# Command-Line Help for `swarmctl`

This document contains the help content for the `swarmctl` command-line program.

**Command Overview:**

* [`swarmctl`↴](#swarmctl)
* [`swarmctl agent`↴](#swarmctl-agent)
* [`swarmctl agent create`↴](#swarmctl-agent-create)
* [`swarmctl agent mint-forge-token`↴](#swarmctl-agent-mint-forge-token)
* [`swarmctl agent inference`↴](#swarmctl-agent-inference)
* [`swarmctl agent inference get`↴](#swarmctl-agent-inference-get)
* [`swarmctl agent inference set`↴](#swarmctl-agent-inference-set)
* [`swarmctl agent inference clear`↴](#swarmctl-agent-inference-clear)
* [`swarmctl agent permissions`↴](#swarmctl-agent-permissions)
* [`swarmctl agent permissions get`↴](#swarmctl-agent-permissions-get)
* [`swarmctl agent permissions set`↴](#swarmctl-agent-permissions-set)
* [`swarmctl agent permissions clear`↴](#swarmctl-agent-permissions-clear)
* [`swarmctl schedule`↴](#swarmctl-schedule)
* [`swarmctl schedule add`↴](#swarmctl-schedule-add)
* [`swarmctl schedule list`↴](#swarmctl-schedule-list)
* [`swarmctl schedule edit`↴](#swarmctl-schedule-edit)
* [`swarmctl schedule pause`↴](#swarmctl-schedule-pause)
* [`swarmctl schedule resume`↴](#swarmctl-schedule-resume)
* [`swarmctl schedule rm`↴](#swarmctl-schedule-rm)
* [`swarmctl user`↴](#swarmctl-user)
* [`swarmctl user add`↴](#swarmctl-user-add)
* [`swarmctl user reset-password`↴](#swarmctl-user-reset-password)
* [`swarmctl user update`↴](#swarmctl-user-update)
* [`swarmctl user list`↴](#swarmctl-user-list)
* [`swarmctl forge`↴](#swarmctl-forge)
* [`swarmctl forge make-admin`↴](#swarmctl-forge-make-admin)
* [`swarmctl login`↴](#swarmctl-login)
* [`swarmctl completions`↴](#swarmctl-completions)

## `swarmctl`

swarm-level operator CLI

**Usage:** `swarmctl [OPTIONS] <COMMAND>`

###### **Subcommands:**

* `agent` — Manage agents across the swarm
* `schedule` — Manage scheduled prompts
* `user` — Manage subjects in the swarm's SSO provider
* `forge` — Manage human accounts on the swarm's forge
* `login` — Log in to the swarm named by `--swarm` as your own SSO account
* `completions` — Generate a shell completion script for `swarmctl` and print it to stdout

###### **Options:**

* `--authelia-bin <PATH>` — authelia binary used to hash passwords. The argon2 parameters must match the verifier's, so this has to be the *configured* package rather than whatever is on `PATH`
* `--users-file <PATH>` — Host-side path of authelia's users database — that is, the path inside the container, prefixed with the container's root.

   This is the only user store: it's read before every change and written in place, and `swarm-authelia-bridge` writes the same file.
* `--swarm <URL>` — The swarm's domain, as `https://<domain>` or the bare domain. Given, the `agent`, `schedule` and `forge` verbs go through its gateway as the account `swarmctl login` logged in, instead of over the controller's socket. Falls back to `SWARMCTL_SWARM`; `login` then falls back to `SWARMCTL_LOGIN_DEFAULT_SWARM`, which the swarm-controller nix module sets to its host's own swarm
* `--ca-file <PATH>` — A PEM CA certificate to trust beside the system roots, for a swarm whose gateway serves a certificate from the swarm's own CA. Falls back to `SWARMCTL_CA_FILE`



## `swarmctl agent`

Manage agents across the swarm

**Usage:** `swarmctl agent <COMMAND>`

###### **Subcommands:**

* `create` — Queue creation of a new agent on a hive in this swarm
* `mint-forge-token` — Check one agent's forge token, and mint it if it's missing or stale
* `inference` — Show the model, effort, subagent models and subagent cap the swarm sets for an agent, or change the model, effort and subagent models
* `permissions` — Show or change the capabilities the swarm grants an agent



## `swarmctl agent create`

Queue creation of a new agent on a hive in this swarm.

