garrettroi/blackbox

Blackbox CLI

Delegate coding tasks to Blackbox AI via the Hermes terminal. Blackbox is a multi-model coding agent CLI that dispatches tasks to multiple LLMs (Claude, Codex, Gemini, Blackbox Pro) and uses a judge to select the best implementation.

The CLI is open-source (GPL-3.0, TypeScript, forked from Gemini CLI) and supports interactive sessions, non-interactive one-shots, checkpointing, MCP, and vision model switching.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+ installed
• Blackbox CLI installed: npm install -g @blackboxai/cli
• Or install from source:

  git clone https://github.com/blackboxaicode/cli.git
  cd cli && npm install && npm install -g .
  

• API key from app.blackbox.ai/dashboard
• Configured: run blackbox configure and enter your API key
• Use pty=true in terminal calls — Blackbox CLI is an interactive terminal app

One-Shot Tasks

terminal(command="blackbox --prompt 'Add JWT authentication with refresh tokens to the Express API'", workdir="/path/to/project", pty=true)

For quick scratch work:

terminal(command="cd $(mktemp -d) && git init && blackbox --prompt 'Build a REST API for todos with SQLite'", pty=true)

Background Mode (Long Tasks)

For tasks that take minutes, use background mode so you can monitor progress:

# Start in background with PTY
terminal(command="blackbox --prompt 'Refactor the auth module to use OAuth 2.0'", workdir="~/project", background=true, pty=true)
# Returns session_id

# Monitor progress
process(action="poll", session_id="<id>")
process(action="log", session_id="<id>")

# Send input if Blackbox asks a question
process(action="submit", session_id="<id>", data="yes")

# Kill if needed
process(action="kill", session_id="<id>")

Checkpoints & Resume

Blackbox CLI has built-in checkpoint support for pausing and resuming tasks:

# After a task completes, Blackbox shows a checkpoint tag
# Resume with a follow-up task:
terminal(command="blackbox --resume-checkpoint 'task-abc123-2026-03-06' --prompt 'Now add rate limiting to the endpoints'", workdir="~/project", pty=true)

Session Commands

During an interactive session, use these commands:

| Command | Effect | |---------|--------| | /compress | Shrink conversation history to save tokens | | /clear | Wipe history and start fresh | | /stats | View current token usage | | Ctrl+C | Cancel current operation |

PR Reviews

Clone to a temp directory to avoid modifying the working tree:

terminal(command="REVIEW=$(mktemp -d) && git clone https://github.com/user/repo.git $REVIEW && cd $REVIEW && gh pr checkout 42 && blackbox --prompt 'Review this PR against main. Check for bugs, security issues, and code quality.'", pty=true)

Parallel Work

Spawn multiple Blackbox instances for independent tasks:

terminal(command="blackbox --prompt 'Fix the login bug'", workdir="/tmp/issue-1", background=true, pty=true)
terminal(command="blackbox --prompt 'Add unit tests for auth'", workdir="/tmp/issue-2", background=true, pty=true)

# Monitor all
process(action="list")

Multi-Model Mode

Blackbox's unique feature is running the same task through multiple models and judging the results. Configure which models to use via blackbox configure — select multiple providers to enable the Chairman/judge workflow where the CLI evaluates outputs from different models and picks the best one.

Key Flags

| Flag | Effect | |------|--------| | --prompt "task" | Non-interactive one-shot execution | | --resume-checkpoint "tag" | Resume from a saved checkpoint | | --yolo | Auto-approve all actions and model switches | | blackbox session | Start interactive chat session | | blackbox configure | Change settings, providers, models | | blackbox info | Display system information |

Vision Support

Blackbox automatically detects images in input and can switch to multimodal analysis. VLM modes:

• "once" — Switch model for current query only
• "session" — Switch for entire session
• "persist" — Stay on current model (no switch)

Token Limits

Control token usage via .blackboxcli/settings.json:

{
  "sessionTokenLimit": 32000
}

Rules

1. Always use pty=true — Blackbox CLI is an interactive terminal app and will hang without a PTY
2. Use workdir — keep the agent focused on the right directory
3. Background for long tasks — use background=true and monitor with process tool
4. Don't interfere — monitor with poll/log, don't kill sessions because they're slow
5. Report results — after completion, check what changed and summarize for the user
6. Credits cost money — Blackbox uses a credit-based system; multi-model mode consumes credits faster
7. Check prerequisites — verify blackbox CLI is installed before attempting delegation