's always on for fan-out.

cron

Manage scheduled jobs (crons and event SOPs).

chimera cron

delegations

Measured vs counterfactual across delegations — what the hierarchy actually saved.

chimera delegations

Option		Default
--path	Receipts file (default: /delegations.jsonl).

deliver

Deliverable Mode: produce a polished, self-contained artifact. Requires a key.

chimera deliver REQUEST

Argument
REQUEST	What to produce (a report, plan, spec, README...).

Option		Default
--out, -o	Write the deliverable to this file.
--format, -f	md	txt
--model, -m	Override the model slug.
--fuse	Use the fusion engine for higher quality.

doctor

Check the environment and configuration. With --fix, repair safe setup issues.

chimera doctor

Option		Default
--fix	Auto-repair safe setup issues (state dir, .env scaffold).

drift

Drift gate: check the workspace against a spec (Spec Growth). Exit 1 on drift.

chimera drift SPEC

Argument
SPEC	Spec YAML file.

Option		Default
--workspace, -w	Workspace root.	'.'
--only	Check only this requirement id (project cards).

evoclaw

Stress-test continuous-evolution degradation: naive vs guarded. Requires a key.

chimera evoclaw

Option		Default
--length	Number of chained steps.	12
--model, -m	Override the model slug.
--retries	Verify-or-revert retries per step (guarded).	2

evolve

Opt-in model evolution (curate trajectories -> LoRA/DPO recipe).

chimera evolve

explore

Locate 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 explore QUERY

Argument
QUERY	What to locate in the repository.

Option		Default
--workspace, -w	Repository root to explore.	'.'
--model, -m	Model for the explorer (a cheap one is fine).
--max-turns	Max exploration turns.	8

features

Show optional capabilities and what each needs (a key or a dependency).

chimera features

find

Search a repository by what code DOES, not by the string it contains.

chimera/rag/ has been in the tree since 0.44.0 — symbol-level chunking over Python's AST, one SQLite file with an FTS5 index, RRF fusion — measured, documented, and reachable from nothing. A library with no entrance is a library nobody has. This is the entrance.

Keyword retrieval only, and that is stated rather than glossed: the semantic half needs an embedder, none is wired, and the pre-registered baseline in bench/rag/ says exactly what the keyword half is worth on this repository — recall@10 of 0.4925 over 400 probes. Half the answers are not in the top ten. Printing that beside the results is the difference between a tool you can calibrate and one you learn to distrust.

chimera find QUERY

Argument
QUERY	What you are looking for, in words.

Option		Default
--path	Repository to search.	'.'
--k	How many results.	8
--reindex	Rebuild the index before searching.

fuse

Run a prompt through the LLM-Fusion engine (panel -> judge -> synthesizer).

chimera fuse PROMPT

Argument
PROMPT	The prompt to run through the fusion engine.

Option		Default
--show-panel	Show panel answers + judge analysis.
--selective	Override selective fusion (default: from settings).
--best-of	Cheap fusion: sample ONE model N times and take the consensus (self-consistency), instead of a multi-model panel.	1
--verify-select	With --best-of: pick the best sample by a verifier score instead of majority vote (Weaver-lite).
--model, -m	Model for --best-of self-consistency.
--show-cost	Print the itemized receipt: per-advisor cost at each model's rate.
--receipt	Append the run's cost receipt to this JSONL (for cost×quality analysis).

fusion-bench

A/B the fusion engine: full vs selective (tokens + accuracy). Calls real models.

chimera fusion-bench

Option		Default
--tasks	Task suite: hard	demo.

fusion-receipts

Summarize persisted fusion receipts into an honest cost×quality curve.

chimera fusion-receipts PATH

Argument
PATH	JSONL of receipts written by fuse --receipt.

guard

Show the governance verdict (allow/warn/review/block) for an action.

chimera guard ACTION

Argument
ACTION	The action/command to evaluate.