Asks the swarm-controller to insert its agent-creation job graph — SSO identity, forge user, config repo, and the deploy message that puts the agent on `--hive` — and prints the queued job's node id.

**This returns as soon as it queues the work.** It doesn't wait, and a finished graph would not mean the agent is up either: the last node publishes a deploy, after which the hive converges on its own clock. Watch the swarm UI's job view, or the hive itself, for the rest.

No approval gate guards this: the caller is root on the controller's host, or logged in through the swarm domain's SSO gate.

**Usage:** `swarmctl agent create [OPTIONS] --hive <HIVE> <NAME>`

###### **Arguments:**

* `<NAME>` — Name for the new agent: 1–63 characters of `[a-z0-9-]`.

   Becomes an SSO subject, a forge user and a repository name, so it's validated here before queuing. The controller refuses a name the swarm has already placed on a different hive; the same name on the same hive re-creates that agent.

###### **Options:**

* `--hive <HIVE>` — Hive in this swarm to deploy the agent to.

   Required, and deliberately not defaulted: it's an *address* — the hive that gets the deploy message — and only the operator knows which one they mean. The controller checks it against the swarm's hive roster and names the known hives if it misses.
* `--controller-socket <PATH>` — swarm-controller's unix socket.

   Supplied by the nix module that installs this binary, from the same `socketPath` option the daemon binds; falls back to `SWARM_CONTROLLER_SOCKET`.



## `swarmctl agent mint-forge-token`

Check one agent's forge token, and mint it if it's missing or stale.

swarm-controller does this for every agent with a store identity at start and every five minutes; this is for when waiting isn't an option. It leaves a current token alone.

Queues and returns, the same way `agent create` does — watch the swarm UI's job view for the outcome.

**Usage:** `swarmctl agent mint-forge-token [OPTIONS] <NAME>`

###### **Arguments:**

* `<NAME>` — Name of an agent that already exists

###### **Options:**

* `--controller-socket <PATH>` — swarm-controller's unix socket.

   Supplied by the nix module that installs this binary, from the same `socketPath` option the daemon binds; falls back to `SWARM_CONTROLLER_SOCKET`.



## `swarmctl agent inference`

Show the model, effort, subagent models and subagent cap the swarm sets for an agent, or change the model, effort and subagent models.

`get` prints the subagent cap (`max_subagents`); `set` has no flag for it and keeps a stored one. Only swarm-ui sets it.

A field the swarm sets wins over the agent's own value (its agent.nix or a `hyperhive-model`/`hyperhive-effort` file) from its next turn on; the agent reads its settings every ten seconds. A field the swarm doesn't set, or clears, leaves the agent on its own value.

**Usage:** `swarmctl agent inference <COMMAND>`

###### **Subcommands:**

* `get` — Show what the swarm sets for an agent, naming the fields it doesn't set, and the model and effort the agent runs on, each with where it comes from
* `set` — Set fields for an agent. Only the flags given change; the others keep what's stored
* `clear` — Clear every field for an agent, so it goes back to its own values



## `swarmctl agent inference get`

Show what the swarm sets for an agent, naming the fields it doesn't set, and the model and effort the agent runs on, each with where it comes from

**Usage:** `swarmctl agent inference get [OPTIONS] <AGENT>`

###### **Arguments:**

* `<AGENT>` — Agent name

###### **Options:**

* `--controller-socket <PATH>` — swarm-controller's unix socket.

   Supplied by the nix module that installs this binary, from the same `socketPath` option the daemon binds; falls back to `SWARM_CONTROLLER_SOCKET`.



## `swarmctl agent inference set`

Set fields for an agent. Only the flags given change; the others keep what's stored

**Usage:** `swarmctl agent inference set [OPTIONS] <AGENT>`

###### **Arguments:**

* `<AGENT>` — Agent name. A hive must declare it

###### **Options:**

* `--model <MODEL>` — The model its turns run on, as claude's `--model` takes it
* `--effort <LEVEL>` — The reasoning effort its turns run at

  Possible values: `low`, `medium`, `high`, `xhigh`, `max`

* `--subagent-models <MODELS>` — The models it may start subagents on, comma-separated. Stored and shown; the agent doesn't apply it yet
* `--controller-socket <PATH>` — swarm-controller's unix socket.

