openshell-cli

# OpenShell CLI Guide agents through using the `openshell` CLI for sandbox and platform management -- from basic operations to advanced multi-step workflows. ## Overview The OpenShell CLI (`openshell`) is the primary interface for managing sandboxes, providers, policies, settings, exposed services, and gateway registrations. Gateway service lifecycle is handled outside the CLI by packages, systemd, or Helm. This skill teaches agents how to orchestrate CLI commands for common and complex workflows. **Companion skill**: For creating or modifying sandbox policy YAML content (network rules, L7 inspection, access presets), use the `generate-sandbox-policy` skill. This skill covers the CLI *commands* for the policy lifecycle; `generate-sandbox-policy` covers policy *content authoring*. **Self-teaching**: The CLI has comprehensive built-in help. When you encounter a command or option not covered in this skill, walk the help tree: ```bash openshell --help # Top-level commands openshell <group> --help # Subcommands in a group openshell <group> <cmd> --help # Flags for a specific command ``` This is your primary fallback. Use it freely -- the CLI's help output is authoritative and always up-to-date. ## Prerequisites - `openshell` is on the PATH. Follow the published [installation guide](https://docs.nvidia.com/openshell/latest/about/installation.md) when it is not installed. - A reachable OpenShell gateway backed by Docker, Podman, Kubernetes, or the experimental VM driver - Docker is running only when using BYOC local builds or a Docker-backed gateway - For Kubernetes deployments: `kubectl` and Helm access to the target cluster ## Authoritative References Use `openshell --help` and nested `--help` output as the authority for the installed CLI version. Use the published documentation for product concepts and supported workflows: - [Manage gateways](https://docs.nvidia.com/openshell/latest/how-it-works/gateways/overview) - [Manage sandboxes](https://docs.nvidia.com/openshell/latest/how-it-works/sandboxes/overview) - [Manage providers](https://docs.nvidia.com/openshell/latest/how-it-works/providers/overview) - [Profiles](https://docs.nvidia.com/openshell/latest/how-it-works/providers/profiles) - [Sandbox policies](https://docs.nvidia.com/openshell/latest/how-it-works/policies/overview) - [Inference routing](https://docs.nvidia.com/openshell/latest/how-it-works/inference) --- ## Workflow 1: Getting Started Use this workflow when the user has a gateway endpoint and wants to get a sandbox running for the first time. ### Step 1: Register a gateway ```bash openshell gateway add http://127.0.0.1:8080 --local --name local ``` Use an `http://` endpoint only for trusted local port-forwarding or a protected private path. For a gateway behind an authenticated reverse proxy, register its HTTPS endpoint with `openshell gateway add https://gateway.example.com`. ### Step 2: Verify the gateway ```bash openshell status openshell whoami ``` Confirm the gateway is reachable, authentication is valid or not required, and the output shows a version. `Status: Connected` only proves the public health endpoint is reachable; inspect the separate `Authentication` line before running protected commands. `openshell whoami` reports the identity validated by the gateway, including the subject an administrator uses for workspace membership. Add `--output json` for automation. ### Step 3: Create a sandbox The simplest way to get a sandbox running: ```bash openshell sandbox create ``` This creates a sandbox whose canonical main process is `/bin/bash -l` and attaches your terminal to that retained process. Add `--detach` to return after the sandbox becomes ready without attaching. An explicit trailing command is foreground even when stdin or stdout is not a terminal. The CLI streams its stdout and stderr and reports the command's exit status after output drains. A failure to deliver output makes the CLI report a failure even if the command itself exited successfully; check the sandbox's state before retrying work that might have side effects. Exit code 0 leaves a retained sandbox in `Completed`; nonzero leaves it in `Error` with `MainProcessFailed`. Use `--no-keep` to delete either result after output drains, or `--detach` for a long-running service. Combine `--detach --no-keep` when the gateway should run the service without a host attachment and delete its sandbox after the service exits. When supplying `--name`, use a portable DNS-1123 label: at most 63 lowercase alphanumeric or `-` characters, beginning and ending with an alphanumeric character. The Kubernetes driver rejects uppercase letters, underscores, dots, and other names that cannot become Kubernetes resource labels. Provider attachment is explicit. Name each provider with `--provider`; the trailing command does not select or attach one. If the named provider does not exist but a profile with that ID is available, the CLI can create it from local credentials: ```bash openshell sandbox create --from registry.example.com/your-org/claude-agent:latest --provider claude-code -- claude openshell sandbox create --from registry.example.com/your-org/codex-agent:latest --provider codex -- codex ``` The agent will be prompted interactively if credentials are missing. ### Step 4: Exit and clean