8.0 KiB
Command-line interface (oma)
The package ships a small binary oma that exposes the same primitives as the TypeScript API: runTeam, runTasks, plus a static provider reference. It is meant for shell scripts and CI (JSON on stdout, stable exit codes).
It does not provide an interactive REPL, working-directory injection into tools, human approval gates, or session persistence. Those stay in application code.
Installation and invocation
After installing the package, the binary is on PATH when using npx or a local node_modules/.bin:
npm install @jackchen_me/open-multi-agent
npx oma help
From a clone of the repository you need a build first:
npm run build
node dist/cli/oma.js help
Set the usual provider API keys in the environment (see README); the CLI does not read secrets from flags. MiniMax additionally reads MINIMAX_BASE_URL to select the global (https://api.minimax.io/v1) or China (https://api.minimaxi.com/v1) endpoint.
Commands
oma run
Runs OpenMultiAgent.runTeam(team, goal): coordinator decomposition, task queue, optional synthesis.
| Argument | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
--goal |
Yes | Natural-language goal passed to the team run. |
--team |
Yes | Path to JSON (see Team file). |
--orchestrator |
No | Path to JSON merged into new OpenMultiAgent(...) after any orchestrator fragment from the team file. |
--coordinator |
No | Path to JSON passed as runTeam(..., { coordinator }) (CoordinatorConfig). |
Global flags: --pretty, --include-messages.
oma task
Runs OpenMultiAgent.runTasks(team, tasks) with a fixed task list (no coordinator decomposition).
| Argument | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
--file |
Yes | Path to tasks file. |
--team |
No | Path to JSON TeamConfig. When set, overrides the team object inside --file. |
Global flags: --pretty, --include-messages.
oma provider
Read-only helper for wiring JSON configs and env vars.
oma provideroroma provider list— Prints JSON: built-in provider ids, API key environment variable names, whetherbaseURLis supported, and short notes (e.g. OpenAI-compatible servers, Copilot in CI).oma provider template <provider>— Prints a JSON object with exampleorchestratorandagentfields plus placeholderenventries.<provider>is one of:anthropic,openai,gemini,grok,minimax,deepseek,copilot.
Supports --pretty.
oma, oma help, oma -h, oma --help
Prints usage text to stdout and exits 0.
Configuration files
Shapes match the library types TeamConfig, OrchestratorConfig, CoordinatorConfig, and the task objects accepted by runTasks().
Team file
Used with oma run --team (and optionally oma task --team).
Option A — plain TeamConfig
{
"name": "api-team",
"agents": [
{
"name": "architect",
"model": "claude-sonnet-4-6",
"provider": "anthropic",
"systemPrompt": "You design APIs.",
"tools": ["file_read", "file_write"],
"maxTurns": 6
}
],
"sharedMemory": true
}
Option B — team plus default orchestrator settings
{
"team": {
"name": "api-team",
"agents": [{ "name": "worker", "model": "claude-sonnet-4-6", "systemPrompt": "…" }]
},
"orchestrator": {
"defaultModel": "claude-sonnet-4-6",
"defaultProvider": "anthropic",
"maxConcurrency": 3
}
}
Validation rules enforced by the CLI:
- Root (or
team) must be an object. team.nameis a non-empty string.team.agentsis a non-empty array; each agent must have non-emptynameandmodel.
Any other fields are passed through to the library as in TypeScript.
Tasks file
Used with oma task --file.
{
"orchestrator": {
"defaultModel": "claude-sonnet-4-6"
},
"team": {
"name": "pipeline",
"agents": [
{ "name": "designer", "model": "claude-sonnet-4-6", "systemPrompt": "…" },
{ "name": "builder", "model": "claude-sonnet-4-6", "systemPrompt": "…" }
],
"sharedMemory": true
},
"tasks": [
{
"title": "Design",
"description": "Produce a short spec for the feature.",
"assignee": "designer"
},
{
"title": "Implement",
"description": "Implement from the design.",
"assignee": "builder",
"dependsOn": ["Design"]
}
]
}
dependsOn— Task titles (not internal ids), same convention as the coordinator output in the library.- Optional per-task fields:
memoryScope("dependencies"|"all"),maxRetries,retryDelayMs,retryBackoff. tasksmust be a non-empty array; each item needs stringtitleanddescription.
If --team path.json is passed, the file’s top-level team property is ignored and the external file is used instead (useful when the same team definition is shared across several pipeline files).
Orchestrator and coordinator JSON
These files are arbitrary JSON objects merged into OrchestratorConfig and CoordinatorConfig. Function-valued options (onProgress, onApproval, etc.) cannot appear in JSON and are not supported by the CLI.
Output
Stdout
Every invocation prints one JSON document to stdout, followed by a newline.
Successful run / task
{
"command": "run",
"success": true,
"totalTokenUsage": { "input_tokens": 0, "output_tokens": 0 },
"agentResults": {
"architect": {
"success": true,
"output": "…",
"tokenUsage": { "input_tokens": 0, "output_tokens": 0 },
"toolCalls": [],
"structured": null,
"loopDetected": false,
"budgetExceeded": false
}
}
}
agentResults keys are agent names. When an agent ran multiple tasks, the library merges results; the CLI mirrors the merged AgentRunResult fields.
Errors (usage, validation, I/O, runtime)
{
"error": {
"kind": "usage",
"message": "--goal and --team are required"
}
}
kind is one of: usage, validation, io, runtime, or internal (uncaught errors in the outer handler).
Output flags
| Flag | Effect |
|---|---|
--pretty |
Pretty-print JSON with indentation. |
--include-messages |
Include each agent’s full messages array in agentResults. Very large for long runs; default is omit. |
There is no separate progress stream; for rich telemetry use the TypeScript API with onProgress / onTrace.
Exit codes
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 0 | Success: run/task finished with success === true, or help / provider completed normally. |
| 1 | Run finished but success === false (agent or task failure as reported by the library). |
| 2 | Usage, validation, readable JSON errors, or file access issues (e.g. missing file). |
| 3 | Unexpected error, including typical LLM/API failures surfaced as thrown errors. |
In scripts:
npx oma run --goal "Summarize README" --team team.json > result.json
code=$?
case $code in
0) echo "OK" ;;
1) echo "Run reported failure — inspect result.json" ;;
2) echo "Bad inputs or files" ;;
3) echo "Crash or API error" ;;
esac
Argument parsing
- Long options only:
--goal,--team,--file, etc. - Values may be attached with
=:--team=./team.json. - Boolean-style flags (
--pretty,--include-messages) take no value; if the next token does not start with--, it is treated as the value of the previous option (standardgetopt-style pairing).
Limitations (by design)
- No TTY session, history, or
stdingoal input. - No built-in
cwdor metadata passed intoToolUseContext(tools use process cwd unless the library adds other hooks later). - No
onApprovalfrom JSON; non-interactive batch only. - Coordinator
runTeampath still requires network and API keys like any other run.