   Supplied by the nix module that installs this binary, from the same `socketPath` option the daemon binds; falls back to `SWARM_CONTROLLER_SOCKET`.



## `swarmctl agent inference clear`

Clear every field for an agent, so it goes back to its own values

**Usage:** `swarmctl agent inference clear [OPTIONS] <AGENT>`

###### **Arguments:**

* `<AGENT>` — Agent name

###### **Options:**

* `--controller-socket <PATH>` — swarm-controller's unix socket.

   Supplied by the nix module that installs this binary, from the same `socketPath` option the daemon binds; falls back to `SWARM_CONTROLLER_SOCKET`.



## `swarmctl agent permissions`

Show or change the capabilities the swarm grants an agent.

The hive running the agent reads them every 30 seconds and, when they change, restarts the agent after its current turn. Unset leaves the agent on its hive's default: none, except `ruth`, who gets `manage_root_agent`.

**Usage:** `swarmctl agent permissions <COMMAND>`

###### **Subcommands:**

* `get` — Show the capabilities the swarm grants an agent, or that it sets none
* `set` — Replace the capabilities the swarm grants an agent
* `clear` — Clear the agent's permissions, so its hive's default applies again



## `swarmctl agent permissions get`

Show the capabilities the swarm grants an agent, or that it sets none

**Usage:** `swarmctl agent permissions get [OPTIONS] <AGENT>`

###### **Arguments:**

* `<AGENT>` — Agent name

###### **Options:**

* `--controller-socket <PATH>` — swarm-controller's unix socket.

   Supplied by the nix module that installs this binary, from the same `socketPath` option the daemon binds; falls back to `SWARM_CONTROLLER_SOCKET`.



## `swarmctl agent permissions set`

Replace the capabilities the swarm grants an agent

**Usage:** `swarmctl agent permissions set [OPTIONS] --capabilities <CAPABILITIES> <AGENT>`

###### **Arguments:**

* `<AGENT>` — Agent name. A hive must declare it

###### **Options:**

* `--capabilities <CAPABILITIES>` — The capabilities to grant, comma-separated (`manage_root_agent`). `--capabilities ''` grants none
* `--controller-socket <PATH>` — swarm-controller's unix socket.

   Supplied by the nix module that installs this binary, from the same `socketPath` option the daemon binds; falls back to `SWARM_CONTROLLER_SOCKET`.



## `swarmctl agent permissions clear`

Clear the agent's permissions, so its hive's default applies again

**Usage:** `swarmctl agent permissions clear [OPTIONS] <AGENT>`

###### **Arguments:**

* `<AGENT>` — Agent name

###### **Options:**

* `--controller-socket <PATH>` — swarm-controller's unix socket.

   Supplied by the nix module that installs this binary, from the same `socketPath` option the daemon binds; falls back to `SWARM_CONTROLLER_SOCKET`.



## `swarmctl schedule`

Manage scheduled prompts.

The swarm keeps each prompt, and every agent it names fires it in its own container. Fire times are the schedule's start time plus whole intervals: changing the body never moves them, and an agent that was down fires the latest missed one once.

**Usage:** `swarmctl schedule <COMMAND>`

###### **Subcommands:**

* `add` — Add a scheduled prompt and print it with its new id
* `list` — List scheduled prompts, one row each, with their agents and next fire time
* `edit` — Change a scheduled prompt
* `pause` — Stop a scheduled prompt firing. Times that pass while it's paused aren't fired when it resumes
* `resume` — Let a paused scheduled prompt fire again, from its next time on
* `rm` — Remove a scheduled prompt from every agent it names



## `swarmctl schedule add`

Add a scheduled prompt and print it with its new id.

Without `--every` it fires once. Without `--at` its first fire is now.