up Exit the sandbox shell (`exit` or Ctrl-D), then: ```bash openshell sandbox delete <name> ``` --- ## Workflow 2: Provider Management Providers supply credentials and provider-specific configuration to sandboxes. Provider profiles are import-only: a gateway serves exactly what an operator imported, and a new gateway serves an empty catalog. Never rely on a hard-coded type list or on a legacy alias such as `gh` or `claude` — `--type` matches a profile ID exactly. Discover the profiles available on the selected gateway: ```shell openshell profile list openshell profile list --type provider --output json ``` ### Create a provider from local credentials ```bash openshell provider create --name my-github --type github --from-existing ``` The `--from-existing` flag discovers credentials from local state (e.g., `gh auth` tokens, Claude config files). ### Create a provider with explicit credentials ```bash openshell provider create --name my-openai --type openai \ --credential OPENAI_API_KEY ``` Bare `KEY` reads the value from the environment variable of that name and avoids placing the secret in shell history. Use `KEY=VALUE` only when the user explicitly accepts that exposure. Other credential sources are `--from-gcloud-adc` for compatible profiles and `--runtime-credentials` when the gateway or sandbox resolves the required credentials at runtime. Static provider credentials resolve only for hosts, ports, and paths declared by the provider profile. Use `profile export` to inspect that boundary when a placeholder is present but requests receive `credential_endpoint_mismatch`. A profileless static provider fails closed because the gateway cannot construct a binding. When an inspected request receives `request_authority_mismatch`, compare its HTTP authority with the CONNECT tunnel endpoint. The host and effective port must match. For a tunnel to `api.example.com:8443`, send `Host: api.example.com:8443`; `Host: api.example.com` omits the non-default port and is rejected. An absolute-form request target must use the same authority. Profile-backed providers always contribute policy unless a gateway-global policy is active. Static credential endpoint binding remains independently enforced. ### Inspect and manage provider profiles ```shell openshell profile describe github openshell profile export github --output yaml openshell profile lint --file ./my-profile.yaml openshell profile import --file ./my-profile.yaml openshell profile lint --url https://example.com/profiles/my-profile.yaml openshell profile import --url https://example.com/profiles/my-profile.yaml ``` `--url` accepts one HTTP or HTTPS YAML or JSON profile. Review its endpoint and binary grants before importing it. The URL path must end in `.yaml`, `.yml`, or `.json`; downloads are limited to 1 MiB and 15 seconds. Use `profile describe` to inspect a definition's credential metadata, endpoints, TLS handling, MCP access settings, rule counts, binaries, source, and scope before creating a provider. Check for `tls: skip` and the uninspected-credential opt-in before relying on displayed L7 rules. List and describe accept table, JSON, and YAML output; use structured output for complete rule definitions, `--workspace` for a workspace catalog, or `--global` for platform scope. Use `profile export` when preparing an editable definition, `profile update <id> --file <file>` to replace an existing custom profile with its current resource version, and `profile delete <id>...` to remove custom profiles. Provider instances remain under `provider`. Existing scripts can continue using `provider list-profiles` and `provider profile export/import/update/lint/delete`. These commands share the top-level handlers and preserve their arguments, output options, and workspace/global flags. Prefer `profile` when writing new commands. ### List, inspect, update, delete Use `openshell sandbox provider status --help` and the attach, detach, and update help to find the installed version's wait options. Add `--wait` when the next step depends on a provider change taking effect. Without it, a successful command only confirms that the gateway saved the change. Save the returned `receipt_id` to check that same change later, and inspect the result for every selected sandbox. Credential refresh status confirms that OpenShell obtained credentials; provider status confirms that the sandbox applied them, activated the policy, and updated the environment for new processes. If the status is `superseded`, explain that a later change replaced the request and inspect that change separately. If attach, detach, or update reports `CONFIG_OPERATION_STORAGE_UNCERTAIN`, explain that the change may already be saved and its readiness receipt may be unavailable. Do not blindly retry the mutation. Inspect the provider and sandbox state and reconcile the saved change before deciding on another mutation; the error proves neither rollback nor readiness. ```bash openshell provider list openshell provider list --output json openshell provider get my-github openshell provider update my-github --from-existing openshell provider delete my-github ``` `provider update` does not take `--type`. It updates credentials, config, or credential expiry on the existing provider. ### Configure credential refresh Use refresh commands only