CLI reference

Generated from the live carina --help surface. When in doubt, re-run help on your install — it is the authority.

carina --help

Invocation

Form	Behavior
carina	Interactive TUI (TTY); auto-starts daemon when needed
carina [options]	TUI with flags: -session, -workspace, -locale, -socket, -no-alt-screen
carina <command> …	Governed CLI subcommands

Start and run

Command	Description
carina init	Create ~/.carina, print daemon hint
carina status	Daemon health and counters
carina doctor [--json] [--fix [--yes]]	Diagnostics; repairs need explicit --yes
carina update [--check] [--version x.y.z] [--force]	Secure update of local runtime bundle
carina run [flags] "<prompt>"	Create safe-edit session in cwd, submit task, wait (or --background)
carina run --input-format stream-json --output-format stream-json	NDJSON protocol for SDK/CI
carina ask …	Alias for run
carina agents list	Available agent modes
carina commands list	Slash commands

carina run flags: --agent, --model provider/model, --effort, --background.

Sessions and inspection

Command	Description
carina sessions	List sessions
carina import list [--source claude-code|codex] [--all-workspaces] [--json]	Preview importable local conversations
carina import apply (--id ID|--all) [--source …]	Copy selected visible messages into attributed Carina conversations
carina resume <session_id> [prompt|-]	Continue or inspect
carina fork <session_id>	Branch without mutating parent
carina cost [session_id] [--json]	Model usage / cost
carina watch <session_id> [--json]	Live events
carina steer <run_id> <message>	Redirect the current execution at the next turn boundary
carina answer <question_id> <value>	Answer structured question
carina items <session_id>	Normalized item stream
carina session review <session_id>	Governance projection
carina search <session_id> <text>	Workspace search via daemon
carina artifact stat|read …	Artifact metadata / bytes

Checkpoints

Command	Description
carina checkpoint list <session_id>	List checkpoints
carina checkpoint preview <session_id> <id>	Preview rewind
carina checkpoint restore <session_id> <id> --yes	Restore code + conversation (destructive)
carina checkpoint summarize <session_id> <id>	Summarize without restore

Memory

Command	Description
carina memory status|list|context|search|read|verify …	Inspect governed memory
carina memory write … add|replace|remove	Request memory mutations
carina memory handoff|rollback … --yes	Transfer / restore revisions
carina memory projection-*	HMS projection control (governed)

Context engine

Command	Description
carina context status|doctor|stats	Local engine health and counters
carina context compress	Run the configured diagnostic transform

Schedules

Command	Description
carina schedule list|create|pause|resume|delete …	Session-owned schedules (at / every / cron)

Audit and patches

Command	Description
carina audit <session_id>	Raw event stream
carina audit verify <session_id>	Hash-chain verify
carina audit last	Most recent session summary
carina report <session_id>	Violations / files / commands
carina export <session_id>	Full audit bundle
carina patch list|show|propose|apply|rollback …	Patch transactions

Approvals, secrets, plugins

Command	Description
carina approve|deny …	Resolve pending decisions
carina profile <session_id>	Active permission profile
carina secret grant|request …	Secret handles
carina plugin inspect|run …	WASM plugins through policy

Providers (BYOK)

Command	Description
carina auth login|list|logout	Local credentials
carina providers list [--refresh] [--offline]	Provider catalog

Gateway and RPC

Command	Description
carina gateway hello|methods|ws-probe …	Gateway discovery / probe
carina backpressure status	Worker pressure
carina debug snapshot|trace …	Local diagnostics
carina channel pending|reconcile …	Channel crash reconciliation

Workers

Command	Description
carina workers / worker list	List workers
carina worker register|heartbeat|revoke …	Lifecycle; --pool affinity tags

Workflows

Command	Description
carina workflow run <name> …	Run .carina/workflows/<name>.json
carina workflow list|status …	Runs
carina workflow pause|resume|stop|restart …	Control

Native tools (no daemon)

Command	Description
carina scan|grep|diff …	Tree / search / diff
carina run-native / pty	Native wrappers
carina patch-native …	Atomic patch primitive (JSON stdin)

Workspace runtimes

Command	Description
carina runtime start|status|stop|logs	Manage the current workspace runtime
carina runtimes [--json]	List known workspace runtimes without starting them

Daemon lifecycle

Command	Description
carina daemon start|status|stop|logs	CLI-owned local daemon
carina completion <bash|zsh|fish>	Shell completion

Source of truth

• Binary: carina --help on your machine
• Packaging: docs/release.md
• Conceptual maps: Policy · Audit · FEATURE_MAP

Note

Subcommand flags evolve with releases. Prefer re-running help over copying flags from screenshots. Docs are updated to match release lines; if they diverge, the binary wins.