**Usage:** `swarmctl schedule add [OPTIONS] --name <TEXT> --agent <AGENT> --body <TEXT>`

###### **Options:**

* `--name <TEXT>` — The prompt's title
* `--agent <AGENT>` — Agent to fire it in. Repeatable; at least one
* `--body <TEXT>` — The prompt, delivered to each agent verbatim
* `--at <TIME>` — First fire time: an RFC 3339 time with its offset, such as `2026-10-05T09:00:00+02:00`, or unix seconds. Defaults to now
* `--every <DURATION>` — Time between fires: a count with a unit of `s`, `m`, `h` or `d`, such as `1h` or `7d`. Leave out for a one-shot
* `--paused` — Add it paused
* `--controller-socket <PATH>` — swarm-controller's unix socket.

   Supplied by the nix module that installs this binary, from the same `socketPath` option the daemon binds; falls back to `SWARM_CONTROLLER_SOCKET`.



## `swarmctl schedule list`

List scheduled prompts, one row each, with their agents and next fire time

**Usage:** `swarmctl schedule list [OPTIONS]`

###### **Options:**

* `--agent <AGENT>` — Show only the prompts that fire in this agent
* `--controller-socket <PATH>` — swarm-controller's unix socket.

   Supplied by the nix module that installs this binary, from the same `socketPath` option the daemon binds; falls back to `SWARM_CONTROLLER_SOCKET`.



## `swarmctl schedule edit`

Change a scheduled prompt.

Only the flags given change, and the id stays. `--at` and `--every` move the fire times; `--name`, `--body` and the agent flags don't.

**Usage:** `swarmctl schedule edit [OPTIONS] <ID>`

###### **Arguments:**

* `<ID>` — The prompt's id, as `schedule list` shows it

###### **Options:**

* `--name <TEXT>` — New title
* `--body <TEXT>` — New prompt text
* `--at <TIME>` — New first fire time, in the form `schedule add --at` takes
* `--every <DURATION>` — New time between fires, in the form `schedule add --every` takes
* `--once` — Make it a one-shot
* `--add-agent <AGENT>` — Agent to start firing it in. Repeatable
* `--remove-agent <AGENT>` — Agent to stop firing it in. Repeatable. Fails if the agent isn't a target, or if no agent would remain
* `--controller-socket <PATH>` — swarm-controller's unix socket.

   Supplied by the nix module that installs this binary, from the same `socketPath` option the daemon binds; falls back to `SWARM_CONTROLLER_SOCKET`.



## `swarmctl schedule pause`

Stop a scheduled prompt firing. Times that pass while it's paused aren't fired when it resumes

**Usage:** `swarmctl schedule pause [OPTIONS] <ID>`

###### **Arguments:**

* `<ID>` — The prompt's id, as `schedule list` shows it

###### **Options:**

* `--controller-socket <PATH>` — swarm-controller's unix socket.

   Supplied by the nix module that installs this binary, from the same `socketPath` option the daemon binds; falls back to `SWARM_CONTROLLER_SOCKET`.



## `swarmctl schedule resume`

Let a paused scheduled prompt fire again, from its next time on

**Usage:** `swarmctl schedule resume [OPTIONS] <ID>`

###### **Arguments:**

* `<ID>` — The prompt's id, as `schedule list` shows it

###### **Options:**

* `--controller-socket <PATH>` — swarm-controller's unix socket.

   Supplied by the nix module that installs this binary, from the same `socketPath` option the daemon binds; falls back to `SWARM_CONTROLLER_SOCKET`.



## `swarmctl schedule rm`

Remove a scheduled prompt from every agent it names

**Usage:** `swarmctl schedule rm [OPTIONS] <ID>`

###### **Arguments:**

* `<ID>` — The prompt's id, as `schedule list` shows it

###### **Options:**

* `--controller-socket <PATH>` — swarm-controller's unix socket.

   Supplied by the nix module that installs this binary, from the same `socketPath` option the daemon binds; falls back to `SWARM_CONTROLLER_SOCKET`.