hierarchy-bench

Paired 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 hierarchy-bench

Option		Default
--model, -m	Mid/worker model — BOTH arms use it, to isolate orchestration. Defaults to the tier ladder's mid.
--top-model	Top model for synthesis. Defaults to --model (same family keeps the isolation).
--tasks	Comma-separated task ids to filter (default: all 10 synthetic tasks).	''
--max-workers	Max concurrent workers in the hierarchy arm.	4
--out	Write the JSON summary to this path.
--multistep	Run the MULTI-STEP suite instead (single growing context vs per-step scoped workers, over large docs) — the regime where the hierarchy actually saves tokens. Also reports a caching-aware dollar reduction.

init

First-run setup: create .env, set a provider key, and point you at a real example.

chimera init

Option		Default
--provider	Which provider the key is for (openrouter, openai, ...).	'openrouter'
--key	API key for --provider.
--openrouter-key	Your OpenRouter API key (same as --provider openrouter --key).
--model	Default model slug to set (optional).
--yes, -y	Non-interactive: never prompt.
--home	Project dir for the .env (default: cwd).

kanban

Task board with worker lanes (backlog/doing/review/done).

chimera kanban

lifecycle

SDLC crew: plan -> build -> test -> review with verify-or-revert. Requires a key.

chimera lifecycle TASK

Argument
TASK	The feature/task to take through the SDLC.

Option		Default
--verify	Test command for the test stage (exit 0).
--workspace, -w	Workspace root.	'.'
--model, -m	Override the model slug.
--max-attempts	Build/test verify-or-revert budget.	2

maturity

Render the maturity scorecard: surfaces × coverage-IDs proven by real tests.

chimera maturity

Option		Default
--tests	Path to the tests directory (the evidence base).	'tests'

mcp

Configure MCP servers (persisted to .chimera/mcp.json). Terminal-first source of truth.

chimera mcp

memory

Curated long-term memory.

chimera memory

memory-bench

Measure 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 memory-bench

Option		Default
--sizes	Comma-separated memory sizes to sweep.	'50,200,1000'
--semantic	Use embedding recall (needs an embeddings key) to measure the lift.

memory-poison

Ablate the memory-poisoning defenses: what reaches a LATER run's prompt, and unmarked.

No key needed, nothing leaves the machine. redteam measures one run — content arrives untrusted, the harmful call is refused, and the whole picture ends with the process. This measures the other shape: run A stores what it "learned" from a poisoned page, run B asks an unrelated question days later, and recall hands the planted fact to the model.

The headline is what arrives unmarked, not what is blocked. A poisoned fact carrying its origin is one the model was warned about; an unlabelled one is indistinguishable from something the agent verified itself. Each of the three layers (taint / gate / label) is switched off in turn, because a single number would be compatible with any of them doing nothing.

See bench/memory_poison/PREREGISTRATION.md for the thresholds, fixed before the first run.

chimera memory-poison

meta

Meta-agent: design a specialized agent blueprint for a task. Requires a key.

chimera meta TASK

Argument
TASK	The task to design a specialized agent for.

Option		Default
--model, -m	Override the model slug.

migrate

Import config + skills from another agent; --apply also merges long-term memory.

chimera migrate SOURCE PATH

Argument
SOURCE	Source agent: hermes
PATH	Path to the source agent's home directory.

Option		Default
--apply	Write artifacts (default: dry-run preview).
--home	Target Chimera home (default: from config).

models

Model assignment: tier ladder (weak/mid/top), cost mode, and the multi-vendor catalog.

chimera models

orchestrate

Hierarchical 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 orchestrate TASK

Argument
TASK	The task (read-heavy multi-part tasks benefit most).

Option		Default
--max-workers	Parallel worker cap.	4
--budget	Token budget per delegation (default: settings).
--dry-run	Show classification + decomposition + estimate; zero worker spend.
--verify-model	Model slug for the spot-check auditor (a DISTINCT/cross-provider model that grades a worker's summary against its raw output). Default: the weak tier.

pet

Your virtual companion — a chimera that needs care.

chimera pet

playbook

ACE strategy playbook — incremental, delta-curated guidance for the agent.

chimera playbook

probe-select

PROBE 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 probe-select [DATA]

Argument
DATA	JSON: {"arm": [[proxy, reward-or-null], ...], ...}. Omit when using --from-log.

