CLI Reference | ARGUS Docs

Overview

The ARGUS CLI is your interface for viewing traces, replaying executions, generating reports, and managing your workspace. Install it with pip install argus-agents — the CLI ships with the Python package.

bash

# Check installation
argus --version

# Get help on any command
argus --help
argus watch --help

argus watch

Start a watched execution from the CLI. This runs a Python script with ARGUS instrumentation attached automatically.

bash

# Watch a script execution
argus watch run.py

# Watch with strict mode (fail on detection)
argus watch run.py --strict

# Watch with custom config
argus watch run.py --config custom-argus.yaml

Flags

--strictflag

Exit with non-zero code if any detection fires. Useful for CI/CD.

--configpath

Path to config file. Overrides auto-discovery.

Default: "argus.yaml"

--no-persistflag

Don't save the trace to storage. Useful for quick checks.

--verboseflag

Print detection results to stdout as they run.

argus trace

View and inspect execution traces.

bash

# View the most recent trace
argus trace --last

# View a specific trace by ID
argus trace abc123def

# List all stored traces
argus trace --list

# List traces with detections only
argus trace --list --failed

# Show trace with full state dumps
argus trace --last --verbose

Flags

--lastflag

Show the most recent trace.

--listflag

List all stored traces with summary info.

--failedflag

Filter to only traces that have detections.

--verboseflag

Include full state snapshots at each step.

--jsonflag

Output as JSON for programmatic use.

argus replay

Re-execute a pipeline from a specific step in a saved trace. This lets you test fixes without re-running the entire pipeline from scratch.

bash

# Replay the last trace from step 3
argus replay --last --from-step 3

# Replay a specific trace from a named node
argus replay abc123 --from-node "retriever"

# Replay with modified input state
argus replay abc123 --from-step 2 --patch '{"query": "updated question"}'

Flags

--from-stepint

Step number to replay from (1-indexed).

--from-nodestr

Node name to replay from.

--patchjson

JSON patch to apply to the input state at the replay point.

--lastflag

Use the most recent trace.

--diffflag

Show a diff between original and replayed outputs.

Replay requires persist_state

Replay only works on traces that were recorded with persist_state=True (the default). If state persistence was disabled, ARGUS doesn't have the intermediate states needed to replay.

argus report

Generate a formatted report from a trace.

bash

# HTML report (opens in browser)
argus report --last --format html

# JSON report (for CI/CD)
argus report --last --format json

# Markdown report
argus report --last --format markdown --output report.md

Flags

--formatstr

Output format: html, json, or markdown.

Default: "html"

--outputpath

Write report to a file instead of stdout/browser.

--lastflag

Use the most recent trace.

Authenticate with the ARGUS cloud workspace. Required for syncing traces to the cloud dashboard and team collaboration features.

bash

# Interactive login (opens browser)
argus login

# Login with an API key
argus login --key YOUR_API_KEY

argus ui

Launch the local ARGUS dashboard in your browser. The UI provides a visual trace explorer, detection timeline, and replay interface.

bash

# Launch on default port (8484)
argus ui

# Launch on a custom port
argus ui --port 9090

argus update

Check for and install ARGUS updates.

bash

# Check for updates
argus update --check

# Update to latest
argus update