when the provider profile and gateway support refreshable credentials: ```bash openshell provider refresh status my-provider openshell provider refresh configure my-provider \ --credential-key MS_GRAPH_ACCESS_TOKEN \ --strategy oauth2-refresh-token \ --secret-material-env REFRESH_TOKEN=MS_GRAPH_REFRESH_TOKEN \ --credential-expires-at 2026-07-16T00:00:00Z openshell provider refresh rotate my-provider --credential-key ACCESS_TOKEN ``` Prefer `--secret-material-env KEY[=ENVVAR]` for secret refresh material. `--material KEY=VALUE` is for non-secret material; `--secret-material-key` marks supplied material keys as secret. The gateway stores secret refresh material through its active credential driver. With Vault selected, refresh tokens, client secrets, and private keys live in Vault alongside injectable provider credentials; refresh state contains only opaque handles. A credential-backend read or write failure makes refresh fail closed rather than falling back to inline storage. Before OpenShell 0.1.0, the gateway does not migrate legacy inline refresh material or move secrets between credential backends. Reconfigure affected grants after upgrading, and remove or reconfigure credentials while the original backend remains available before changing backends. Do not run mixed gateway versions against the same refresh records. Gateway-managed refresh credentials use an identity-stable workload handle. Routine automatic refresh and `provider refresh rotate` update the access token behind that handle, so long-running processes do not need to restart. Running processes must be restarted once when upgrading from revision-scoped placeholders. A later `provider refresh configure` call is an explicit reauthorization boundary: it revokes the previous handle, and processes holding that handle fail closed until restarted. While gateway-managed refresh is configured, `provider update --credential` cannot replace or delete the refresh-owned primary credential or any co-minted output. Use `provider refresh rotate`, reconfigure refresh, or delete refresh before returning those keys to manual management. Unrelated provider fields remain updateable. When OAuth refresh fails, inspect the `RECOVERY` and `FAILURE_CODE` columns from `provider refresh status`; do not infer the remedy from HTTP status or parse `LAST_ERROR`. `retry` means the worker will try again, `reauthorize` means the user must obtain a new OAuth grant and run `provider refresh configure`, `fix_configuration` means an operator must repair the OAuth client, scopes, or administrator policy, and `investigate` means the issuer returned an unrecognized response. The gateway parks `reauthorize` records until a manual rotate or reconfiguration. It retries `fix_configuration` records hourly so externally repaired configuration can recover without rapid token-endpoint traffic. The existing access credential remains usable only until its recorded expiry. --- ## Workflow 3: Sandbox Lifecycle ### Create with options ```bash openshell sandbox create \ --name my-sandbox \ --provider my-github \ --provider my-claude \ --policy ./my-policy.yaml \ --upload .:/workspace \ --label team=agents \ -- claude ``` Key flags: - `--provider`: Attach configured credential providers for API keys, tokens, and other secrets (repeatable) - `--policy`: Custom policy YAML (otherwise uses built-in default or `OPENSHELL_SANDBOX_POLICY` env var) - `--gpu [COUNT]`: Request the driver's default GPU selection or a specific GPU count - `--cpu`, `--memory`: Set per-sandbox compute sizing. Docker/Podman apply limits; Kubernetes applies matching requests and limits. - `--driver-config-json`: Pass experimental driver-specific sandbox configuration - `--template NAME`: Create from a named sandbox workload template. Conflicts with inline workload flags such as `--from`, `--gpu`, `--cpu`, `--memory`, `--env`, and `--driver-config-json`. - `--label KEY=VALUE`: Add labels for later selection (repeatable) - `--env KEY=VALUE`: Set non-secret sandbox environment variables (repeatable); use `--provider` for credentials - `--tty`: Allocate a retained PTY for the canonical main process - `--approval-mode manual|auto`: Control handling of agent-authored policy proposals; `manual` is the default - `--upload <PATH>[:<DEST>]`: Upload local files into the container working directory or an explicit destination - `--no-git-ignore`: Disable `.gitignore` filtering for uploads - `--no-keep`: Delete the sandbox after main output and the exit result drain - `--detach`: Start the canonical main process without attaching - `--forward [BIND_ADDRESS:]PORT`: Forward a local port and keep the sandbox alive - `--editor vscode|cursor`: Open a remote editor after creation and keep the sandbox alive `--detach` adds no attachment grace period. When the canonical process exits, its terminal phase is reported immediately. A foreground create declares one expected main-process SSH attachment; cleanup finalizes after that connection closes naturally. With `--detach --no-keep`, the gateway owns the detached process lifecycle and deletes the ephemeral sandbox after terminal reporting finishes. Do not combine `--upload` with a trailing main command. Uploads currently finish after the canonical process starts; create a scratch sandbox and use `sandbox exec`, or