Option		Default
--from-log	Read observations from a ProbeLog JSONL (e.g. /probe.jsonl written by solve --probe-log).
--delta	Confidence level (smaller = stricter).	0.1
--min-reward	Expensive rewards required per arm before deciding.	2

profile

Persistent user profile — the assistant's stable, cacheable preamble.

chimera profile

project

Run a project start-to-finish against a Spec (drift = acceptance authority).

chimera project

redteam

Red-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.

chimera redteam

rubric-grade

Grade 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.

chimera rubric-grade

Option		Default
--rubric	JSON rubric: {criteria:[{text,weight,required}], pass_threshold, required_gate}.
--task	The task the answer is for.
--answer	The answer text (or use --answer-file).
--answer-file	Read the answer from this file.
--model	Model slug for the grader.

run

Run a single-shot Tier-1 completion (no fusion). Requires a provider key.

chimera run PROMPT

Argument
PROMPT	The prompt to send.

Option		Default
--model, -m	Override the model slug.
--system, -s	Optional system prompt.
--image	Attach an image (path or URL); repeatable. Needs a vision model.

sandbox-bench

State-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 sandbox-bench

Option		Default
--workspace, -w	Dir to run sandboxed tasks in.	'.sandbox-bench'
--model, -m	Override the model slug.
--max-steps	Max tool-calling steps per task.	8

scenarios

Run the daily right-hand scenario suite (live). Requires a key.

chimera scenarios

Option		Default
--model, -m	Override the model slug.

schema-bench

Measure tool-schema token cost, full vs compacted (advertise-time). No model calls.

chimera schema-bench

Option		Default
--openapi	Path or URL to an OpenAPI spec to include (its tools are verbose).
--demo	Include a couple of synthetic verbose tools to show the effect.
--model, -m	Tokenizer model (default: your default).

serve

Run 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 serve

Option		Default
--host	Bind host.	'127.0.0.1'
--port	Bind port.	8765
--allow-insecure-bind	Serve on a reachable address with no token. Only behind a network you already trust.
--model, -m	Override the model slug.
--max-steps	Max tool-calling steps per message.	6
--workspace, -w	Workspace root for tools.	'.'
--fuse	Route deep-reasoning turns through fusion.
--no-memory	Don't recall long-term memory.
--discord	Serve on Discord (needs CHIMERA_DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN + the 'messaging' extra).
--telegram	Serve on Telegram (needs CHIMERA_TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN).
--slack	Serve on Slack (needs CHIMERA_SLACK_BOT_TOKEN + CHIMERA_SLACK_APP_TOKEN + the 'messaging' extra).
--signal	Serve on Signal via a signal-cli-rest-api bridge (CHIMERA_SIGNAL_API_URL + CHIMERA_SIGNAL_NUMBER).
--cron	Also run the cron daemon: fire scheduled jobs on the real clock (proactivity).
--cron-tick	Seconds between cron scheduler ticks.	30
--mcp	Serve Chimera AS an MCP server over stdio (solve/fuse/memory as tools).
--a2a	Also expose an A2A endpoint on HTTP (agent card + task lifecycle).

sessions

List the saved conversations — the same ones the desktop app shows.

One store, two front ends. A thread started in the terminal opens in the app, and a thread started in the app can be resumed here with chimera chat -s <id>.

chimera sessions

Option		Default
--delete	Delete a session by id.

skillcard-bench

A/B reasoning with vs without injected TRS skill cards. Calls real models.

chimera skillcard-bench

Option		Default
--tasks	Task suite: hard	big
--k	How many cards to retrieve per task.	1
--min-overlap	Relevance gate: inject a card only on >= N shared query terms (0=off).	2
--max-lines	Render budget: max lines per injected card.	3
--use-store	Bench your own learned cards (skills.json) instead of the demo set.

skills

List the built-in skills.

chimera skills

skills-approve

Approve/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-approve NAME

Argument
NAME	Name of the pending or retired skill to activate.

skills-bundle-disable

Switch a bundle off, keeping it on disk.