## `swarmctl user`

Manage subjects in the swarm's SSO provider

**Usage:** `swarmctl user <COMMAND>`

###### **Subcommands:**

* `add` — Add a user, generating a password for them
* `reset-password` — Set a new password for an existing user, generating it the same way `user add` does
* `update` — Change an existing user's attributes
* `list` — List every user in authelia's users database



## `swarmctl user add`

Add a user, generating a password for them

**Usage:** `swarmctl user add [OPTIONS] <USERNAME>`

###### **Arguments:**

* `<USERNAME>` — Login name. Conservative ASCII only — it's a YAML map key and reaches access-control rules and logs

###### **Options:**

* `--display-name <TEXT>` — Name shown in the SSO UI. Defaults to the username
* `--email <ADDRESS>`
* `--group <GROUP>` — Repeatable



## `swarmctl user reset-password`

Set a new password for an existing user, generating it the same way `user add` does.

authelia's file store has no self-service reset (no SMTP notifier), so this is the only way a human account gets a new password once an operator forgets the old one. Refuses if the user doesn't exist — there's no separate "create" path here.

**Usage:** `swarmctl user reset-password <USERNAME>`

###### **Arguments:**

* `<USERNAME>` — Login name of an existing user



## `swarmctl user update`

Change an existing user's attributes.

Every flag is optional and they compose, so one call can set multiple things at once. Deliberately **doesn't** touch the password: regenerating a credential is a different intent from editing an attribute, and folded together an attribute edit can invalidate a login by accident.

**Usage:** `swarmctl user update [OPTIONS] <USERNAME>`

###### **Arguments:**

* `<USERNAME>` — Login name of an existing user

###### **Options:**

* `--display-name <TEXT>` — Name shown in the SSO UI
* `--email <ADDRESS>`
* `--add-group <GROUP>` — Repeatable. Adding a group the user is already in isn't an error
* `--remove-group <GROUP>` — Repeatable. Fails if the user isn't in the group — a revocation that reports success without revoking is the failure nobody re-checks



## `swarmctl user list`

List every user in authelia's users database.

Read-only: it never writes the file. Shows every subject in it, including agent identities `swarm-authelia-bridge` created — one line per user: username, display name, email (if set), groups (if any).

**Usage:** `swarmctl user list`



## `swarmctl forge`

Manage human accounts on the swarm's forge

**Usage:** `swarmctl forge <COMMAND>`

###### **Subcommands:**

* `make-admin` — Make an existing forge user a site admin



## `swarmctl forge make-admin`

Make an existing forge user a site admin.

The forge creates a human's account on their first SSO login, and this fails until that login has happened. Running it on a site admin changes nothing. Refused for an agent.

**Usage:** `swarmctl forge make-admin [OPTIONS] <NAME>`

###### **Arguments:**

* `<NAME>` — Forge username, the same as the user's SSO username

###### **Options:**

* `--controller-socket <PATH>` — swarm-controller's unix socket.

   Supplied by the nix module that installs this binary, from the same `socketPath` option the daemon binds; falls back to `SWARM_CONTROLLER_SOCKET`.



## `swarmctl login`

Log in to the swarm named by `--swarm` as your own SSO account.

With no `--swarm` or `SWARMCTL_SWARM`, logs in to `SWARMCTL_LOGIN_DEFAULT_SWARM`: on a swarm-controller host, the swarm that host belongs to.

Opens the swarm's SSO login in your browser (and prints the URL) and receives the answer on a loopback port, so run it where that browser runs. swarmctl keeps the login, mode 0600, under `$XDG_STATE_HOME/swarmctl/` and refreshes it as it's used. To log out, delete that file.

**Usage:** `swarmctl login`



## `swarmctl completions`

Generate a shell completion script for `swarmctl` and print it to stdout.

Supports bash, zsh, fish, elvish and powershell. The nix package already installs bash/zsh/fish system-wide; this is for ad-hoc or other-shell use.

Dispatched before `PathArgs::resolve()` for the same reason as `markdown-docs`: emitting a completion script needs none of the `SWARMCTL_AUTHELIA_*` deployment env vars, and requiring them would make the package's own build-time invocation fail.

**Usage:** `swarmctl completions <SHELL>`

###### **Arguments:**

* `<SHELL>` — Shell to emit completions for

  Possible values: `bash`, `elvish`, `fish`, `powershell`, `zsh`