build the files into the image. Create from a reusable workload template when several sandboxes should share image, environment, sizing, or driver-specific configuration: ```bash openshell sandbox template create gpu-kata \ --image registry.example.com/agents/python:latest \ --cpu 2 \ --memory 4Gi \ --gpu 1 \ --driver-config-json '{"kubernetes":{"pod":{"node_selector":{"pool":"gpu"}}}}' openshell sandbox create --name my-sandbox --template gpu-kata --provider my-github -- claude ``` Driver config is disabled by default. These template and one-off `sandbox create --driver-config-json` examples require the administrator to set `allow_driver_config = true` for the selected driver. This does not waive resource admission: external attachments need administrator-controlled approval labels on the actual resources, not sandbox labels. GPU device attachments are temporarily exempt from labels; the public `--gpu` flag needs no driver config opt-in. Consult the published gateway configuration reference before changing admission settings; do not recommend disabling admission to bypass a denial. Put driver config on a template only when it should be reused. ### Manage sandbox workload templates ```bash openshell sandbox template create gpu-kata \ --image registry.example.com/agents/python:latest \ --cpu 2 \ --memory 4Gi \ --gpu 1 \ --label team=runtime \ --env FEATURE_FLAG=on openshell sandbox template list openshell sandbox template list --label-selector team=runtime openshell sandbox template list --all-workspaces --output json openshell sandbox template get gpu-kata openshell sandbox template delete gpu-kata ``` Template `--image` accepts an OCI image reference. If omitted, the gateway applies its default sandbox image when creating a sandbox from the template. Create-time policy, providers, labels, uploads, forwarding, editor launch, and the initial command stay on `sandbox create`. ### List and inspect sandboxes ```bash openshell sandbox list openshell sandbox list --selector team=agents --output json openshell sandbox get my-sandbox ``` Most commands with an optional sandbox name use the last-used sandbox. Pass an explicit name in automation. ### Connect to a running sandbox ```bash openshell sandbox connect my-sandbox openshell sandbox connect my-sandbox --editor vscode ``` Attaches to the sandbox's existing canonical main process. Disconnecting leaves that process running; reconnecting targets the same process instance and replays recent output. If an established SSH transport is interrupted, such as when a laptop sleeps and wakes, the CLI retries transient failures for up to 60 seconds and reattaches to that same process. Use `sandbox exec --tty -- /bin/bash -l` for a new shell. Press `Ctrl-P`, then `Ctrl-Q` to disconnect without terminating main. OpenSSH's `~.` escape looks like transport loss and therefore starts automatic recovery; after it reattaches, use `Ctrl-P`, then `Ctrl-Q` to exit, or press `Ctrl-C` between retry attempts to cancel recovery. When you own stdin, `Ctrl-C` interrupts the foreground process. In a read-only attachment, `Ctrl-C` exits the viewer and leaves main and other attachments running. Configure VS Code Remote-SSH with: ```bash openshell sandbox ssh-config my-sandbox >> ~/.ssh/config ``` If `connect` reports `canonical main process already finished`, inspect the result with `sandbox get`. A pending foreground attachment can still retrieve retained output in `Completed` or `Error`; phase alone does not determine whether attachment is available. ### Upload and download files ```bash # Upload local files to the sandbox working directory openshell sandbox upload my-sandbox ./src # Download a path relative to the sandbox working directory openshell sandbox download my-sandbox output ./local-output ``` Uploads honor `.gitignore` by default. Add `--no-git-ignore` only when ignored files are intentionally in scope. Uploads preserve symlinks, including dangling symlinks, instead of dereferencing their targets. A symlink source bypasses Git-aware filtering so the link itself is archived. When the upload destination is omitted, the CLI discovers the remote working directory. Uploading a named directory merges it into an existing directory of the same name, overwriting matching entries without deleting unrelated entries. Downloads accept paths relative to that working directory or absolute paths within it. ### Execute a non-interactive command ```bash openshell sandbox exec --name my-sandbox --workdir /workspace -- ls -la openshell sandbox exec --name my-sandbox --env MODE=test -- cargo test ``` `sandbox exec` starts an independent sibling process and streams output. After stdout and stderr drain, it returns the remote command's exit code if delivery succeeds. Output delivery failure instead returns exit code 74, even when the command exited successfully. A descendant that keeps an inherited output pipe open for more than 30 seconds after the command exits triggers that failure. Check whether the command ran before retrying work with side effects. Use `sandbox connect` to attach to the canonical main process. Use `--env` only for non-secret values. Attach credentials to the sandbox with a provider instead of passing API keys, tokens, or other secrets to `sandbox exec`. ### Change attached providers