Off is not uninstalled, deliberately: trying several and leaving two running is the normal way to use these, and making "off" mean "delete" would charge a download for every change of mind. Use skills-uninstall when you want the files gone.

chimera skills-bundle-disable NAME

Argument
NAME	An installed bundle from chimera skills-bundles.

skills-bundle-enable

Switch an installed bundle on, so the agent may use it.

Do this after reading it. An enabled bundle's name and description reach the agent's prompt when they match a task, and its instructions can tell the agent to run the scripts that came with it — which is why nothing is on by default.

chimera skills-bundle-enable NAME

Argument
NAME	An installed bundle from chimera skills-bundles.

skills-bundles

List the skill bundles installed on this machine, and where each came from.

chimera skills-bundles

skills-catalog

Browse the installable skills from the wider Agent Skills ecosystem.

These are other people's skills, fetched from their repositories on request — not bundled here. The table says what each one NEEDS, because most were written for a different harness and a catalogue that hid that would be advertising features that fail after the download.

chimera skills-catalog [QUERY]

Argument
QUERY	Filter by name or description.

Option		Default
--topic	Only this topic.

skills-evolve

Reflectively 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 skills-evolve NAME

Argument
NAME	Name of the learned skill whose prompt to GEPA-evolve.

Option		Default
--instances	JSON file: a list of {"input": {...}, "expect": "substring"}.
--budget	Rollout budget (evaluations across the search).	20
--model	Model slug for the executor + reflector.
--apply	Save the improved skill (default: dry-run).

skills-export

Export a learned skill to the open SKILL.md format (portable to the agent-skills ecosystem).

chimera skills-export NAME

Argument
NAME	Name of the learned skill to export.

Option		Default
--out, -o	Write to this path (default: /SKILL.md).

skills-import

Import a SKILL.md into the store. A tainted-provenance skill is held pending for review.

Accepts the plain name of a curated card (chimera skills-import verify-before-claiming) as well as a path. The documented form was skills/<name>, a repo-relative path that resolves only inside a checkout — so the one line the README gives for using the shipped library failed for everybody who installed Chimera instead of cloning it.

Validated on the way in. This is the only path by which a skill written by somebody else enters the store, and it was the only one that skipped the validator the agent's own proposals must pass — the gate was applied to the code we wrote and not to the code we were handed, which is backwards. A skill card ends up in the system prompt, so an unvalidated one is an instruction from a stranger with the standing of an instruction from the owner.

chimera skills-import PATH

Argument
PATH	A curated card name, or a path to a SKILL.md / its directory.

skills-install

Download a skill bundle from its source repository into your skills directory.

Fetches; runs nothing. The bundle lands pending: its files are on disk and no part of it reaches a prompt until you approve it. That is the same rule an imported card follows — a skill from a stranger has the standing of an instruction from the owner — and a bundle is that plus executable scripts, so it holds with more reason, not less.

chimera skills-install NAME

Argument
NAME	A skill name from chimera skills-catalog.

Option		Default
--force	Replace it if it is already installed.

skills-library

Browse the curated skill cards that ship with Chimera.

Data, not code: each is a markdown page of Trigger/Do/Avoid/Check/Risk that the agent reads into its prompt when it matches. Load one into your own store with chimera skills-import <name>.

chimera skills-library [NAME]

Argument
NAME	Show one card in full; omit to list the library.

skills-lifecycle

Run 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-lifecycle

Option		Default
--apply	Actually promote/demote (default: dry-run preview).
--promote-min-uses	Provisional probation length.	5
--promote-min-rate	Win rate to promote a provisional skill.	0.7
--demote-min-uses	Uses before a skill can be demoted.	5
--demote-max-rate	Win rate at/below which a skill is demoted.	0.3333333333333333

skills-pending

List learned skills held for review (e.g. distilled during a tainted run).

chimera skills-pending

skills-retire

Propose 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-retire [NAME]

Argument
NAME	Skill to retire; omit to act on all candidates.

Option		Default
--apply	Actually retire (default: dry-run preview).
--min-uses	Only propose skills used at least this often.	5
--max-rate	Only propose skills whose win rate is at or below this.	0.3333333333333333

skills-stats

Per-skill usage stats (uses, successes, win rate) + retirement candidates.

chimera skills-stats

skills-uninstall

Delete an installed skill bundle and its files.

chimera skills-uninstall NAME

Argument
NAME	An installed bundle from chimera skills-bundles.

solve

Tier-2: autonomously solve a task with plan + verify-or-revert. Requires a key.

chimera solve [TASK]

Argument
TASK	The task to solve autonomously (omit with --approve/--deny).

Option		Default
--verify	Verification command (exit 0 == success).
--workspace, -w	Workspace root.	'.'
--model, -m	Override the model slug.
--max-attempts	Max verify-or-revert attempts.	3
--max-steps	Max tool-calling steps per attempt.	8
--context-budget	Fraction of the model's window to spend on the prompt before compacting (e.g. 0.6).
--no-plan	Skip the planning step.
--no-manager	Skip Manager review.
--rubric	Manager reviews via the cascade rubric.
--fuse	Route deep-reasoning turns through fusion.
--cascade	Tiered routing: weak -> gate -> mid -> gate -> fusion (cheap by default).
--guard	Gate tool calls through the governance kernel.
--allow-tools	Per-session allowlist: only these tools (comma-separated).
--deny-tools	Per-session denylist: drop these tools (comma-separated).
--taint	Track a capability ledger + review execution of tainted input.
--collect	Record trajectories for opt-in model evolution.	True
--no-remember	Don't auto-write a long-term memory fact on success.
--no-evolve-skills	Don't auto-propose a learned skill when a task recurs.
--isolate	Run in an isolated git worktree; changes copied back only on success.
--explorer	Give the agent an isolated Context Explorer for repo search (FastContext-style).
--subagents	Give the agent spawn_subagent to delegate subtasks to isolated subagents.
--repo-map	Prepend a structural map of the workspace (files + top-level symbols) to the agent's context.
--progress-ledger	After a failed attempt, run a structured self-check that steers the retry (helps weak models).
--checklist	Extract the task's atomic requirements and grade each attempt's coverage (catches dropped constraints).
--gen-tests	With no --verify: generate executable pytest grounded in the task's requirements and use it as the gate (catches wrong code the coverage grade rubber-stamps).
--profile	Model-role profile: economy	balanced
--role-models	Per-role model overrides: 'edit=vendor/slug,plan=vendor/other'. Roles: explore, plan, edit, review. Merges over --profile; a role left unset keeps --model. verify is not a role here — it runs a command and has no model to choose.
--write-region	Comma-separated globs the file-writers may touch (e.g. 'src/**,*.py'). A write outside is refused — blocks an injected instruction from rewriting an unrelated file.
--probe-log	Log (arm, proxy=manager-judgment, reward=verified) per attempt to /probe.jsonl for PROBE best-arm selection (see chimera probe-select --from-log). Needs --verify + a manager.
--normalize-task	Reshape a long, rambling bug-report task into a salient-facts-first form (location/repro/expected-vs-actual/fix-hint) before planning. No-op on non-bug or short tasks.
--playbook	Inject the stored ACE strategy playbook into context, then curate it from this run's outcome (closed loop).
--skill-cards	Read learned skill cards back into context (the learn->use loop). Default follows settings.skill_cards; this overrides it per run.
--agreement	With --fuse: sample K cheap answers per turn; escalate to fusion when they disagree (free confidence signal).	1
--strong-verify	Model slug of a stronger, independent judge that grades hard-turn (retried) results before accepting them.
--replan	On a stall, rebuild the plan from accumulated failure causes (dual-ledger) instead of just nudging.
--diff-feedback	Show a failed attempt its own reverted diff, as a path not to retake.
--keep-workspace	On failure, leave the last attempt's edits on disk for an external grader (don't revert).
--require-diff	Fail an attempt that changed no file — for code tasks, an explanation is not a fix.
--stagnation-fuzzy	Match repeated-failure signatures approximately, not byte-identically.
--contract	Machine-checkable success clauses, comma-separated: file_exists:PATH	file_contains:PATH:REGEX
--stream	Print live progress events (attempt/result/status) as the run proceeds.
--thread	Checkpoint this run under a thread id; re-run with the same id to resume after a crash.
--pause-on-taint	Pause for human approval before finalizing a run that consumed untrusted content (needs --thread).
--approve	HITL accept: finalize a paused run as-is, by thread id (no task needed).
--deny	HITL ignore: discard a paused run by thread id (no task needed).
--respond	HITL respond: resume a paused run by thread id with --feedback guidance.
--feedback	Guidance for --respond (fed back so the run tries again).
--edit	HITL edit: finalize a paused run with the corrected --answer, by thread id.
--answer	The human-corrected answer for --edit.

solve-batch

Solve 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 solve-batch TASKS

Argument
TASKS	Tasks to solve in parallel, each isolated.

Option		Default
--workspace, -w	Workspace root (a git repo, to isolate).	'.'
--model, -m	Override the model slug.
--max-steps	Max tool-calling steps per task.	6
--context-budget	Fraction of the model's window to spend on the prompt before compacting (e.g. 0.6).
--max-attempts	Max verify-or-revert attempts per task.	2
--max-workers	Max concurrent isolated workers.	4
--fuse	Route deep-reasoning turns through fusion.
--taint	Arm each worker's adaptive allowlist (dangerous-when-tainted tools require approval). The cross-agent collusion monitor runs regardless — it's always on for fan-out.

swe-bench-compare

Honest 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 swe-bench-compare BASELINE TREATMENT

Argument
BASELINE	SWE-bench evaluation report JSON for the model-only arm.
TREATMENT	SWE-bench evaluation report JSON for the model+Chimera arm.

Option		Default
--instances	JSONL of the instances both arms ran (fixes the id set).

tools

List the built-in native tools.

chimera tools

Option		Default
--workspace, -w		'.'

transfer-gate

Promote 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 transfer-gate TUNED_BASELINE TUNED_TREATMENT

Argument
TUNED_BASELINE	JSON pass/fail of the baseline on the TUNED slice (list of bools, or {task: bool}).
TUNED_TREATMENT	JSON pass/fail of the candidate on the TUNED slice (aligned, same order).

Option		Default
--holdout-baseline	JSON pass/fail of the baseline on a DISJOINT same-capability holdout.
--holdout-treatment	JSON pass/fail of the candidate on the holdout (aligned).
--require-significant	Require the tuned gain's paired CI to exclude 0, not just Δ>0.
--tol	Max tolerated pass-rate drop on the holdout before promotion is blocked.	0.0

tui

Launch the full-screen TUI — your right-hand. Requires a key.

chimera tui

Option		Default
--model, -m	Override the model slug.
--max-steps	Max tool-calling steps per message.	6
--workspace, -w	Workspace root for tools.	'.'
--fuse	Route deep-reasoning turns through fusion.
--no-memory	Don't recall long-term memory.
--stream	Live token streaming (single-model path only).	True

version

Show the Chimera version.

chimera version

workflow

Run a declarative workflow — a designed loop — from a YAML file. Requires a key.

chimera workflow FILE

Argument
FILE	Workflow YAML file (declarative loop).

Option		Default
--workspace, -w	Workspace root.	'.'
--model, -m	Override the model slug.